Mind you, if it doesn't stop raining in California, signing people won't make much difference. They can barely practise right now, apparently, and have to do indoor drills.
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Mind you, if it doesn't stop raining in California, signing people won't make much difference. They can barely practise right now, apparently, and have to do indoor drills.
From Beezer’s article. As to be expected but interesting to see it “hinted” by Bradley. I wonder if it’s Ayo if they’ll get GAM for him or just his 600k or so off the books?
“Bradley expects some fierce competition at the forward position as Diomande, 32, joins veterans Jesus Jimenez and Ayo Akinola, as well as youngster Jordan Perruzza, in a fight for the starting forward spot. Bradley hinted that, when all is said and done, it’s likely that one of the forwards will be moved, likely before the regular season starts.”
Today's MLSsoccer.com article around about the teams that have a lot of offseason signings to do really showed me how we're not in that bad of a place right now. Of course it would be ideal that we had everyone in place already but we're in an ok place. Many big clubs have a lot more work to do than us. We've already signed 4 important contracts (Oso, Hedges, Vazquez and backup keeper in Romero).
As for the Bradley press conference today, I honestly find it so fascinating how different people read into what is said. To me his comment about wanting to finalize an agreement for a #1 keeper doesn't lead me to think we are any closer to signing Johnson then we were a week or two ago. Hopefully it happens but at the same time, I'm confident they also have multiple other targets as alternate plans, which BB as bluntly stated before. The GK contract may be the one that additional signings hinge on. If it's SJ, than that's a free transfer but if chooses to go elsewhere I can see us needing to possibly transfer someone in which has a salary cap impact.
Final thought and I know it doesn't belong in here per se but it will be quite interesting to see what happens to Cincy. They were looking pretty set up top with their front three but now multiple players could leave which would be a massive hole to fill. At least we're not in a situation right now where some of our key starters are on the bubble.
Keylor Navas is apparently available. Nottingham Forest are apparently going to make a move for him. Plan B if SJ doesn’t sign?
Oh boy. Frustrated. I am not enjoying SA Media. I will refrain from commenting any further on this specific MLS player until his move is officially confirmed; unless speculation suddenly involves TFC! Just when you thought his future/destination was settled...
Translation:
'When it seemed that Alexander Callens was going to play in #Boca , the interest of #GironaFC appeared. The center-back has the pass in his possession after being released from #NYCFC and could end up in Spain. The Peruvian is a coveted player. [@DiMarzio]'
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/RinconMLS/status/1615683341453299712
Agree; expecting some outgoing and incoming activity. However, I may be in the minority that I did not appreciate Bob's comments and positions in that Presser. Too savvy. Too much corporate speak; fair enough, he likely was in Sporting Director mode. Still, no directness. Lots of guarded language/phrasing; I felt it was all/more for plausible deniability. I am a supporter of Bob and value his moniker of ''The Builder' not as being derogatory as originally intended but having historical demonstrable intent and significance. And yet, I am waning. In particularly his further/followup remarks involving Adama Diomonde do not sit well with me at all. So the player is in TO; working on Visa/s. Bob has acquired him and seems to be making statements of support and expectation on pure speculation? Implications of being a challenger to AA and JJ or to being a super sub kinda like TR. If AD has not really played in the past few years after MLS are there match tapes that have been reviewed? Did TFC Scouting delegate any roller-blades? Seems Bob has had only... paraphrasing... 'good conversations' with the player? WTF? I though he was at least already in camp and Bob saw something in the player; has made an informed judgement that he has something to offer still. That, by all accounts has not even happened. Seems there is a lot of trust between BB and AD. I suspect he will have to own this decision similar to Chris Armas/Ali Curtis/Bill Manning owning Dom Dwyer.
Seems we were not suitably interested - or he not interested in TFC. There hasn’t been a shred of anything suggesting he’d come here. Other than that he’s a free agent centre back and we need one of those. Boca or Girona sound like more his thing, and why not?
But anyway, it sounds like we don’t need a centre back and haven’t for some time with Rosted. Is he still in camp? If so you’d have think he wouldn’t be there is he wasn’t expecting to stay.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/mcgrathmike/status/1615669486195208192
Toronto FC is an MLS team, right? RIGHT?!?
Low value but started a season for the oft relegation-threatened Wolverhampton Wanderers, which is still Premier League quality. Very young, plays all the midfield positions, even if we blow a mil in transfer it's still TAM/GAM/xAM.
Great Oso interview on footy prime today where he talks about realizing how there's a whole other level of football to aspire to once he played against it. He also mentions "the kids" and talks about the club's handling: they're treated well, but they have to show value. If they can't, they go, basically.
I have to wonder about this in recent years - for the most part, I'd probably agree that TFC Academy and 2nd Teamers probably get a lot of advanced treatment other club's 2nd stringers could barely dream of, but where the development lies is that up until Bob, our approach may have been too 'positive' - a lot of kids that think they're the next Davies without showing anything on the pitch. Hopefully we don't overcorrect but it seems like the tone has shifted slightly.
I’ll blame Vanney for awarding far too little time to assess players. He was completely deficient in that category.
Other than that, the Issue lies below the first team IMO. I don’t blame Bob or any other first team coach we’ve had
I’m not sure they really know what they’re doing down there at the academy or TFC2. If you’re a youth coach in a pro setup you should live-and-die by the players you produced. What do these guys have to show? I think whatever they would hold up as their “best” at this stage would be at most a below-average professional or an unproven one. Not good enough, especially with the resources they have.
Part of the problem is probably the constant switching of philosophies with TFC manager changes and the revolving door of academy directors and systems. From the Dutch experiment to now it's never really been stable with a style of play and philosopy. Seems better over the past couple years but if they sack Bob then it'll probably be changed again.