In exchange for Erpen! Guess FC has a thing for Argies as well. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2007/06/united_trade_in_the_works.html I would have liked this move back in January, but it still isn't that bad a trade.
Re: Vanney to DC?! As I said in Goff's blog, the conspiratorially minded among us might think that Vanney was just trying to ingratiate himself with his new employers by gifting us a penalty, which tied the match.
Re: Vanney to DC?! Well, hell, Vanney gave us a pretty big goal tonight. Not exactly the Hand of God, but it got the job done. I am sure Colorado fans might disagree.
Re: Vanney to DC?! Huge upgrade for current DC United. Erpen has the potential to be very good (NYRB game) but is bad more often than not. He blew it tonight on the goal (how many times have you thought that this year?) and his cheap shot studs up hack on Peterson's(?) upper thigh was completely unwarrented and classless. This kind of reminds me of one of the better trades in United history, Mapp for Kovalenko. DC gave up some potential for the future in return for dividends now. Vanney should be good for Boswell to learn from and is excellent on set pieces, as well.
Re: Vanney to DC?! Dear God, I hope not. (See, it must be Faith Night! ) I don't want older, slower Greg Vanney to replace Facu. For all of his brain-farts, I still think that Facu has talent and can improve to be a top-notch defender in MLS. Greg Vanney? He's on the down-side of his career. I would rather have Eddie Pope than Vanney.
Re: Vanney to DC?! And with all of those leftbacks getting traded in MLS - we were thinking that DCU no longer wanted to trade with other teams and then we get this one. Tale of the Tape Vanney - 33 years old, 5'11" 176 lbs, slow LB/CB, $216,667 salary, good deadball shooter Erpen - 24 years old, 6'0", 179 lbs, slow CB, $115,000, decent passer but prone to defensive brain farts Seems like DCU has tired of seeing Erpen continually beat by speed but I do not see Vanney doing much either in that category - barring a Bosacki or Pena-like foreign acquisition, I assume that he plays LCB while Gros stays at LB and Boswell shifts over to RCB. I am not crazy about getting a lot older and taking $100K hit to the salary cap.
Re: Vanney to DC?! Have you seen an indication about how the salary aspect of the deal will be picked up? It's all speculation right now. It's possible United feels pretty good about someone they can bring in during the offseason and is getting Vanney because he's an upgrade over Erpen now and then will have him restructure his contract or leave the team in the offseason.
Re: Vanney to DC?! Erpen is Clavijo's kind of player but he won't help Colorado one bit. As for Vanney ... Vanney? No, really, who we trading for?
Re: Vanney to DC?! This would be a terrible trade. He's slow and old. I'm not sure he's better than Erpen; but even if you think he is, does anyone really think that Vanney is so much better than Erpen that he's worth eating up all the cap room we have remaining? He makes $100,000 more than Erpen. Any subsequent player moves for the rest of this year would be to dump salary.
Re: Vanney to DC?! With what money? $100,000 of the cap room we have remaining would be going to Vanney.
Re: Vanney to DC?! Vanney is in his 3rd season back from France so perhaps he might be in the last year of his contract which could translate into the outcomes that you mention (i.e. lower contract next year or just let him walk). I would hope that Colorado is eating some salary in this trade. There seems to be more of a trend in recent deals of teams picking up some of the salary of their traded player (i.e. Dunivant to TOR, Casey to COL to name a few).
Re: Vanney to DC?! Good call. Goff did seem to think that major moves were imminent. The impression I got from him was that it would be more than just a trade. Colorado would definitely have to pick up some of the salary for that to happen though, right?
Re: Vanney to DC?! This sounds like a HORRIBLE trade to me. If anything we need speed on our back line, Vanny isn't going to provide it. Vanny won't really be providing anything in a year or two. Erpen is a good defender that can play in the back for a long time to come, and who knows, maybe he will grow out of some of his more bone headed moves.
Re: Vanney to DC?! 1. It will be interesting to see if Colorado picks up any salary in this deal. If they do, it tells you that this was not a cap clearing move for a rumored DP signing by Colorado. Also, if Petke did break his ankle, you'd think that would make it more imperative that they do this deal. 2. I'm not wild about Vanney. But here's what I see: --we have options at central defense: Boswell, McTavish, and now Vanney. --we have options at right back: Namoff, Simms, McTavish. --at leftback we have....Gros. Now I'm not wild about Vanney for a couple of reasons...he's expensive and slow. But he does play CB well (not brilliantly but well). More importantly, he not only gives us a CB, he gives us someone who could play LB in a 352 if we needed that. Oh, I wouldn't want him matched up against Dane Richards. But it's nice having an option to go to a 352. It would allow us to play Gros at left outside mid (which frees Fred to play A-mid or withdrawn forward). And let's face it--while we're better in a 442, there will inevitably be some matches where we may need to go with a 352. 3. I thought that Erpen was a YI so it doesn't clear an SI spot and thus doesn't signal a DP signing.
Re: Vanney to DC?! Joe makes good points about this potentially freeing up Fred to a more central role. While I know Soehn is happy about how he's progressing at wide midfield, and he has done a nice job in recent games there, $222,000 is a hell of a lot to be paying an outside mid in this league. Also, Gros is still a liability at left defense.
Re: Vanney to DC?! Erpen is a Senior Youth International this year (as in Kpene). If both were on the team next year, we would have one too many Senior Internationals (this year, we have 3 of 4 SI spots filled with Gomez, Emilio and Fred). That SYI->SI twist may have had been a minor factor in making the trade.
Re: Vanney to DC?! Not a bad move. It sounds like DC has decided the Erpen will not be worth a SI spot next year and is looking for experience in the back. I'm not sure if Vanney is better than erpen but assuming he can be considered an immediate upgrade the trade is fine.
Re: Vanney to DC?! You can use allocation money to pay down salary beyond cap for one season only, IIRC. If we picked up $100k additional salary for Vanney, and blew our allocation money on a new signing's salary, we wouldn't be able to afford either in a year's time.
Re: Vanney to DC?! The only way this trade makes any sense is if 1) Colorado eats most of Vanney's salary and 2) United is signing a foreign sentral defender soon. (Also it will be nice if Vanney's contract runs out after this season.) Otherwise DCU gets hosed. Vanney is not an upgrade on Erpen.