Cutting Gilberto for Bradley was never a consideration.
The move was Bradley in, Laba either finaggled or out.
Cutting Gilberto for Bradley was never a consideration.
The move was Bradley in, Laba either finaggled or out.
I have to admit, Gilberto has a wonderful autograph, he is good in my books.
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I disagree. We had a press conference for his signing, his face was all over the team website. It's probably the first case of an MLS team signing a promising Brazilian player entering his prime years. Those kinds of players typically go to Portugal or other European teams. What kind of message are we sending to potential signings down the road if we toss out a million dollar signing, which we ourselves hyped up to our fans, before he even steps on the pitch?Originally Posted by Califax
It was a new management team coming in and trying to establish a new culture for the entire organization. We already looked like jokers after shipping out Urruti so quickly. Doing it again? Good luck ever signing another young South American.
In practical terms, yes, the option existed to scrap Gilberto and keep Laba. But realistically, it never was an option, not for a second.
The sole purpose of the last offseason was to get two DP strikers. Not a striker and midfielder.
Bradley was not even on the radar until well after we had signed both DP strikers, you don't turn down an offer to sign Bradely.
So please tell me how you can justify moving a recently signed DP player in Gilberto for Bradley, you cant. Laba is seen as part of the old regime(Payne) so he was easy to justify in moving, even though there doesn't really need to be a justification for moving him. As Notthesun said, another Urruti situation would be a disaster.
Bradley is seen as a direct upgrade to Laba and of course TFC wanted to desperately keep Laba and Bradley, that would be the best midfield combo in the league but at the end of the day we got a world class upgrade in Bradley.
Last edited by Richard; 04-14-2014 at 12:40 PM.
This isn't true. He was never sold as an upgrade to Laba and, as we know, he's a very different player than Laba.
I agree with everyone who says there was not really a practical choice - after selling Gilberto the way they did, Laba was likely the odd man out. But for me the question that will be answered by the end of the season, or maybe earlier, is was this smart?
I would take General Bradley over anyone else on this team, he is the type of player you build a team around. We all know how quickly the deal for MB came together, so things had to be dealt with in a quick manner. Yes it would have been ideal for the Reds to keep Laba around for the 2014 season but the reality is, they could not due to the transfer fee forcing him to be a DP this year.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Serious question, regardless of how he does.
Do you loan out Gilberto in the winter?
But we did do it again, with Laba. We signed him and shipped him out shortly after. We had to do it when we signed Bradley, but I don't think there is a huge difference to future transfer targets in perception between Gilberto or Laba going. Gilberto would have been a bit worse for optics in that we would have signed a player then shipped him out without playing. But players are going to pay attention to it either way.
Also - this has another issue in that it shines a light on the very different world of the single entity model of this league. Players outside of North America are not used to be traded around against their will. it's a fairly backwards concept to the majority of the football world.
I'd rather he take time off and come back to the full team together as a unit. We are not going to have a home game until May the next two season. We will need as much cohesion as possible to forestall going very deep into a hole points wise.
Nope - rest him and get him ready for pre-season.
May to March is a bit more then shortly and does not compare to Urruti at all. And is acceptable. Gilberto would have been a PR disaster and was never EVER considered. Nor should it have been.
I watched Gilberto a lot in the second half...he isn't the problem; the midfield was. So many times he was hugging the defensive line calling for the ball to be played into the space in front of him between the defenders...instead, every single time this happened, we'd pass the ball to the side or backwards; midfielders gotta get their heads up and see him!
I'm only thinking in practical terms, but I bet you all the money in my pocket, that discussion was had somewhere within MLSE. And I do agree it sends a bad message, but having the best possible team is a more important message. We would be panned by a few, it would ward a few people off to be sure, but when we win, everything takes care of its self. Better players come.
Gilberto, until he does something, will stand as one of the few "oops". I'm willing to bet, money aside, if we had Bradley and Defore first, it would Laba in Uniform and not Gilberto.
I agree Gilberto would have been a PR disaster for the front office with TFC supporters, based on the fact that he was signed by this FO and hyped up.
But I don't agree there is a material difference on the outside looking in for foreign players looking at TFC. We still signed a couple of promising young players from S. America and shipped them out (without their say) shortly after. That is what they will see. My point is that from this perspective, whether or not it was Gilberto or Laba is going to matter very little. Regardless, this was the price to pay to get Bradley, so it needed to be done. I also don't think this is going to make a huge difference in our ability to attract players. These guys are coming the the MLS for a steady pay check and we can offer that. We can also offer a chance to train and play with some top players as well.
If anything, the situation will draw attention to the arcane MLS rules and that in itself might make players question the move.
btw - I'm not and never have suggested that the FO should have moved Gilberto instead of Laba. I have always been on the side of keeping Gilberto.
Defoe was always the guy who would make his own chances. He didn't require precision service. That's how he was sold to us.
Anyone remember what was said about Gilberto? I don't
But so far - he's been given service and not capitalized - however, he has been a good distributor for others who have capitalized.
He feels more like a target man rather than a finisher
The intention was to start the season with three DPs. Two of those three were signed by Tim and Tim. The plan was Defoe, Gilberto and Laba as our DPs for this season. Then, the stars (and stripes?) aligned and along came Bradley. So Tim and Tim say "yes, please" and sign him. Now they have three DPs that are "theirs" and one who is left over from KP. They have the two DP strikers they promised us and the revised plan to start the season, once the Laba contract couldn't be fixed, becomes Defoe, Gilberto and Bradley as our DPs. That's why I am of the mind that Laba went because of Bradley, not Gilberto or Defoe. Up until the Bradley deal happens, Laba is in the plans, Bradley happens and he becomes the only logical odd man out in this scenario.
I understand the other point of view, but I don't agree that it would happen. It could technically have happened, sure, but not with Tim and Tim running the show.
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I doubt it. We have a serious need up front. Without Gilberto we would have been in line to start Dike, with aging DeRosario and Wiedeman being our 1st choices off the bench....
After the Dike injury, we'd be straight fucked at striker right now without having Gilberto. We needed a strong player up front, not two defensive minded mid's.
I'm not going to repeat the oft stated laundry list of excuses Gilberto has in front of him, they are simply ignored anyways. No patience or understanding in this city, perform today or fuck off. Welcome to Toronto.
We still would have needed a striker, but they may have taken another route to get one.
I get the distinct impression that many people on these boards have written off Gilberto after 5 games, one of which he didn't even play in. So far the DM position isn't the problem, so having Laba (although a moot argument) wouldn't solve our lack of goals without Bradley and Defoe in the lineup. It is way to soon to pass judgement.
The DP debate to me is a separate issue from whether Gilberto is a good player, which to me he obviously is. Give him time, he'll score goals.
Cut Gilberto who TFC paid 3 mil plus for. I somehow doubt this
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Would be a low end quality player based on cap restrictions. IMO - not good enough for the role that required filling.
To me you want a second striker with MLS goal scoring experience. There were MLSers who could score 10 + goals available out there. I always felt we were taking a real flyer on a guy without much of a track record. But anyway, what's done is done. Hopefully he gets one soon and the floodgates open.
Yup.
I guarantee you the conversation at the TFC front office after signing Bradley went like this.
"We could try to keep Laba, otherwise we'll have to move him."
"Right."
"Or we could cut Gil-"
"No."
This debate is such a bore to me. Listen guys, very little in football ever works out exactly as you planned. Maybe if Bradley had fallen into our laps a month earlier, we wouldn't have signed Gilberto. That's up for debate. What isn't is that there was only ever one potential odd man out in the situation we found ourselves in.
Bezbatchenko did the best he could, the only reasonable thing he could do, with the hand he was dealt. Which was a pretty fucking good hand.
And now back to Gilberto's expectations. So far, he's been showing signs that are promising, which I like. I am not going to even make a judgement on him until later in the season.
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
You got to give the lad time. You got to give the rest of the lads time to understand Gilberto and the type of runs/plays he makes. He hasn't played with the same centre mid pairing all season (I think. I may be wrong), which isn't ideal for a new striker. When the teams injuries settle down (they best settle down...), and you see the same XI starting week in week out, then you will see the real him.
Even saying that, he has had some pretty good opportunities so far, and hasn't looked too bad. Certainly better than DeRo has started this season, but thats another story.
The title of this thread reads like the start of an action plan for an underperforming staff lol
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I have a baaaad feeling that Defoe will see the injury wagon alot this year........so in hindsight i would take Gilberto, Laba and Bradley over Defoe.......that's right i said it.
ofcource if we can find a young 300k striker to fill the gap^^^
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