The Auro defending though, yikes. He's great as a winger in a 3-5 when main responsibility is defending wide spaces, but as a FB in a 4-3 he often makes defensive mistakes in the box.Originally Posted by DinamoTFC
The Auro defending though, yikes. He's great as a winger in a 3-5 when main responsibility is defending wide spaces, but as a FB in a 4-3 he often makes defensive mistakes in the box.
Letting VdW back into the squad isn't a second chance, it's a 5th or 6th chance for him. How many managers has he had a falling out with now over his career? How many good teams have decided he's not needed despite his talent?
I'm not surprised he wants back into the team, he's probably noticed how nobody is lining up to get him anymore.
I’m not sure if it would ever occur to him that he needs an attitude adjustment and start working harder. Guess what happens when Rose Bertram decides to dump him?
Bingo
Exactly. I like him as a winger only, not a fullback.
When you’re more concerned about your streetwear company than your performance on the pitch those things tend to happen...
Beyond everything else with VDW the main thing is that Auro > VDW
Yeah Auro has a few issues defending at times but he has improved a little over last season. VDW is hopeless. Who would want a guy that played throughout the campaign that saw us concede the most goals in our history? And most if it came through him.
Spoke to someone in the media yesterday for TFC.
-Regarding TAM- TFC Looking to have players in by April.
- says they offered Seba 32$ mill over 4 years. Upped their offer from $5 to $6 million ( ads up to 28 mill from 25 not 32 )Says management felt like they made Seba a lot of money .
Seba wanted to play here but was being unrealistic.
Everyone thought he would be here.
- spoke about hitting on many signings , then missing on Aketche/ VDW.
Mentioned VDW trains after first team, is a very nice guy but lacks.focus and intensity in pitch.
- mentions VV was hurt before he came to TFC nothing to do with BMO pitch.
- possibly signing Bradley to a TAM and bringing in a DP.
-management is investing a lot into the academy , with a focus on developing players not in the XI.( Curtis MO)
- Looking to move away from relying heavily on one person to make the team go.
- Podcast 1hr long going into details of the pozuelo drama- with manning and ali I think - mentions they learned a lot more then they thought they knew
- bez leaving made sense, home town,to wife, kids, new stadium , number 1 guy vs number 2
Anyone know when Pozuelo is getting to Toronto? Need a good airport welcome....
Pozuelo landing today
What time
No idea.. this is what I have been told.. not to sure if there is any factual truth behind it..
It would be nice and make sense, during international break that he joins us and trains with us.
Interesting - I was hoping Bradley to TAM and DP would be a play they would make. And the Seba thing is... what, we offered him 8 over 4?!?
This is just speculation, but I'm really starting to believe the main problem with Seba is his agent. I think the guy is probably one of the biggest d-bags on the planet (after some of the worst dictators, etc.). I mean, just look at him. And look at all the shit he was constantly digging up while Seba was here (China, etc.)
I think Seba gets really shitty advice because his agent is only focussed on getting a fat paycheque for himself.
How can you blame the agent for doing his job?
If Seba wanted to stay he would have been reasonable and accepted the offer.
He came to TFC for the money, he left for the money, and there is nothing wrong with either situation. He put TFC back on the map as a destination for players, gave us a championship, and created great memories.
Yep, you’d have to be relatively unfamiliar with European football agents to assume this situation was worse than anywhere else.
The Agent’s job, especially when a player is entering the twilight of their career, is to make them the maximum amount of money and secure their future (aka making them lots of money).
MLS was/is referred to as a “retirement league” precisely for this reason, and without the payday very few players who could still play in Europe would be playing here at all with a few exceptions. The idea that young talent would come here is because... they’ll make way more money here.
A player who can play at higher levels for more money isn’t going to come to MLS, unless it’s because they’re homesick, will earn more money here, or see it as an outlet that is beneficial to revive their career. Or a combination.
He came to TFC for more than money. He came to play and be a star. He did, and was. We will never see his like again.
TFC did not offer him $32 Million over 4 years, that’s nonsense. They said as much. If they were going to offer him that, they could have exercised the option and kept him here two seasons at $14 million. I, and others, thought they should have done that if they could get a deal for the two out years at the time. Many disagreed but no one: TFC, media, or in the Boards suggested that they had offered close to that - certainly not more. There must have been a misunderstanding in the conversation, it isn’t remotely possible.
The option was mutual so no they couldn't have just picked it up without Seba agreeing.
Yes, being a permanent fringe/bench player who was seen as perhaps a squandered talent probably makes someone want to go do something easier in order to become the highest paid Italian player in the entire world until Pellè moved to China for a 16€ million salary.
Being a top player in a lower-tier league and making boatloads of cash is basically the best choice for a fringe player in terms of what an agent’s job involves: make the player money.
I love Seba, love what he did here, love what the team accomplished with his performances, and he’s permanently a legendary player in my heart...
But he came here for the money over anything else. He could have gone to other sides and played, but no one would offer the salary TFC would. That’s why he left here for buckets of cash and finish up his career securing those buckets of cash for his future and family...
Not all of these players are the same. Pirlo for example was finished when he came over to MLS, but David Villa and Wayne Rooney came here just outside their "prime" but still at an extremely high level. Wayne Rooney scored a hat-tick this week and scored 10 goals for Everton in the Premier League the season before coming over. He's at a very high level and is close to 29 year old Giovinco level. Age is obviously nice and all, but it's about productivity not age. There are tons of players that will be Giovinco "tier" for MLS and TFC in the future.
Those that think MLS is a retirement are just factually wrong, considering the average age of MLS players are younger then the average age of premier league players. It's ok to have guys like Rooney and Zlatan they can still play in the top leagues on the planet. Pretty sure Huddersfield could really use Zlatan or Rooney or right now.
Last edited by Defoe; 03-18-2019 at 09:22 PM.
Pirlo was playing in the CL for Juve before he ended up at NYCFC...
MLS isn’t a “retirement home,” but it earned the moniker because many players came here for big paydays at the tail-end of their careers. They still are. However, it’s still definitely a “make more money than you would have made where you were” league.
You can discount bizarre signings like Zlatan or Gaitan because the Garbcounting, NYCFC oil state conglomerate transfers, and China funny money aren’t internally consistent. For just about every “good” or “big” (not necessarily the same thing) signing the players are coming here for the money.
Agree, this $32M story is bogus.
The facts are actually pretty much established. Manning and Seba's stories do not contradict each other. Seba wasn’t going to take less than the USD 7M he'd been making. He viewed that as taking a discount to stay (which is true if compared to playing in Saudi). Manning wanted him to take something less (how much less we do not know).
Manning's business case is that Pozo will cost him ~$18M for 3 years (if TFC can sell him for $3-5M in the final year), and getting the 27 year old Belgian player of the year at that price compared favourably with the expected production of the 32 year old Seba costing $21M for 3 years. (This comparison was more compelling when Pozo cost $2M less than he wound up costing!)
Last edited by ensco; 03-18-2019 at 10:19 PM.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Not really.
The retirement players right now would be
Zlatan
Rooney
Schweinsteiger
Howard
Guzan
Nani
The rest of the DP types are either young, been here a while or around 30.
League has changed, and the biggest thing that changed that was Giovinco - a player in his prime on the outs with his team coming here - unheard of. I agree with others, we are unlikely to see that again for a long time - maybe if the salary cap gets ditched.
Oh wait....Josef Martinez is in his prime & was on the outs with his team. Pity Martinez wasn't on the outs with his team but he is here in his prime. And Pozuelo is in his prime on the outs with his team.
i.e.
There isn't just one way MLS teams build their rosters.
**********
The Pozuelo move is a risk, like the Seba move & the Bradley move. All 3 came here for money. All 3 have great potential coming here - Seba fullfilled his as has Bradley. Pozuelo - we'll see.
Altidore was a straight trade & ultimately an attempt by Jozy to redeem himself. Money had to be at a certain level but he needed more to just get back to enjoying football. He has stated publicly he wasn't sure of the move at all. When he came, he stayed in the airport for a good long time to process it all. But he did it, through all the naysayers (a lot in here at the time). He's now our hope - and our talisman & a legend at this club. Yes, he is getting paid well to do this, and showed over the off season that money is important to him. But he came here for other reasons.
I guess what I'm saying is there is no 1 way to motivate a person to come here but our team seems to be focused, when it comes to DP's, on getting people in their prime.
I would take what somebody says who works in media with TFC, with a grain of salt.
As I would take what a player or his agent says, with a grain of salt. Unless team & player tell the same story (and even then, there may be an important back story we're not hearing).
Just a thought though: CAD$32 million is exactly US$24 million, over 4 years that US$6 million per year, which would be at the upper edge of what TFC was supposedly offering. So that might have been a bit of an increase over previous offers during bargaining. Salaries are usually reported in US$, maybe this media guy reported in CAD.
BTW "Everyone thought he would be here" is the crux of the problem, and their biggest misstep.
If you read what I was writing you’d realize that I said the retirement moniker was deserved because players do still retire here, but that we also attract bench and problematic reclaim players, i.e.: that there are differing reasons to come to MLS, none of which are being a superstar who could perform at the top level consistently and get paid a bucket.
Edit: after reading your post again there’s no way you’ve read any of my posts. What are you even talking about?
Edit2: Josef: shit player for Turin, came here for money.
Pity: came here for money.
Pozo: failed player who played well in a lower tier league and came here for money.
Last edited by stegosaurus; 03-18-2019 at 11:44 PM.
that makes sense , they did mention from 5 to 6, off the top of.their head no hesitation.
Mentioned a 1 hour podcast this week talking about pozo
I am going to maintain my view that Seba came here for more than money - to be a star.
Poz, I agree with you. Money.
The whole "retirement league" trope applied more to the original NASL and early MLS than to MLS today. The emphasis today is on buying and developing younger talent, particularly from Latin America. It takes time, often a generation to change perceptions though.
You'd think we were Qatar the way some people talk.
TFC for sure is not focused on bringing in aging players simply for marketing.
Many other teams, while looking at marketing also are looking at players who while not prime are still very solid. Rooney is a prime example. Many of these players when done here will go on to Qatar, Saudi, or similar places.
Anyway, back to TFC player movement, I expect that our incoming TAM players will be in their prime.
Name an MLS player that went to the Middle East before Seba and VV did it.
Name an MLS player in his later prime that has ever moved to a bigger league. (Martinez may be the first, we will see.)
You can call us a pre-retirement league for some players, I guess. Pozo will possibly be more interested in middle eastern options in 3 years, sure.
But saying that the emphasis is on buying and developing young talent is laughable. That is not what is going on with 90% of the DP spend, and most of the TAM spend.
Let’s be real about TAM, it's being used mostly to buy veterans who make more than the cap (ie “DP lights”), and also a lot to solve the Dero problem of 2010, MLS couldn’t keep screwing over stud homegrowns by paying them 25% of market. There is the odd Mitrica but it's a total outlier right now.
Almiron and Martinez may cause things to change someday, but they remain a very unique case right now.
Last edited by ensco; 03-19-2019 at 07:46 AM.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Rafa Marquez is the only one who comes to mind, having played in Italy after his stint with the Red Bulls.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
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