Blink reaction: like it. Venezuela feels smart. There must be a lot of good players that want out.
My only concern is our lack of infrastructure for a young South American (mitigated in part by the fact Gallardo is married).
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
This is true, but I'd expect TFC is finally joining the movement and will be investing more heavily into Latin America. For now, at least he has Omar and Poz (any maybe Auro?) to speak with.
I wonder if this makes DeLeon expendable. That's now Gallardo, Laryea, Endoh (sort of), and DeLeon who could play on the right, but only Shaffelburg for the left. Gallardo can perhaps play on either side, but Curtis' comments would suggest he's been brought in to start on the right. I guess Endoh can go back down, but DeLeon's 160K salary could maybe be better used elsewhere.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
As far as language, Omar, Pozuelo, Osorio, Delgado, and Altidore all speak Spanish. Not sure if anyone else does, but I'm not too worried about a language barrier, it's more about him personally and if he's a guy that's comfortable being out of his element. Hopefully we did our due diligence on that after Aketxe.
I think the big difference between Aketxe and Gallardo is that the former came from somewhere where he was living confortably whereas I can't imagine the same can be same about the latter.
Not too worried about this.
Guy did a 14 minute presser today - the translator is a part of the CONCACAF team - said all the right things so likely prepped for it. Unlikely he ever had to do something like that before. Guarded professional would be what I would call it.
https://www.torontofc.ca/post/2019/0...?autoplay=true
Get rid of Deleon? That is a horrible suggestion. He's been consistent since he arrived. You have Zavaleta, Boyd, Bono and Delgado that should be moved out way before you would even consider Deleon. SMH
Still missing a Giovinco and Cheyrou replacement piece, but were almost there to a squad that could compete with Mexican teams if we can successfully find those two with what we got and if this Venezuelan works out.
so will the formation be something like this (2nd line, representing team B)?
Westberg
Bono
Auro – Gonzalez – Mavinga – Morrow
Lareya – Zavaleta – Moor - Ciman
Osorio – Pozuello - Bradley
DeLeon – Frasier - Delgado
Gallardo – Altidore – Schaffelburg
Akinole- Hamilton - Boyd
I think you might be correct on this. Vanney specifically mentioned utilizing DeLeon down the middle. Ali Curtis mentioned they might do one more transaction in this window and then said they might look internally in the league for someone. This would mean a trade and for me the most lilely candidate for a trade is Marky.
Omar and Erickson said all the right things in their interviews. Sound hungry and positive.
Marky, Osorio, Jozy are fluent and MB speaks enough spanish
auro speaks Portuguese (him and osorio communicate simply based on that alot of words are similar)
I dont see why language should be an issue though. Portugal sends players all over and language never seems to be an issue.
Trades can happen any time during the window but they have to find a team that values Marky (or anyone other player we find expendable) more than the player being sent in return. And of course we have to value the player coming in higher than who we're giving up to make the trade worthwhile. Sounds easier than I expect it is.
For me Marky or Zav would be a good trade. Marky is young and has so much potential but he's stagnated here. A trade might be what he needs to progress his career. I could see other teams seeing the value in acquiring him. As for Zav, I doubt he'll be traded because of his connections and his contract. It's a bit too healthy for his value. He's a good back up to have on the bench but not at his salary.
And for the love of God please find a way to drop Boyd. It just makes me angry every time I see him enter the field. All hope just evaporates.
Because you’d first need someone interested in the trade, get the right value, etc. Thinking the goal is actually located on an airstrip at Billy Bishop isn’t really a good reason to trade him when he offers other things and provides some versatility.
Boyd makes just about the same salary as Delgado, but if Vanney intends to play with wingers we don’t need 3 backup strikers. Bono going would also be a more impactful trade as well.
Bono has value and I would be looking into that if I were Curtis. We need some addition by subtraction and you may have to package one of Delgado or Bono with Zavaleta to get a small lump of GAM/TAM. You won't get value but you will free up cap space and roster spots.
Boyd aside, getting rid of Bono should be a top priority for the FO especially with Westberg on next to nothing.
I’m all for moving Nephew given his salary and ineptitude, but he’s a tough move with Vanney here and the fact that the quality of MLS CBs, especially backups, tends to be incredibly bad.
That said, the defense probably needs to be overhauled if the complaints are just consistently about how poor it is — we have Moor, who should probably retire, but Ciman, OG, and Mavinga are also on pretty significant salaries.
Other than the mess of a season, if 4-3-3 is what they intend to play moving forward, you also need depth on the wings, which requires a significant rebalancing of the squad just in general.
Curtis said the below to Davidson on Monday. If they are looking at trades i'd guess some players leaving would have to be a part of that as i'd imagine they won't want to give up too much GAM/TAM and will need to make the cap/roster spots work.
"And then we're exploring some options within the league, in terms of acquiring a player or two."