Let’s see what his learning curve is in year 2. The most obvious comparison is Waterman (who is slightly younger but nonetheless). Took him a year to understand the speed of the game at this level but thereafter he’s been reasonably solid.Originally Posted by SarniaTFC
From Steve Buffery just now:
#TFCLive coach Bob Bradley said the club is close finalizing the goalkeeper position. Sean Johnson is expected to be announced later this week #MLS
Aaaand I am satisfied. Good job, Bob+Bill. With considerable youth at the CM position (three youth in Nelson, Thompson, Camarero), I'm fine with trying CMs at the CM position. The holes have been plugged for me.
From the rumours, sounds like there will still be more. CM, CB and ST?
Not to mentioned we still have the open DP slot...
Without those, I'm satisfied. Everything else is gravy for me, though I would love to see that CM/ST. Rosted should be the CB.
after SJ, i'd imagine they still add 4 more players (and trade one of ayo/ JJ and sell nelson).
It is good work, but we still need to improve at CB and the overall depth. Luckily we have that 3rd DP slot and/or u-22 spots to work with.
An experienced DM / fullback / utility player would make a lot of sense.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/Beezersun/status/1618289042399068167?s=20&t=5zeaXPagRLge0Y7pN9fMpg
Bradley did not just say he doesn’t *think* there’s a plan for that 3rd DP spot right? I’m hallucinating. Jesus.
There are layers to the stupid apparently.
no he said there are discussions being had as to the best way to use it
“No I don’t think there’s a plan at the moment”
They’ve had this slot since summer.
Onions have layers.
Also, I'm almost certain that there probably weren't going to be plans to use it in this window. They probably have ideas as to who they want from the holy bible, Transfermarkt, but want them on frees and don't necessarily want to lock into a pre-contract.
My prediction as it has been from the beginning of the off season. The DP will come in the summer. And recently TFC said they are not looking for a bernadeschi/Insinge type expenditure. It will be someone coming on a free transfer and the salary will be significantly lower than the other dps we have
so looking for depth signings and and other pieces before to finish this off season. As SJ and Rosted should be announced soon
he said they are looking at various ways to use it in order to maximize their roster.
full quote is here if you're actually interested in what was said as opposed to finding something to be mad about.
https://twitter.com/MichaelSingh94/s...90723861983232
Last edited by leedsandTFC; 01-25-2023 at 12:10 PM.
do you think the holdup on Rosted is "Take our 200k or we're just going to sign him in the summer for nothing"?
This doesn't surprise me at all. The summer transfer window is the best window to bring in DPs without big transfers.
More than enough talent on this team. If we add Sean Johnson and Sigurd Rosted, I think we can be a top team in the East.
we need depth badly. but yes, those two and a few depth pieces and i agree.
I think the holdup with Rosted is they sold their captain, his CB counterpart and he's not leaving anymore. No way this guy is worth waiting until summer for.
I'm thinking they have moved on to other targets.
I appreciate the way MLS clubs work not paying a transfer fee is attractive. But, I think we should be open to paying it on occasion. If certainty provides more options (if nothing else).
Only useful for DPs though until/unless they stop amortizing transfer fees as part of the salary against the cap. Would be impossible to get anyone good other than a DP if the seller charged any remotely logical selling price. Or unless they do a 8 year Chelsea style contract to lower the amortized value.
This quote from the CP story makes it clear they cannot spend whatever they want on this one, and sort of clarifies his "don't think" ambiguity:
The first team roster currently stands at 25 players. While the team has an opening for a designated player, Bradley says there is no plan to fill it at the moment.
“It’s not like there’s a set guy that we’ve identified that fits the DP budget that we have,” he said.
In other words, they're either lookng for a lower-budet hit u22 dp or MLSE has said 'look, we've effectively already blown the budget on the Italians, get us someone economical and we'll talk."
They probably want sell-on value in whoever the third DP is, to more easily justify the long-term cost of Insigne and Bernadeschi. AS a fan, bleh who cares, as a rational human, I'd get it, even if they are uber wealthy. A company with multiple owners needs to at least be able to justify a massive spend in some revenue terms, and a future star sold for a chunk to Europe (particularly given how the Premier League oligarchs and sheiks are all overpaying) goes a long way towards that.
I mean, we clearly are. We paid a big chunk to get Poz early, we paid $6M for Soteldo, I'm sure we'll be paying for Richie.
They're just about $90M into Insigne and Bernadeshci over the entire life of their deals. So they're probably going to be very cautious that any future big spend is perceived to generate a lot of revenue, either through merchandising or -- probably more ideally -- by being young and sellable for a profit.
The league is becoming a selling league, like Belgium and Turkey. We're the western version; we'll get some prospects from South America and North America first because they aren't quite so brilliant that a Prem or Liga team will take the risk to START them at 18, 19 years old. Plus, under the new work permit regs, they have to be signed for significant first team minutes to be renewed.
So it's easier now to let a Jhon Duran, for example, come to MLS at 18 and spend a year or two. If he scores the bunch of goals they expected/predicted, they come in with a decent offer, knowing that as soon as he scores his first first-team goal, at that age, he has recouped that twice over from his next sale or market draw. Even if he craps out, he's still young and -- this is key -- FAST enough that other teams will effectively mitigate any loss in loan fees or a lesser sale. Speed can't be developed to the top level. That and balance are basically down to individual biology and early development.
I think a lot of teams are going to be looking for those U22 deals. They see the money Dallas is bringing in, the money Montreal just brought in. Chicago made a bundle in the offseason off two 18-year-olds, both going to the Premier League.
It's where the market is right now -- it's probably also a big part of why they're allegedly taking the whole league to a proper transfer system next year instead of trades. Imagine the average multimillionaire owner and the time he'll spend trying to one-up his peers in the league by nicking an unrecognzied young prospect and making a mint off them. Americans love commodity markets.
Brondby has said in the press there over the last two days that both were being sold. They have two other starters and a backup already, and are expected to buy a fourth defender, can't remember from which league.
I think it's the U22 option. I can see the MLSE brass liking the idea of a sell on but I also think Manning (especially) and Bob would like the idea of being knows for both spending big on star DPs AND being a place that develops players and has a track record of them moving to Europe.
Unlike Vancouver who let it go (like most clubs do) after selling Davies, I bet if we ever sell a player anywhere close to that level we would get PR graphics splashed across social media whenever that player did anything of note. They know this deep down in the marketing halls of MLSE.
I bet they're hoping they can get something out of JMR, Akinola, and/or Nelson and get Belotti on a free transfer. The U22 just doesn't make sense for a win-now team.
Fair. I think TAM and other flex dollar amounts makes the transfer fees for non-DP’s workable but of course that also depends on a team’s budget situation.
It’s does make sense if the club is willing and able to find genuinely good young players. We certainly have the transfer budget for that, and it would allow efficient use of the always pressing salary cap.
Sounded at the long press conference in Toronto that Bob thinks that’s the way to go and I don’t think I’d argue with that. Whether we see it this season is another story. Not looking like it yet but the next month should tell.
There are 5 spots currently open, plus have no idea what is up with Luke Singh, is he even in camp after being loaded to Edmonton in 2022?
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
i'd imagine he'll be at another CPL team this year.
Posting Permissions
