Neither does finishing at the bottom of the table though....
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No but at this point of the season it's about selling hope and "entertainment". Signings to attract a certain ethnic group is also a solid technique that they're banking on.
Rumored so far in this demographic have been Insigne at forward & Chelini at defense. Which would sell more memberships? Which will cause the media stir that they long for? That's all they care about for now and showing ambition will help sell the hope that next year we'll right the ship and get back to having some success.
Yeah I get that and the short sighted view that they could possibly have but you can't outscore a bad defence and any flashy star you bring in to sell shirts won't sell memberships for more than one year if it fails miserably and we end up bottom of the table again. They need to play the long game here if they want to be successful again and have multiyear success. I am not saying get a DP CB or anything but we can't have another year where our actual contracted and healthy CB like Zavs sits on the bench while Bradley fills in on CB because we have nothing else. As long as they don't ignore our defence I say go ahead with whatever flash they want to bring in to sell memberships as long as they are not toxic to the rest of the team. I watch Napoli every week for years and I have to say I can't see Insigne being happy here though.
I doubt he would be either. Another Solteldo. I personally don't want Insigne, I would rather us target younger players who will buy in better but they don't sell tickets.
As for the defense:
I am sure Curtis is thinking "No worries Billy, you get the star DP and I will get us the defenders we need to get us back to the top!"
"2 weeks" pass and nothing is done. Curtis re-signs Zavaleta & Gonzalez and says continuity is important for roster development and the chance to have two current and former international players with experience is better than what was available in the "Covid" market.
I think the original Giovinco signing was pretty amazing DP signing that is hard for the club to replicate. He improved the team performance and scored a bunch of goals as well as sold tickets and made the club more marketable.
Many of the MLS DPs don’t succeed in both areas. They either are marketing exercises or improve team performance but not both. He was very special at that time.
If Giovinco is brought in he will be 35 at the start of next season and will not of played a game in over 8 months.
We need to purge all thoughts of what 2017 was from this team.
Don't purge the people as they are now.
Just purge the idea we are getting back to that with any players from that group being now in the form they were then.
Like, seriously, the only guy still with the team who is better now than they were then is Oso.
I'll wait for the contract details to judge the Gio move. Get him in on a small contract and have him be a bit part player and I like it. TAM or DP and front office have 100% lost their minds and learned nothing from the Jozy deal
^ yeah, I doubt Giovinco gets off the couch for anything less than a million a year.
The board is really sleep at the switch here. This would be a perfect time to fire Manning and Curtis and find a competent set of managers who would have a good amount of flexibility to make the changes they need for a quick rebuild.
But instead, we’re sticking with a group that really doesn’t show signs of having the vision of doing the right things. This could really set us back.
Italy finished second in their group so they missed the automatic qualification spot and will now go to the playoffs which is 12 teams with only 3 ultimately qualifying...so its more unlikely than likely that they qualify for the world cup...if anything chances of Insigne joining are now higher
This one says he's declined to discuss terms with us and is now being eyed by newly-rich Newcastle.
https://insidefutbol.com/2021/11/15/...s-side/537121/
Insigne wont happen. Have look at someone mid 20's stapled to Milan, Inter or Juve's bench...
Once Newcastle gets relegated we can swoop in and claim Insigne. ;)
Anything close to a million for Gio is ludicrous. Absolutely bonkers. $100K player at most, I don't care what he sells off the pitch, he is washed up and as someone said will not have played for 8 months at the age of 35.
We're right back in the dark ages like with Mo.
Yeah I agree. I could actually see Newcastle massively overpaying to get him in in January. Although they really aren't bad up front. Wilson and Saint-Maximin are pretty decent. They need better defending, but as we know well, defending doesn't sell tickets or intent of new owners.
This is more like the Anselmi era than Mo. Mo never got players to appease fans or sell tickets. All that happened under Ansemli's watch; the CMNT experiment with Gerba/JDG, the Dutch experiment, Mista. Everything that was done in his era was for selling season's tickets and ramsom packs specifically. We look like that again. Target Italy at all costs to bring the Italian community back on board.
I think it's a good idea to target players from Italy (Serie A). MLS has not had a lot of Serie A players in the league, but more times than not, the ones who have come over have done very well. They seem to understand the style of football much easier than others.
If we want international flair for a manager, what about Nesta?
https://football-italia.net/nesta-pr...-over-serie-a/
He's played in MLS and Managed in USL and it sounds like he would be open to coming back to North America
He knows the complications in roster selection. Seems to have an understanding that you can't always just buy your way to a trophy
He hasn't done poorly as a manager. Never been relegated, usually finishing in the upper part of the table, but losing in playoffs.
I'm assuming he has good connections and relations in Italy, so getting a player or two to top off a roster similar to how Vanney did with French players is a strong possibility.
Kamal Miller is what Ali and Bill think Mavinga still is
Amusing.
Check out this tweet at [URL]https://twitter.com/martyn_bailey/status/1460805116915814408?s=21[/URL]
Go and get Eustaquio now to replace Bradley in the mid and if need be to free up more cap then trade Delgado.
Soteldo has been posting some weird cryptic stuff on Instagram and TFC seems like they are operating with the idea of having an open DP spot.