From BBC Sport "England midfielder Adam Lallana, 31, is a target for clubs in China and Major League Soccer, with his Liverpool contract running out this summer.". He's no Aguero, but would be a decent addition to many MLS teams. Not TFC though hopefully!
Lallana is made of glass, no thanks. I could see augerio teaming up with silva in miami.
Ryan Telfer has been returned to TFC from his loan to York9.
Balotelli should come to MLS, should've come long ago.
A lot of huge names rumoured to MLS. If the likes of Aguero, Da Silva, Quintero, Ozil, Lallana actually come over or maybe half of them come, while MLS teams continue to improve on depth, youth and academies, with the amount of teams we will have (28) vs Liga MX (18) I think you can make a case MLS on paper will be at par or about to pass LIGA MX. We will have to prove it, by beating them more often then not... and they may have the 2 best clubs, Club America and Tigers, but at a certain point when a league has so much more star power, parity and number of teams then the other league you have to say we are ahead. I'm not saying we are there now, and certain things have to be accomplished first and we need the results in champions league, but we are very close. They can have the history but we will have the future.
How much would Balotelli cost? While the "cap" hit doesn't matter once you get into DP money, there's a limit to how much MLSE will spend.
I'm not fond of Balotelli, especially the way he half-assed it through that very short appearance in a friendly against the LA Galaxy. Here's a link if you don't remember.
https://www.theguardian.com/football...ncini-friendly
Maybe he's matured over the past couple of years, but I'm not sure I want a player like that on my team who won't take the league seriously. Could be another VdW.
I actually think he'd be a good fit, he's a matured a lot recently and I think he's just more focused on his kids now. I could see him being like an Altidore, loving being here with his family and might have a bit of an outburst here and there but mostly being all in.
He was great at Nice and probably should have stayed there; he was mostly a panic buy for Marseille.
That all being said he very well could be another VdW.
Balotelli here would be epic - I don't see it happening - but us or Montreal would be the best fit for him in MLS. And God it would be nice to see him bask in all that without the European racist aggro he gets.
Balotelli and PRO refs on the same pitch?
Pass.
We need a dp winger not a striker. I like pozuelo as a false 9. If bradley is back hopefully as a dp cause we won mls Cup then i would hope we sell jozy and sign a winger like willian or Pedro both free agents.
Back to Balotelli, I still wouldn't want him here but he should leave Italy. What kind of place is that where the Verona city council wants to sue him for speaking out against the racist chants and now his own team's supporters are saying he deserved the racist treatment for being arrogant?
If I was him, I'd bail on that league and country. Not worth the hassle and it will never be fixed.
The Brescia Ultras' statement, while harsh, was taken somewhat out of context. They, at least, recognized that racism exists, and they embraced Balo as one of their own. But he's not a good professional - they said as much - and for that reason I wouldn't want him at TFC.
Stejskal is reporting that Lovitz is out of contract and the Limp Act are fielding offers for his rights. Definitely worth another look. Morrow, assuming he stays, will absolutely need games off or we'll see more injuries and dips in quality. Lovitz made less than $100K this season, though I'd expect a raise to something like $120K. Still decent value for a guy who, in a pinch, could also play further up. Vanney likes his offensive full-backs.
Last edited by Bobo; 11-08-2019 at 06:10 PM.
Vanney likes his offensive fullbacks able to defend - Lovitz isn't all that good at defending.
Here's the full quote; I'm not sure what context you mean, but it sounds an awful lot like the usual "Nothing to see here" when there is definitely something to see here...
"We have no doubts Balotelli is to all intents Italian - even a Bresciano, but the arrogance that he continually gives off is unjustifiable."
"The personal declarations of one of the leaders of the Verona Curva cannot justify the witch hunt sparked by the media and institutions in yet another attempt to criminalize and destroy the entire ultras world,"
"This does not mean that certain chants are legitimate or acceptable, but nor are all Verona fans racists and the Verona Curva some sort of KKK [Klu Klux Klan] coven.
"Entire fanbases cannot be considered racist, but racism does exist and it is often used to create mass panic in public opinion. This unconventional language is used more and more by public and political figures, but of course nobody would think of banning them because of some code of ethics."
I'm sorry, but this is so incredibly myopic and frankly a pretty disgusting and ignorant response to what is becoming a real problem in some soccer supporter cultures. It sweeps a problem under the rug, rather than address the issue at hand.
There are racists in the supporters groups... these groups need to sort it out, but they choose to deflect, and basically point blame at the "media" and heck even the player who was being abused, rather than face the cold truth that these are issues that have taken root in supporters groups that need to be dealt with.
How do you not defend your own player in such a situation? How do you not make a supportive and progressive statement that racism is disgusting, it needs to end, and any supporter in our group would be cast out, and all groups should do the same?
Was there a need to defend the other group? How do you respond to accusations of racism with "Hey, we are not all racist! How dare you!" It's so bad.
Just because they defend Balotelli's Italianess and also, as you put it, acknowledge the existence of racism, that is literally the absolute bare minimum any human being should do. They do not deserve a trophy of enlightenment because they qualify their statements with that. The rest of it is boiler-plate, pearl-clutching self-victimising that glosses over the actual issue.
... that being said, I wouldn't mind Lovitz as a 2nd LB, but not sure about starter.
That's not the entire statement. As it's off topic, I'm not going to dig it up, but the statement did, in fact, condemn the Verona fans' actions. What you posted is what British papers decided to run with, which speaks to the Brescia Ultras' point. By and large, the narrative that's being pushed is an accurate one. Racism obviously exists and Serie A and the FIGC have dealt with it abhorrently. There's plenty to dislike about the statement, but on the list of disgusting denials this year, it ranks a bit lower - that's all I'm trying to say.
Last edited by Bobo; 11-09-2019 at 10:36 PM.