I think this is honestly close to legacy redefining if true - this contract was AWFUL for us and somehow if this works out, Manning will have gotten out of it AND improved the team dramatically.
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He was in scoring form and quick in the 2019 final, so in that sense was a “Jozy” level player. It’s harsh to blame his injuries on his fitness levels before that because there is no evidence whatsoever to support that point of view, and lots to show otherwise. In fact it is more likely that his muscle pulls were the result of over training as he gained muscle and bulked up over time.
In 2020 he wasn’t at the level expected. No question. But it’s also important to note that he had a chronic ankle injury that required surgery in 2021. Ankle injuries can make it difficult to train, certainly to the level required because riding a bike doesn’t get you to soccer professional level running fitness. The automatic assumption that he was lazy is even lazier.
Either way, he needs a training camp if he is going to play somewhere. It could well be that that ankle has reduced his mobility and quickness enough that he retires. We aren’t in a position to know that.
If we can pull off a Soteldo/Salcedo swap, it would be a really good way of managing our salary budget. Acquiring Salcedo would require a transfer fee. If we sell Soteldo we get no additional budget space from his transfer fee. If we do a swap, we avoid any transfer fee for Salcedo, and then Tigres can sell Soteldo to someone in South America.
Maybe this is the new market inefficiency in MLS. Sign a DP, then swap them to another team for a good player thus avoid a transfer fee and the cap hit that comes with it.
From Bob Bradley on 1050AM on November 24th:
It's hard to argue that his lack of fitness doesn't affect his injury status. Earlier in 2017, that Giovinco trainer said he needed to change his workout regimen to prevent these types of muscle strains and pulls and gave him the tools to do it. And he stopped bothering to do it or his body has quit on him and in that case there's no point in him training or anything and he should just retire. If it's the former then it doesn't matter if that trainer is still employed or not. I tore my MCL and was given a routine and I stopped attending physio when it wasn't covered anymore. Didn't mean I just quit all I was shown. I just did it on my own. That's where Jozy's attitude and work ethic come into question and there should be no question on whether he has been doing enough as a DP level player and a team leader.Quote:
Bob Bradley doesn’t feel Altidore is putting in the necessary effort in fitness, doesn’t understand why this would be, but will have discussion with Altidore
And Bradley refering to the Jozy situation as "a cloud that lingers" isn't the type of thing any sensible person would allow back into the team. His attitude has caused enough damage already. Let him train at home in his gym. Pretty sure he can afford a trainer.
Opps! Wasn't clear enough in the thought I was trying to convey... that TFC is not even mentioned and not in contention for the player as of a few days ago by some European reporting and media...
Apparently, no longer the case, fingers and toes crossed. A nice piece of swap business if true.
TRANSFER JOCKEY BEEF
The Will Forbes vs Michael Singh heat on Belotti is hilarious
We’ll continue to disagree. He’s a legend and his injuries are very unfortunate indeed. And I’m certainly not blaming him for the problems with Armas. Half the Man U dressing room is having the same issue.
Regardless, if he is going to play somewhere he needs a training camp.
I have followed both of these guys for a while. Forbes misses a lot and Rollins does as well but in this window there is no comparison. Whether it's good guesses and/or luck I have no idea, but Forbes is batting near .1000 and Rollins is pretty far south of the Mendoza line.
I'm not sold on Belotti coming either because he's 28 and has options but the wildcard is money. Some guys want to stay home and play in European competitions or go chase some bucks wherever. I don't know much of Belotti besides watching him play so I have no idea if money talks for him or if he has continental ambitions. For me, this is totally up in the air and I bet it will drag out a long, long time. One thing I bet Forbes is 100% wrong about is his overuse of the word "SOON".
It's not our job to get him ready for wherever he plays next. Nobody is giving us anything for him and he will be bought out so him working out a training regimen for his next team is his problem, not ours.
From what was reported he had problems with Vanney too but Vanney just told the other players to ignore him and leave him to go play on his own. He just didn't push it to the Armas level because it would destabilize the squad.
Supposedly he is a "Catfisher" that has taken over the Moniker of "Will Forbes". He is "just" a "boy" in his Mother's basement that consolidates rumours from round the Football world so that he can be seen as an "Insider".
Fair, I guess. But he has been right on the ball this off season, so maybe this "boy" faked it until he made it and now has legit sources. I would think - if he does have sources - that they are on the Bob Bradley side, as "Will Forbes" is based in the US, and he hadn't got TFC rumours as correct as this off season.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If we get Salcedo in, that ticks another major item off the list. The only remaining must-have transfer would be at striker, which it looks like we have plans to deal with.
Otherwise, I think there is benefit / flexibly to see who is up for their job and address other positions in the July window. Unsettling the squad too much might not be a benefit.
Anyone join the Nottingham Forest facebook group. Someone there posted a video from a kid in the US (I'm assuming US because of the accent) wearing a TFC jersey giving his assessment of Richie. His analysis of Richie was pretty bang on. The guy is clearly very knowledgeable about TFC. Not sure why but his face keeps coming to my mind as you all talk about Will Forbes.
This “Sources” thing on rumours that are already out there is an interesting business model for guys trying to become the next Romano. Even better if there are 2-3 guys in different markets using each other to drive content.
It definitely drives clicks and, eventually, I guess you hope that agents maybe will start talking to you, even “using” you.
If it winds up not happening, well, the dog barks but the caravan moves on.
Re the Bellotti rumours….
they spoke to him a while go to gauge his interest. At the time it was shot down as his desire is/was to play in CL. That being said I know they reached out again after the Insinge signing.
I think he will hold out to stay in Europe and keep our offer as an option or leverage against other teams.
side note who would want to live in Newcastle? When you have significantly better options?
Oh sure somebody talked to an agent or Tigres, who wanted it known that there is an auction happening on Salcedo. That part feels real. That's also how Neil Davidson got enough to run with.
It's this “he's coming: confirmed” part that has my attention. It's almost like having multiple guys do it means no single guy wears it if it isn’t true, which means nobody gets discredited. You live to fight again. That's the neat bit that is new.
In the meantime, look at the clicks and follows all these guys are driving the last two weeks… this takes chutzpah. I am genuinely impressed.
Here's a thread on twitter outlining his extensive efforts to prove he isn't fake, which he clearly is.
https://twitter.com/firetransfers/st...13976933232654
Every time someone who has zero real-world media experience quotes "sources" and they have less than, say, 100,000 supporters, ask yourself why they would be someone that a person at MLSE would leak to, rather than leaking to a major media agency with major coverage. A leak is designed to get attention, and leaks generally go to the people who get the most. That's never these guys.
Also, it was reported out of Mexico yesterday that a part-trade deal might be in the works with Tigres, which is why we were all speculating (perhaps praying) it would be Jozy. Everything since then is just a combination of what we already know and speculation. It can only be one of two players, as we know who needs to go.
So... yeah, just all reeks of one guy (usually Fabrizio Romano, an actual reporter) gets a leak out there, a bunch of fan sites and aggregators pick it up and run with it and because it came from overseas, and most people don't search Google News for keywords, they know they an claim it as a 'scoop' or 'exclusive' or 'leak' because most people here haven't seen it yet.
The only reason it seems more reliable than guys just making it up is because they're taking the info from actual reporters, overseas, who do the real work.
Lots of people use pennames. They don't generally go to the effort of cutting-and-pasting over their grad certificate to prove the person is real, or claiming they live in a different city from their actual location.
Also, the same debunkers point out in another thread that among his followers were thousands of fake accounts originating in Russia.
His real name is in the thread, he was pretty clearly found out more than a year ago.