Originally Posted by
ensco
As reported, this isn’t anything like what happened with TFC and Genk. This is exactly the Giovinco scenario with TFC and Juve.
Palmeiras/Borre isn’t triggering a release clause, it's negotiating with a player whose contract is expiring.
The agent thing is a sideshow, but Cury (palmeiras' rep according to this story) is a star in this world (ran Barca South American operations for decade, as a for instance he landed Neymar there) and has been labelled Borre's agent in other stories.
It is a world of bribes, underhanded dealing, and lifelong relationships with elements that nobody can see. River and Boca are different btw. That is no ordinary shop window Borre is sitting in, showcasing his skills. The River perspective would be that to play there, especially in the 9 or 10 there, is a special opportunity, a kind of gift, and involves different considerations, like it or not. There is an element of intimidation, unspoken (search “Argentine soccer kidnapping”) if Borre is seen to disrespect River, and having the star player leave to go to “Toronto” and leaving River with nothing, feels to me like disrespecting River.
The ONLY way I could see this is if we pay by far the most, up front, including a fee to River, AND the player can opt out anytime he feels like it. I don’t see how TFC could do that.
Even before you get to the questions around MLS and TFC for this player. There should be decent European interest for this player. If the pandemic has hurt that market, he can resign for a year at River and try again next year. It sure does not sound like he wants to be here, and I don’t blame him: if you are over 21, MLS is still the same as the Middle East or China, nobody goes the other way. There are tons of late bloomers in Europe, but you have to be playing in Europe to have a chance. (Anybody who says Almiron, my answer is, that's a one off, and not much of a harbinger of success - ask Newcastle, Barco, Martinez, what they think of the odds of the MLS to Europe pipeline working. MLS really needed Almiron to work out over there...)
As for us, it isn’t a need: we have Ayo, Achara and are paying $4M or 6M or whatever to Jozy...
This thing makes zero sense. If we actually are involved, then we are out over our skis. TFC successfully concluding something like this seems incredibly far fetched to me. It's far more likely that we are being used as a stalking horse, and Manning/Curtis are allowing it because they have nothing else for us to talk about.
