He's made other failed signings too, like Kantari, Gomez, Gilberto. All of them are basically one-and-done mistakes that left no lasting damage.
This decision to ditch Beita and sign VdW put us tighter against the cap than we would've been otherwise, made the team worse as we underrated Beita's defensive ability and the importance of familiarity across the back line, and now has hurt the locker room. And we need to search for a way out of the contract, and find a replacement.
Pretty much a disaster. At least Aketxe was a luxury signing - he failed to make us better but we didn't get worse with that decision.
Shit this whole thing sucks. I actually didn't mind vdW on the pitch last year. Hagglund + Zavaleta w/o vdW would have been worse (once their confidence was shot). And it was nice to have someone in the back who could handle the ball & sometimes bring it forward. I remember the one Mexican team who planned to man-mark us all over the field, but obviously didn't account for a ball-handling defender, didn't know what to do with vdW once he came forward.
But yeah the demeanour seemed off at times. Obviously the dust-up is public now, won't that massively affect his value? (It would have come out anyway, also the issues that were alluded to last year: agents and scouts will know stuff like that even if the public doesn't.) He was on about $800k last year. What do people think he's worth now, in some other country? Will somebody take on his contract? I don't think anyone in MLS will be interested. And I'm not expecting a penny of transfer fees. Clearing the $800k to spend would be amazing.
Maybe the buyout option, but not great at all if upper management is planning to spend less money as we have heard. Sure you get the cap space back, but the $ are gone out the window.
Well, the new Atlanta gaffer has coached him before...
I always wondered about the signing of VDW TFC got him from Cagliari of Serie A where he often never dressed never mind play for Cagliari who was bordering on the relegation line all of last season and a player like VDW who was still in his prime wasn’t even making most game day rosters. This had my alarm bells ringing from the time TFC signed him. Then he gets here and played like soccer was the last thing on his mind . What a waste of a signing and waste of money . Get this bum out of here the sooner the better!
if upper management is planning to spend less money as we have heard. Sure you get the cap space back, but the $ are gone out the window.
where did you hear that...i have not heard that once by management,its all speculation by the people on this thread
There are some people in this thread who know a bit about the organization. The return hasn't been great. I'm not actually worried -- plenty of MLS clubs have shown that you can spend money more wisely and get good results. But throwing $800k per year out the window on a buyout is not money wisely spent of course. Hopefully it won't come to that. (I have no idea for how long vdW was signed.)
I would think after rumblings around his time at Fenerbahçe, Cagliari, and now TFC, it's going to be extremely hard to get anything for this guy. He also has some very odd prior personal affairs (to say the least).
We'd be lucky to have someone cover his salary on our behalf and have him move on a free.
Prob doing VDW a favor by looking for another team rather than outright releasing him. Better optics for TFC.
They should trade GVW to the LA Galaxy. G Dos Santos & Alessandrini are available. I'm sure Zlatan would be happy.
BTW I'm not worried about what a player posts on Instagram or what he does in his free time, if he plays well and doesn't cause problems. Mavinga & lots of other players also post things. Seemed like off the field, vdW was doing well with his wife and daughter, more stable than in the past. And many players dabble with fashion or other branding stuff. With a normal footy career lasting max. 15 years, it's not bad to build up other stuff. The players only train for a couple of hours per day, and many will have agents etc. deal with most of the off field stuff.
I'll get no satisfaction out of this blowup, but if he's gotta go he's gotta go. And he might be a little right -- Vanney's job is not secure if they don't do much better than last year. I still have some doubts about Vanney, specifically regarding turning things around when they're not going well, within a game or within a season. But vdW is an ass for bringing that up publicly.
Last edited by Auzzy; 01-23-2019 at 09:48 PM.
i think he goes to Belgium..isnt his wife from belgium?
That would be my fear too.
I certainly appreciate Bez brought us a championship team, but a lot of the deals made last year were utter garbage and completely unsalvageable. Imagine if we had players who performed on these pay packets rather than what we got. That money could have been a lockdown CB, a quality substitute striker, additional strength in the midfield. Instead it was essentially vaporized.
Fitting that the last time we get to see VDW play for Toronto was last night when he was on the eSports guy's FIFA team.
Gregory is, but she's from Belgium. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Bertram