It's the offseason...so I have to bring this up.

[Steve]

Remember last off season? I sure do. I remember when DC united went out, used their awesome south american scouting system, and signed 5 top players. I remember when our board got so pissed off because Mo could have just gone to south american, thrown a rock, and hit a player that would tear this league up.

Then I remember this season, when most of those 5 turned out to be overpayed bench players. Where they were overhyped, and didn't turn out as expected. I then remember DC united failing to even make the playoffs, after winning the SS last year. Yep, I have a pretty good memory.

Now, I'm not saying latin suck. Far from it. I'm saying I want good players. I don't care where they're from, I don't care if we represent our region well, I just care that we sign quality, and integrate them into our team well.

Here is the situation as I see it. Right now Mo and Carver still have strong connections in the UK. They don't have those same connections in South America (or Central America, etc). Sure, maybe TFC should hire someone to make connections, but that will take time. That means, for now, we have an easier time convincing players we have contacts with to come play for us. Also, we live in Canada. If I lived in South America and heard a Canadian team was recruiting, I'd be less enthused to come play there (I hear it's cold, eh?).

[Roogsy]

Remember last off season? I sure do. I remember when DC united went out, used their awesome south american scouting system, and signed 5 top players. I remember when our board got so pissed off because Mo could have just gone to south american, thrown a rock, and hit a player that would tear this league up.

Then I remember this season, when most of those 5 turned out to be overpayed bench players. Where they were overhyped, and didn't turn out as expected. I then remember DC united failing to even make the playoffs, after winning the SS last year. Yep, I have a pretty good memory.

Now, I'm not saying latin suck. Far from it. I'm saying I want good players. I don't care where they're from, I don't care if we represent our region well, I just care that we sign quality, and integrate them into our team well.

Here is the situation as I see it. Right now Mo and Carver still have strong connections in the UK. They don't have those same connections in South America (or Central America, etc). Sure, maybe TFC should hire someone to make connections, but that will take time. That means, for now, we have an easier time convincing players we have contacts with to come play for us. Also, we live in Canada. If I lived in South America and heard a Canadian team was recruiting, I'd be less enthused to come play there (I hear it's cold, eh?).

Am I right in that you are criticizing the team with the most MLS Cups of all because they missed the playoffs for the first time in how many years? DC United is arguably the most successful team in the league. More Open Cups, More MLS Cups and more Supporters Shields than anyone else. I would suggest their strategy is working overall.

Listene dude, everyone wants good players. The point is though, that they come at a price. The sooner people realize that this is about value for money and not just signing anyone who can pass the ball, the sooner we will be in a contending position.

[Steve]

Am I right in that you are criticizing the team with the most MLS Cups of all because they missed the playoffs for the first time in how many years?

Listene dude, everyone wants good players. The point is though, that they come at a price. The sooner people realize that this is about value for money and not just signing anyone who can pass the ball, the sooner we will be in a contending position.

No, I'm not criticizing DC United. I'm saying that throwing a bunch of South Americans at your team is not always going to be a quick fix. I'm saying last off season everyone was screaming and yelling because DC had signed all these players, and Mo hadn't signed anyone. I'm trying to inject a little perspective.

As I said, I'm not against adding latin players to out team. If they are the right fit, for the right place, bring them in. I'm just saying it's not as easy to get the right players for the right price as everyone seems to be assuming, and even teams with huge south american scouting systems like DC united can make terrible choices.

[Roogsy]

No, I'm not criticizing DC United. I'm saying that throwing a bunch of South Americans at your team is not always going to be a quick fix. I'm saying last off season everyone was screaming and yelling because DC had signed all these players, and Mo hadn't signed anyone. I'm trying to inject a little perspective.

As I said, I'm not against adding latin players to out team. If they are the right fit, for the right place, bring them in. I'm just saying it's not as easy to get the right players for the right price as everyone seems to be assuming, and even teams with huge south american scouting systems like DC united can make terrible choices.

So my suggestion that we look at more South Americans is the equivalent of:

throwing a bunch of South Americans at your team is not always going to be a quick fix

???

How about simply recognizing the value and selectively choosing players that can contribute AND help the bottom line?

Everyone can make terrible choices. We have and will. As will every other team in the league. The point is whether the overall strategy works. If we look at DC, it does. Shoot...even the biggest teams in the world have massive scouting systems in South America. Why are we not doing that instead of looking at castoffs?

[Beach_Red]

Shoot...even the biggest teams in the world have massive scouting systems in South America. Why are we not doing that instead of looking at castoffs?

Look in the other thread about TFC salaries, castoffs are all we can afford. And, as you say, all the biggest teams in the world have MASSIVE scouting systems in South America.

But still, the big teams can't sign them all and some of those South (and Central) American "castoffs" are likely to be quality players. Some of them will look at $200,000 a season as good money (though add in the expenses of moving to another country and all that and it really only competes with about $150,000 at home. Still, there must be a lot of guys getting $150,000 a year in South America who are good players).

It's too bad Ruiz didn't do better here. Did he get a fair chance? Was he not interested in playing here at all? I guess this is for another thread.

[Roogsy]

Look in the other thread about TFC salaries, castoffs are all we can afford. And, as you say, all the biggest teams in the world have MASSIVE scouting systems in South America.

But still, the big teams can't sign them all and some of those South (and Central) American "castoffs" are likely to be quality players. Some of them will look at $200,000 a season as good money (though add in the expenses of moving to another country and all that and it really only competes with about $150,000 at home. Still, there must be a lot of guys getting $150,000 a year in South America who are good players).

It's too bad Ruiz didn't do better here. Did he get a fair chance? Was he not interested in playing here at all? I guess this is for another thread.

I think your numbers are off.

The best of the best of Central America, someone like Amado Guevara only asked for $185k from us.

Can you imagine a role player asking that? Highly unlikely. Under 100k, we can get players that will consistenly contribute to results.

What can we get for 100k from European players?

That being said...the top players in South America will command millions in transfer fees from their old clubs. So in a way, yes we are looking for the "castoffs", those that will wind up with no new contract after finishing an old one. But a role player in the South American league can be a big contributor in the MLS. We are talking Copa Libertadores quality here people. The only thing that rivals the Copa in quality, is the European competitions.

[ACSertL]

Why not look in India? Bayern are.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1263/ind...-india-academy

[Beach_Red]

I think your numbers are off.

The best of the best of Central America, someone like Amado Guevara only asked for $185k from us.

Can you imagine a role player asking that? Highly unlikely. Under 100k, we can get players that will consistenly contribute to results.

What can we get for 100k from European players?

That being said...the top players in South America will command millions in transfer fees from their old clubs. So in a way, yes we are looking for the "castoffs", those that will wind up with no new contract after finishing an old one. But a role player in the South American league can be a big contributor in the MLS. We are talking Copa Libertadores quality here people. The only thing that rivals the Copa in quality, is the European competitions.

I went for high end .

The transfer fee is the really tough one. Still, there are likely many players who would take the role player money, somewhere between Chad Barrett's $53,000 and Dunivant's $104,000. I still think you'd have to pay a slight premium, say a guy gets offered $60,000 to stay in his home country you'd be looking at $75 or $80 grand to move to Canada for six months, but there could still be some good deals.

As for Guevara, that may be a special case - if he had been able to get along with his previous MLS teams he'd likely be getting as much as Ruiz's $400,000 now. TFC took a chance on Guevara and "attitude" and it's working out, at least for the $185k - if he was getting $400k I think we'd all be saying it was a mistake to get him.

[Fort York Redcoat]

I'm saying last off season everyone was screaming and yelling because DC had signed all these players, and Mo hadn't signed anyone. I'm trying to inject a little perspective.
.

And we waited 4 weeks into the season until Mo assembled the squad he wanted at the start of the season. We lost most of those games and the team barely gelled before he had to make more additions. Those screamers were right. Mo should have signed someone.

[rocker]

Mo should have signed someone.

"someone"? you mean any of those many players he trialed in the spring, like Musampa?