Yamil Asad comes to mind. Although one wonders why he keeps running though MLS clubs given he fills up the stat sheet
He is a right sided player, I corrected that.
His stats may or may not matter, he is playing on the backline. Depends on what he is being asked to do. Beita had no goals and 5 assists in all of 2017, and played a lot of wingback, theoretically an attacking position, but wasn’t in the way he was used.
Deleon is a utility guy, not a core piece. We may yet see a fair bit of him at RB.
I have no idea if Najar is still good. The injury thing is a legit worry. He mostly starts when healthy at Anderlecht. He was amazing when he left MLS, and he is still young.
I am just connecting a large number of dots. Could be coincidence, sure.
Gressel is an interesting one - they stopped negotiating a new contract. He would likely cost us a player. I still think they go with a TAM signing over there. Somebody who moves the needle offensively.
still think it will be a left winger.i dont know if it was confirmed that ali went back to Belgium yesterday was it.he may be in SA
Now that Alejandro Pozuelo is signed, sealed and delivered, Toronto FC GM Ali Curtis will be going back on the road — reportedly to South America — to see if he can acquire a couple of more players of quality using targeted allocation money (TAM).
From the Toronto Sun. I guess Manning was wrong about where Ali was headed.
I have never watched a Belgium league game. I understand the best Belgium players are playing in the EPL or elsewhere. Is that league on par with Serie B, or the second divisions in the other European countries? If yes, why is TFC harvesting players from a league that is already on par with MLS? (Poz still has to prove himself here).
Belgiums Jupiter league is on part with Portugal, France, Netherlands it's a secondary top league
Definitely better than Serie B
Belgian league is better than MLS by quite a bit. The top teams have quite a bit of money and participate in European competition. They’d safely win MLS every year.
In 2015, the average salary of a Belgian league player was € 253586, which would count the minnows as well. Anderlecht was on € 600000 on average. That will have risen quite a bit in the past few years.
My interview with Ryan Telfer (now on loan with York 9 FC) at the York 9 FC Pub night held last night in Brampton.
http://www.rocketrobinsoccerintoront.../19york078.htm
In manning's tsn interview he said Ali is flying out last night to finalize a player deal. Never said where he was going.
He then said they hope to sign a player from Europe in a couple weeks. So neither the sun nor manning are wrong. Ali could be flying to south America for that first player acquisition.
Manning said they see the Belgian league as similar in quality, style and physicality to MLS. They believe players will transition well to MLS.
Belgian league produces lots of talented players who move onto bigger leagues. In addition, Vazquez and Ciman both did well there and now Pozuelo and their back up DP in Hanni.
Buffery's article tonight interestingly said TFC is grooming Richie Laryea into a RB and signs are positive. So that may rule out a RB signing, and him and Deleon likely as RB back ups.
If we had a team like Genk we would steamroll MLS.
Belgian league has far better players, far higher average salaries, etc. Belgian teams tend to have quality young Belgian players (who won’t be going to MLS) and a bunch of mercenary players plying their trade or flops from other leagues who are dominating (VV, Pozo).
It’s not an equivalent. Not even close. It’s just a good place to buy Belgian league players of the year who aren’t young or Belgian and pay them more.
Genk and a couple others might finish in the top 5 in MLS because MLS has so much parity, but they would definitely not steamroll MLS clubs. The leagues are much closer then you think especially with the addition of TAM. Many MLS teams are fielding a roster where the average player makes 700 k - 1,000,000 USD. Sporting KC is a great example. MLS overall is probably a better league because of its size but even with the condensed size of the Belgium league, their quality of match’s are only slightly better. MLS is so underrated.
In terms of quality, Belgium A is close to the same tier as LIGA Mx.
And it’s not like Genk would just walk in and win the treble. TFC 2017 not ranking in the top 150 but Club Brugge ranked 65 on fifty thirty eight is such a JOKE
MLS isn’t as good as the Belgian league! I mean it's not that close.
The big difference is the team speed, especially with the younger players. The Hamiltons and Akinolas there are from every corner of the earth, and seem like Olympic level sprinters.
Plus it's the first stop for about 25 guys like VV and Pozo, guys who didn’t quite get the in the big leagues.
SKC's payroll is $10M, and it's scouting/academy/player acquisition setup probably costs another $5M. A club like Anderlecht is spending $25M on payroll and another $10-20M or something on player development.
Those are big gaps.
Genk looks pretty similar to a mid level Mexican team to me.
You noted Anderlecht but Anderlecht players are the highest paid in the league by far, with an average gross annual salary of €600,000, followed by Standard Liège (€366,000) and Club Brugge (€365,000).
Acedemies in Belgium are without a doubt better but the top end talents are in favour of MLS and the salaries are close. MLS does a good job of importing stars like Ibra, Martinez, Rooney which isn’t something to shrug your shoulder at because they literally change games vs young developing players prone to mistakes.
Exciting league, probably a small tier above MLS but it should be noted that I said there isn’t a large gap which is correct. It’s faster pace in weather that isn’t blazing hot, true. But If you think there is a large gap you are both way off
No. Those salary figures are from 2015. It’s now 2019.
Thinking pace is somehow dependent on the temperature of a country... dude, it’s winter half the year here and TFC is slow as molasses. The Belgian league plays while we’re covered in snow and it hasn’t benefited us in any way in terms of pace.
Absolute nonsense and you don’t watch the league so maybe you shouldn’t bother.
Thinking that pace is not dependent on a countries climate is moronic.
I’ve watched both leagues. If you want to see the difference in MLS pace, watch an MLS playoff match this November or games played at 8-14 degrees. This isn’t some conspiracy theory that temperature changes the game play and it’s not complex for most people. Playing in the winter also has its challenges.
LIGA mx has slower pace league then Belgium A as well. Are they a worse league? They are probably similar.
There acedemies are better but MLS is at a point where many teams can field a starting 11 where average players salary is 600 k + on but the DP spend on top end strikers is actually higher.
What is your actual point though? Because mine is that there isn’t as big of a gap as you think. Belgium league A and Liga MX are in a tier slightly above MLS. I think most people would agree with that.
What are you saying? I'm not trying to convince anyone that it's same level or equivalent. I am repeating what Manning said in an interview. The staff believe its similar in different ways, especially the physicality part which will help a player like Poz to transition to MLS.
Genk will likely be in Champions League next season so I think they win MLS. If they played MLS with Pozuelo, they win MLS handily. I think Genk and the other Europa League Belgian teams are in the running for top 5 spots in MLS with Atlanta in there somewhere. Players 1 to 5 might be comparable in talent between these teams and the top MLS teams but the 9th, 10th and 11th players in Belgium are much better technically and physically.
That said, there's more parity in MLS so if the bottom five MLS teams played the bottom 5 Belgian teams, MLS probably comes out ahead. These results probably hold true for secondary leagues like Scotland, Greece, Switzerland, etc.
I watch games when Gent plays because I follow Jonathan David and the level of Belgian league is very good.