Nesta or Ballack would not help TFC and perhaps even set the team back a little. Nesta is half the player he used to be. Ballack is simply too old to make much of a difference on a team that already has two aging midfielders. TFC would be better off in my opinion hiring good European and Central American scouts and attempt to recruit young players in the lower leagues such as Serie B. There are so many excellent Italian soccer players who are not quite up to Serie A standards, but probably better on average than what we find in mls.
Any chance in replace one for our DPs (preferably) DeGuzman for serious striker from Europe or South America?
Isn't the average wage in Serie B higher than MLS? Then factor in how a Serie B team is allowed to subsidize the living 'allowances' plus the possibility of endorsement deals ... I would say staying in native land is more attractive.
Think about how much more an office job in Poland would have to pay you over what you already earn at your current job to make it an irresistable offer That's what TFC deals with when pulling for Euros players.
I honestly think that under the current system, the optimal number of designated players is two. Three players ties up too much of your cap space and leaves you minimal salary cap flexibility.
The only way I would actually use the space is if it was spent on a young player so the cap hit would be 200k or less. Might be a nice way to pick up some good attacking resources from South America without putting us in salary cap hell.
What TFC CAN offer to good players though, that is very valuable to any athlete, is regular starting first team football. As is the case with Eckersley. It could bite them in the ass though
Anyway, I don't know about Ballack. If he was to come in NOW and help NOW that would be worth it. But considering he'll be 37! next year, I don't know - it doesnt feel right. It's nice to get experience on the team to help the youngsters, but 37 is really really pushing it.
Ballack has been complete crap basically since his move to Chelsea (and much worse now). If an MLS team pays him a DP salary they are a fool. If he came on some deal like Corradi's it might be worth a punt, but other than that it would not be smart.
I don't see how they can get away from the DP issue. They missed their chance to buy out JDG in the Winter. There is no room to bring in him unless they trade for allocation or salary cap space in the transfer window. And who are they going to trade? It will have to be a group of players since nobody other than the DPs gets even close to the salary cap max. Are we going to dismantle our team in favour of bringing in another aging European castoff? (Not that Ballack wasn't a good player in his day).
This better not be true. Because if it is, it's more evidence that this club has no idea how to build a club. I can't imagine Mariner would be in favour of this.
^ My guess is he said he woudn't mind playing with Torsten Frings again and that's how the rumours started. Then someone said, "what about the salary cap?" To which he said "salary cap? What is it? Like 600 million Euros? Don't see why that would be an issue."
None of these guys in Europe have any idea how MLS works salary wise. They think they can come over and make close to what they did on their way to retirement.
Last edited by Canary10; 05-11-2012 at 09:20 AM.
Forget Ballack. Too old. Why would you rent him for a half season?
Find instead, someone in their late 20s, very early 30's, who would be willing to come not just to play football, but also to set up the remainder of his life: that I think, offers much more in the long run than xxx million in year (of birth) 33, 34, 35, 36, etc.
What about all the magical allocation money? And making it as far as we did in the Champions League, we've got a whack of it don't we? Can you throw it at a half year rental veteran and avoid the whole DP thing?
^ Hey remember last year where Juan Pablo Angel magically got traded to Chivas so LA could make room for Robbie Keane? That deal reeked as much as anything else that's happened in the last few years.
That being said, I agree with the majority of posters here. If we have to get a DP, no more guys well into their 30's. With light MLS rosters and fixture congestion, it's not a good combination.
So maybe the league can magically help out a club that's 0-8 and has lots of allocation and pull off some sort of big move.
I don't think Ballack would be ideal for reasons stated above, but I can also see Winter/Mariner looking for a more established steady veteran to see us to season's end.
Can you imagine the league trying to facilitate a move for JDG the way they did for Juan Pablo Angel? I can just imagine the response from other teams. Something like this: "Are you fucking serious?"
I'm not sure we have allocation money left either. It looks like the Plata signing ate into that (there was a $500,000 transfer fee), and we don't even yet know what it cost to get Eckersley.
I know its a bit touchy, but what about hargreaves he is only 32(prime age to make the move) still is having a bit of injury issue so we could probably get him on none dp money.
Or even michel owen or david souzo(gauranteed none dp).
There is way around,sign Ballack until Jan.1st on 40k,January 2013 give him gazilion $$$ and sign JDG for bag of peanuts,problem solved.
Limpact signed Ferrari or whatever name of their forward is on 3 months only,we can do it too.
JDG is actually playing better the past month. If MLSE plans to move him now is probably the best time. Despite his mediocre play most nights an mls contender may relish the opportunity of trading for a veteran such as JDG. He has no offence in his game, and appears unwilling to tackle, but his close passing distribution skills could help a team such as LA , New York or Seattle......as bad as he has been here, we tend to forget that these players often leave Toronto only to find success elsewhere....so trade him for a young midfielder or defender...but not bums like Iro.
^ On his money no one will take him.
A midseason buyout only counts against the Cap. At max that is $335k. If we are using allocation money to pay down that hit it is just $170k.
Numbers aren't out yet but I suspect our cap room is actually quite good, especially when there is the mysterious allocation money floating around.
We could do one of 2 things:
- sign MB to a cap max, non-DP salary for a short term
- if not feasible, buy out JDG, sign MB as DP and squeeze him in. Remember a mid-season DP hit only counts for half of the cap hit
Lots of wiggle room.
Didn't Mariner say earlier in the year they didn't have any room for this season?