SJ sign 24 yr old Spanish Striker

[Troll]

The San Jose Earthquakes continue to revamp their roster, announcing on Friday that they had completed the signing of 24-year-old striker Mikel Arce.

The Spaniard has been training with the club for a while now. He spent last season with Lourdes in the Spanish Tercera Division, equivalent to the 4th division in Spain, where the 6' 3" striker scored 20 goals. Before that, he was on the books with Real Sociedad and Numancia, among others.

Arce is the fifth new player to arrive in NorCal in the last two weeks. A month ago, the first-year club were the laughingstock of the league, languishing so deep in the cellar of the West that people forgot them. But with the signing of experienced striker Darren Huckerby and midfielder Francisco Lima, and the acquisition of Scott Sealy from Kansas City and Arturo Alvarez from Dallas, the Earthquakes are suddenly a difficult proposition for any team.


http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=800992

Sounds like it could be a good gamble.

[Shaughno]

4th Division Spain and people are complaining about Championship in England...

[Boris]

its actually 3rd division....la liga is primera. and so on....

[Boris]

^ i know...im just saying...

i think its well worth the gamble.

Those kids are hungry...i love going to those games

[Tintin]

Either way, at least San Jose is doing something.

What is TFC doing?


No Kidding. And other teams are thinkging outside the box. Mo should look outside England. he is too focused on England. Go to lower European leagues like Holland, France, Belgium and to Central America...

[Troll]

4th Division Spain and people are complaining about Championship in England...



37 year old washed up hacks in the Championship, to be more specific.

[jloome]

Fourth, schmorth. Any striker who scores 20 goals in a season at ANY pro level and was on the books at la liga clubs is worth a shot in MLS. We should be trying players like this.

[H Bomb]

37 year old washed up hacks in the Championship, to be more specific.

^^ Only thing even close to correct about that statement is the age

[nobodybeatsthewiz]

we need to tap south america and africa, plain and simple.....or, yes, 4th division spain

[Troll]

^^ Only thing even close to correct about that statement is the age



Not unless English isn't your first language.

Welcome to Canada. :canada:

[Billy the kid]

I'm starting to worry that San Jose is going to climb out of the basement and lessen the value of that draft pick we got from them.

[Damien]

Who knows though, his style of play could match that of the MLS and he could come in and annihilate the field.

...doubt it though.

[gtaguy]

i don't get why MO JO is not looking at other places besides england and scotland for players... there has been so many additions to all the other squads that im starting to think that were going to be the basement dwellers this season...

COME ON MO... THERE ARE MORE COUNTRIES THAT EXIST SOUTH OF MEXICO....Get me a colombian , panamanian , uruguay , argentinian.. whatever we only have so much time before the deadline..

[mdc 77]

Most of you sound like Leaf fans..."just get us someone, anyone!"

Maybe Mo has tried to bring in some big names but the turf is an issue....oh sorry, forget I said that...as a 7 page thread breaks out on the greatness of field turf.

[bangersandmash]

Aren't there still 14 days left in the transfer window? Mo has been a little limited because we were all full on international spots. Tebily is gone so now have an international slot open. Surely our vaults of allocation money, draft picks and strikers with 99 goals will be bait enough to make a decent trade (shhh... don't say anything bad about cunningham... you'll jinx it!). The frustrating part (for me) is that TFC operates with such secrecy. Throw us a fricken bone now and then!

[DigzTFC!]

I think we're being impatient and pieces of a championship puzzle don't always come in one season. I'm totally fine with that as long as we are moving in the right direction. Do we have deficiencies? Yes, but the team isn't set yet for that championship push in its second year.

I've posted this in another thread: Assuming Gerba signs as rumored:

Barrett 23 (60k), Ibbe 17 (GA), Gerba 26 (230K), Draft O'Brian White or Marcus Tracy 21/22 (60K) a certainty its one or the other, Getting a DP. Its young affordable and have a lot of depth.

[v00d00daddy]

4th Division Spain and people are complaining about Championship in England...

whatever...you keep loving on your boys from the U.K. while TFC's tailspin continues. We need better players...period. Why would you shit on a guy simply because he plays in Spain, in the 3rd Division.

Dichio, Robert, Tebily, Welsh, O'Brien, Samuel, Robinson, Ricketts.

All players that came from the U.K. leagues...and where are we? Surely we can expand our horizons a little bit....oh wait...here it comes....Amado Guevara...there...i said it for you. But that's it.

TFC is shit right now and the blame should fall (in order) on these people

1. The players
2. The coach
3. The manager

What's the common theme of all three? UNITED KINGDOM.

And I like the U.K. leagues, I just don't think they are the only talent pool on this planet.

[ag futbol]

I think we're being impatient and pieces of a championship puzzle don't always come in one season. I'm totally fine with that as long as we are moving in the right direction. Do we have deficiencies? Yes, but the team isn't set yet for that championship push in its second year.

I've posted this in another thread: Assuming Gerba signs as rumored:

Barrett 23 (60k), Ibbe 17 (GA), Gerba 26 (230K), Draft O'Brian White or Marcus Tracy 21/22 (60K) a certainty its one or the other, Getting a DP. Its young affordable and have a lot of depth.
If we are lucky maybe one of those will come true.

There is no gaurantee White or Tracy comes to MLS and even if that is the case we can't gaurentee we'll pick him up because of the draft order. Gerba just signed with MK Dons, doesn't look like it's happening.

Don't get your expectations up on Barrett, he's a work horse and a good technical player, but he can't finish. Blanco has pretty much spoon fed that guy all season.

Carlos Costly would have been nice, it's a shame that we missed out.

[ExiledRed]

Blanco has pretty much spoon fed that guy all season. .

Then Robert has got to spoon feed him here, it's about time that guy hjad somebody to serve a cross to anyway.

[Ossington Mental Youth]

Then Robert has got to spoon feed him here, it's about time that guy hjad somebody to serve a cross to anyway.

agreed.
Same could be said for Guevara, im sure both of em will be happy to have someone to receive those balls

[ag futbol]

I really don't think that's going to work, but i don't blame either Robert or Barrett for that. Just look at the chances he had in the climbing the ladder video on youtube.

Every team knows that we run the channel and then wif crosses into the box. They defend it quite easily. The impact did as much when they came to BMO field. We need a new path to the net.

[DigzTFC!]

Your right there are no guarantees, but Ali hasn't signed with MK Dons. Thats also a rumor. Even if he doesn't come, OBW or Tracy will probably come to MLS as both strongly considered Generation Addidas contracts last year.

How about this then:

Barret 23 (60K), Ibbe 17 (GA), Top Forward in Draft 21 (60k), Two other strikers with one being a DP.

Even if you don't have names slotted in these positions, it still works for the club going forward. If signing a 4rth division forward from spain that has scored 20 goals is mindblowing to some people, why don't we go sign Julian Uccello from Italy who's 21 and scored 18 goals in 24 games is a Canadian who plays in Serie D. Its because he has promise and will probably keep moving up.

4rth division is nothing really to get excited about. Its the equivalent of signing Rocco Placentino. A useful player that will come off the bench. I think TFC has enough depth in the bench and a lack of quality on the pitch

[ag futbol]

Generally I think that the draft can't be counted on for much. It's massively overhyped imo.

I agree this probably isn't that different from Uccello. All I can say about these guys is i'd rather have them on the bench as our 3rd or 4th striker as opposed to Jarred Smith or Andre Lombardo.

I'd be suprised if he factored in as anything more than an infrequent sub.

[DigzTFC!]

I agree the draft can't be counted on for much outside of the 1st round. 3 First round picks should equate to some good depth in the squad.

If we were to get OBW then play him as our number one stiker, we would have a problem. I see him as a project coming into the professional ranks.

Much like Julius James is not ready positionally to be a CB yet. He has the athletic abilities and needs to work on his passing. Striker is the one position in the draft that does well to transition to MLS.

I think there is still some players to be had.