He is the sporting director, so he has a lot to do with getting the players he wants. Maybe Manning will deal more with the actual negotiations, but Bradley is the guy putting this roster together.
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Just here below one is looking at roughly 2 mil. That could translate into 5-6 very decent additions.
[Toronto FC has not exercised options on goalkeeper Kevin Silva; defenders Omar Gonzalez, Eriq Zavaleta, Rocco Romeo, and forward Patrick Mullins.
Defender Julian Dunn; midfielders Liam Fraser, Nick DeLeon, Tsubasa Endoh and forwards Erickson Gallardo and Ayo Akinola will be out of contract at the end of the year.]
At least Dwyer is only getting 80K so its not a huge hit on the budget, but two guaranteed years was just dumb.
Dom Dwyer will soon be our starter. No worries.Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/tombogert/status/1466155385878941707?s=20
That sucks for us but it sounds great for Ayo. I wonder which clubs are interested.
Remember the young guys like Dunn, Akinola, and Fraser are not free agents, so they can't go elsewhere in MLS without a team trading for them. They can go internationally I think, but not anywhere else in MLS. There was something about you can give those guys "bona-fide offers" to keep their rights. There's also the re-entry draft where those players who don't get bonagfide offers go into. At least I think that's how it works. MLS rules are complicated
(Edit: Yep, that is how it works, https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2021-mls-re-entry-process-rules-procedures )
I don't think MLS allows one year deals. I think they require all deals to be at least 2+1. So Dwyer was always known to be on a multi year deal (he also wasn't on the Free Agent list the MLSPA released weeks ago).
Replacing Silva, I wonder if they get Andreas Vaikla from TFC2 to replace him. 24 years old. He played in Europa League and got 3 caps for Estonia (last one in 2017 when he was 20 - so technically he can still switch back to Canada if he regains his potential).
With Omar gone we are down to just one guy over 6’1.(not counting Bono) I hope our new CB have some height
Can't believe we're in a position where Akinola is unsigned heading into the off-season. What was Curtis doing, how is it not priority #1 to extend him so we can collect a transfer fee if he wants to go to Europe. Ridiculous.
Eh, I think he's over-rated for his age. Not clinical with his finishing, movement has improved and running off back line has improved but generally average, decent speed but not huge. Strong, but not great in the air.
I just don't see getting too excited about him, nine-goal run notwithstanding. For TAM level money, if that's what he expects, we can do a lot better.
If we can take advantage of the new youth DP, we should sign Peruvian international Aron Sanchez. He's only 18 and already one of the top center halfs in that domestic league. Euro clubs sniffing around but he has one of those three-party ownership deals, which has scared them off so far.
https://www.transfermarkt.us/aron-sa...spieler/662695
Why does everyone want Edwards back so bad? That dreaded nostalgia popping up again or am I missing something? He was decent when he was here but there has to be a reason he isn't able to stick with a team since leaving TFC.
When he left here he was one of our most promising youth players but had a rep as an arrogant dickwad. I don't know if that has changed or not, but he was allegedly very much of the "if I'm this good, why aren't I in the first team" attitude, same as Fraser, only moreso.
I mean, he's very, very technically gifted. At that point, if a player doesn't stick, it's a perception that they're unteachable or a locker-room issue.
If they receive a bona-fide offer they do Not go into Re-entry Draft. (see quoted text from MLS 2021 Reentry draft rules page below) They only go into re-entry draft in option declined or out of contract and do not get offered a contract. Akinola, Fraser, and Dunn won't go if we give them an offer and given we're negotiating with Akinola seems like we would have given him a bona-fide offer already
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2021-...les-procedures
Quote:
Key parameters:
Players who are eligible to be selected in the Re-Entry Draft include Players who are at least 22 years old and have a minimum of one year of MLS service who are out of contract and did not receive a Bona Fide Offer or whose contract options were not exercised by their clubs.
^ incorrect part was the bolded one, theres no such thing as having to trade an out of contract player for him to go somewhere else
Again, the statement was that they can't go elsewhere in MLS without a team trading for them. That is not correct with the existence of the end of year waivers and re-entry draft, meaning these players can indeed go somewhere else with these two processes and without having to be traded.
With the Frei trade Seattle got the opportunity to pick up his option year or negotiate a contract. If that didnt happen he would have gone to re-entry
You keep bringing up the Re-Entry Draft and Waiver Draft, but as I said with the quoted text from MLS in my last post, if we give them a bona-fide offer, they don't go into the Re-Entry Draft.
And as for the Waiver Draft
Quote:
Key parameters:
The Waiver Draft consists of players who have been waived by their clubs but don’t meet the minimum years of service requirement for the Re-Entry Draft or Free Agency – mostly young players who are relatively new to MLS.
- Note: There may be players whose options were declined (and are not Re-Entry Draft eligible) who do not appear among the Waiver Draft pool because teams have expressed interest in re-signing the player and/or bringing them into preseason. Therefore, they are not forced to waive the player in this case.
So, if TFC is interested in re-signing any of those young players they will not be eligible for either draft because apparently in MLS you still have to waive players you don't want if they're out of contract. Obviously, if TFC doesn't extend them an offer they will participate in those Drafts, but if they want to keep them, they won't. That's what I've been saying this entire time. TFC can keep them if they want If they don't want to keep them, that's a completely different story.
Ben Spencer was gone from MLS for years, but Real Salt Lake still had his MLS rights (ie. the Right of First Refusal Rights), which is what we'll get if we give them a bona-fide offer. Neither the Waiver Draft or Re-Entry Draft are relevant if they're not eligible for them. A guy like Omar obviously who we declined the option will go through it and can change teams through it, but Akinola/Dunn/Fraser will be exempt if TFC wants to keep them. So the only way left for them to change teams is to trade their First Refusal Rights.
Stefan Frei wasn't in the 2013 MLS Re-Entry Draft (see the list of players). The 2013 MLS Re-Entry Draft was December 9. We traded him to Seattle on December 10 AFTER the Re-Entry draft was over, so no he would not have participated in it because he didn't. We had to trade his rights for them to sign him
Molinaro going full on "these guys wanted pity when what they really needed was a kick up the butt" in his article today.
Worth a read
I think it is unfair to paint guys like Raheem or Fraser as arrogant because of this club’s consistent inability to promote and support its own talent. You don’t have to go too far back to a point in time where even Oso was feeling like there was a lack of support for him. Our academy products should feel more than justified in being anxious and at times irate that they don’t get more minutes.
Akinola led the team in scoring by a wide margin in 2020 only for a lame duck Jozy to start in his place against Nashville. It’s very likely that in 2022 this club looks to secure a DP #9, if Akinola gets decent advice he’ll be gone.
I don't want comment on Raheem's attitude because I don't know anything about it. I do remember 2017 when we lost him, I remember that the challenge was on who to protect and TFC decided to leave him unprotected because they didn't think LAFC would select him because he would take up an international slot for them so they protected all the young American guys like Zavaleta/Hagglund/Delgado/Bono and not "leaving him unprotected for attitude issues". They just didn't anticipate Montreal pulling a fast one and getting LAFC to pick him for them and then trade him to them. Although Edwards has played for 5 different MLS teams in the last 5 years, not the best look. Are there non-playing issues behind that, no idea, but it's something that does give one pause.
Glad you got it and corrected the original statement Remember the young guys like Dunn, Akinola, and Fraser are not free agents, so they can't go elsewhere in MLS without a team trading for them.
2013 re-entry was dec 12-18 according to that link...trade was announced dec 10 but probably happened a couple days before as is often the case with some roster decisions
Done with this subject now moving on
With Edwards 5 teams in 5 years has a good point and a bad in it...getting contracts from five teams shows he really has something interesting to offer on the field at mls level...but at the same time there could be off the field or attitude or work ethic issues or simply a downside to his game...in that case it could be the defensive side...brings a lot offensively but can he really defend at mls level
I kept saying that all along in every post. I didn't correct my original post (it was there all along - check what you quoted me in your first post) If they got a bona-fide offer.
In my original post, I said they're not free agents. They can't leave if they get a bonafide offer without a trade. Then immediately after in the same paragraph I said "There's also the re-entry draft where those players who don't get bonafide offers go into"
So no, I didn't just get that now, I said that in my first post. If we bonafide offer them, they stay, if they don't they can go to another mls team via the re-entry (but only if they don't get a bonafide). You just said I was wrong over and over trying to get me to say something I already said and explained in my first paragraph. Maybe you just didn't like the way I worded it which was basically 'they can't go anywhere without a trade, unless we don't bonafide offer them'. The unless (ie the exception) part just came a sentence or two later
Edwards has been with a different team for each of the last 5 years, if you take out Montreal and Toronto that's 3. That's still a red flag.
Seems like teams are willing to roll the dice because he has talent but clearly there is an issue there. Let's not do the same.
Edwards again?
Nope
We got enough winger types, thank you very much. I see no reason to consider him an upgrade on Endoh.
Winger? Hes more of a full back these days and we need 1 or 2 of them
Well one at least depending on what happens with Ritchie
Just went through his stats...in the past couple seasons he didnt start any games at the back in a back four in mls...the one game he did start at left back in a back four was in usl and the result was a 0-5 loss with him getting subbed after the third...all three goals started from his side...that answers A LOT...highlights below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT_DHWeTMWA
I was at a TFC game in Ottawa in 2017, field level seats. Raheem was coming off a series of games that had people calling him an MLS Best XI player. Hard to remember just how highly thought of he was then.
I never saw Vanney before or since as upset as he was at Raheem that night. Part of it was my front row seat for the screaming, which was nonstop. I never really figured out what exactly the issue was, but Raheem couldn’t or wouldn’t do what Vanney wanted. TFC lost that game 2-1 and the obvious goat was this DB that had been called up for the game, Mitch Taintor
I don’t think Raheem ever got his spot back with us after that game.
BB has a much better handle than we do on him, and I wondered on here when he went to LAFC whether MB had anything to do with that. Raheem had a lot of appearances for BB last year, so this would be a pretty straightforward call.
Sometimes one coach can handle a difficult player that other coaches can't.
Edwards was on $96k this year and played the most minutes of his career, converting to more of a fullback role. If he's willing to come on at a similar salary and Bob wants him, I won't argue with that. We need quality depth pieces on reasonable salaries.
I would agree but it's not like we're the only team to jettison him once he wore out his welcome. When you see a player get dumped while on low wages at trash teams like the Impact & Fire while being clearly good enough for their rosters then you have to question why. Same back in the day with Gerba. Guy had talent but bounced around everywhere and would never stick. There's always a reason for it and it's usually attitude related.
That being said BB is the kind of manager that can reign in attitude issues.
As Amir noted, he played almost exclusively winger this year, advanced enough that he was listed as a forward on LA's roster.
He started 15 games and had 29 shots on goal... and no goals.
He had two assists.
He was okay as a wingback at Montreal and Chicago, nothing special. I imagine BB moved him up to try to take advantage of his dribbling and speed. He also seems to have put on quite a bit of muscle (and aged exponentially; the dude looks 40).
I saw him play twice, the entire team looked out of sorts from missing players but he was dangerous. Just didn't amount to much. Mo Babouli in a higher gear, basically.
Mo has looked pretty good for Forge this year, would've been a decent backup. Created some good goals, scored some good ones. Lower caliber competition, but it wasn't the speed of MLS that doomed him after 15 odd games, it was the lack of end product. Seems to have honed that somewhat.
Edwards seems to always perform *okay*. For the Loons, the fans liked him but the club didn’t want him back.
Can’t help but think it’s something else that keeps him from staying on with teams and maybe not his performances.
That was mentioned when we moved him out and it may or may not have changed but in the end, we're wasting time and effort debating the merits of an average (at best) MLS back up. Whether BB wants him or doesn't, a player like him isn't going to make much difference here.
Instead of Edwards (26 years old), I feel it's more likely TFC will sign Luca Petrasso and/or Kobe Franklin from TFC2. Petrasso is 21 and was the only player to play all 28 games (27 starts) for TFCII and is a Left Back. Franklin is 18 was nominated for Young Player of the Year and Defender of the Year and basically after the 5th game of the season or so, started every match (24 games played, 24 starts, missed one match due to red card suspension) and is a Right Back. Both were very good at getting up the lines and swinging in crosses (Franklin had 6 assists and 2 goals, Petrasso had 3 assists and 1 goal).
At 26, Edwards probably is who he is now - a serviceable starter/impact reserve. At 21 and 18, Petrasso and Franklin have more room to grow.
Andy Rose (Bob Bradley's son in-law) is a free agent https://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/whi...ster-decisions