I rarely post on this site, as I don’t know much about much, but I do know (and it’s not a secret) that mlse have wanted to spend more on TFC (in many areas) for quite a while now. But have had their brakes pumped to a certain extent by mls.
And, as has been discussed here, their is an internal struggle within mls between those who want to scale up to compete on the global stage, and those who want to keep the league a niche, regional league.
As far as the money goes, mlse aren’t blinking, they have grand plans to be part of the NW(MC)O. If you ever see a photo of a long dark table lined with stern looking faces, with Larry T at the end wearing a monocle and stroking a cat, that’s not a meme, but the latest mlse bog meeting. Joking aside, egos are always in play, and there is a belief in mlse that Toronto is a world class city that deserves world class teams in world class leagues.
All this to say, I suspect we may get belotti if he’s open to coming, because mlse will pay.
(And so will others in the league like la’s; nyrb; inter…)
PS. Manning makes that transermkt comment to the euro media, or in a room full of football power brokers, nobody bats an eye.
Manning yesterday: “We have a number of irons in the fire. We think over these next few weeks there will be a number of other transactions such that leading up to opening day you’re going to have quite a different complexion of the team compared to what it was a year ago"
Anybody else see this statement, see that he never mentioned Poz at any point, and wonder if Poz is going? (Feel free to tell me I have an overactive imagination, but I would think he might say “we look forward to having Lorenzo play with the fully fit 2020 MVP”, if in fact that were happening.)
"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
But at this stage, what do you do? You have all three DP’s that arguably could need to be bought out but only one opportunity to end a contract.
Altidore, with certainty would need to be
Solteldo, might need some assistance although maybe we get around this with TAM / GAM, in combination with a sale etc…
Poz, this one hardly seems worth it given other priorities. He could bounce back if he gets his head in the right space. On too much money just to walk away is my cut feel of it.
I think you're probably reading too much into it. He didn't mention Soteldo or Jozy either. They need to maintain some level of leverage with Soteldo and Jozy, so staying mum on the DP situation is probably the right move. Back in November Manning said they'll discuss a potential extension with Pozuelo in the spring and are sending a strength and conditioning coach to Spain to work with Poz in the off season. I think Poz posted an Instagram story from a few weeks ago about working with that coach.
https://torontosun.com/sports/pozuel...ith-toronto-fc
^Points above are valid. Don’t disagree.
I can't remember who but somebody pointed out that this is Poz's contract year. That has *slaps head* rocketed to the top of near term questions, for me anyway. Don't forget how fast the Gio situation unravelled in his contract year…
I think and hope they re-sign Poz, or should, but how has this Insigne thing played out from his POV? How much will he want? Will they just pay him whatever he wants? And does North America work for him with his kids in Europe year round now..?
"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
Some of you guys complain about horrible media here should try following this Soteldo case in Brazil. Everyone has different "insider" information.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/danielperrone/status/1480225958699352064?s=20
https://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/toro...maker-pozuelo/ here's where it says 2022 is the last year of his contract. Unclear if there's an option for 2023. Hopefully as COVID becomes more manageable the family situation becomes a bit easier on him, whether it's allowing him to fly to Spain during breaks to see his kids or allowing his kids to come over to Toronto to spend a few weeks with him during the season.
I'd like to see Poz extended, it would provide some solid continuity to the team and gives us a fighting chance in the first half of the season while we wait for Insigne to join.
Pretty sure you pointed that out first, ensco.
I'm on that drum too though. #1 man the team is shaped around is no longer the #1 man. I would hope Manning talked to Poz about this back in October before word got out of the ambition of TFC on the next signing.
He's 30 as well, which MLSE has said is a man still in his prime. Poz will be wanting a raise.
There is a need for a midfield general with a great passing ability to release the forwards & attacking players. If you don't have Poz, who is going to do that? Oso? Maybe but Oso is a great link man MF who puts in the dirty work of going to spaces in order to release space for other players to enter. That's gold in this league. Delgado is a straight out plugger. Bradley can't do that. None of the young guns show prediliction for that. (Sorry WTR aficionados but Fraser is NOT all that good)
Our biggest issue remains our defence & I think we need 2 more CB's to fix that. I am confident we will get players there as Manning has indicated he knows that is the need.
But our midfield remains a puzzle that I think will be our Achilles heal - how do you fit Poz, Bradley & Osorio into a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1? Until there are obvious defined roles, that's a problem.
Now TFC's official Twitter is being attacked by Sao Paulo fans to pay Soteldo's debt. Such weird people.
I think debt is an awkward translation for bonus. The South American media says we will owe Soteldo some upcoming bonuses. São Paulo doesn’t want to pay that. TFC doesn’t want to pay it if he’s playing for another team. And Soteldo doesn’t want to give up any money to move back to South America.
I’d be alright with Poz winding down this year’s contract. If I’m the club I’m worried about whether his injuries from last season become persistent/chronic, which would impact the contract I hand him. If someone approaches him on a pre-contract you deal with it when you get there. Besides, looking 5 years down the line, I’m sure they’d rather a player of Soteldo’s age profile.
I have been epically and vocally against Manning for the last couple of years, but he deserves absolutely all the credit for completing the Insigne deal. Brilliant piece of business, not easy to take over the goal line. He’s won me over for now and I have faith that they’ll carry through successful pieces of business this winter.
They seem to all be reacting to a mistranslation by a journalist down there who reported Soteldo was afraid WE weren't going to pay him, when in fact he was concerned about going to Sao Paolo and not being paid there.
When someone pointed out that it was ridiculous, the journalist doubled down and claimed Soteldo is owed millions in bonuses. Edit: I suppose they could be referring to future bonuses, but since those are pretty much tied to specifics outcomes, like appearances for the club, that doesn't really make any sense.
I wonder if us paying him something right now would impact our cap space or DP spot.
I mean we know that MLSE likes to frontload contracts (by paying out the majority of salary at the beginning of a season) as an incentive. I wouldn’t be surprised if Soteldo has a 2nd year bonus or something that he’d like to pick-up.
We see this kind of issue in NHL trades, where players are due bonuses or substantial amounts of salary at certain intervals (Jul 1/Draft). In these cases teams try to avoid trades for players until after these payments are due because they don’t want to owe them. In this case, Soteldo himself may want to avoid transfer until after he receives payment of scheduled bonuses.
insigne is a 70 minute player with napoli...will be interesting to see how it goes in six months, one year, two years...with artificial surfaces and travel
I agree he’s a full game player in MLS.
Just my view but many people seem to simply look at minutes and draw conclusions on whether players can play 90 minutes or not. On some giant clubs, the backups are so good there’s not a significant drop in quality therefore starters get pulled frequently to help keep them fresh. If you don’t know the details you might think the player can’t play 90 but that’s not always true.
It’s safe to say Insigne is a full game player and will play the full game more often than not. 70 mins at Napoli doesn’t matter for what he’s able to play in MLS.
Yes, this is a brilliant piece of business, as is getting the Board to buy into a five year plan through to the World Cup and acquiring Bob Bradley. Bravo. It’s almost like he was disengaged from TFC and has come back in spades. (This success is why I think he will go in the next year or two , as stated above )
He could use some media training though. The angle on his video was unflattering, to say the least, and saying that this started by the club deciding it needed any player from the Italian national team so he went to look and see who was out of contract was just dumb. Fortunately in all the hype that comment will be forgotten, except by me and Ensco, apparently.
Revealing though, to be so transparent about the motives of MLSE - “ Bill, seats are empty. The last time they were full our best player was Italian. Bill,. we need an Italian. Go get one. “
Looks like Richie has joined a team on the up. I wonder if Grabban might be into a transfer….
It's amazing to me that the use of Transfermarkt has been more derided than the epic bungling of the Pozuelo deal. The one that has made us look unprofessional is the latter, I assure you.
You may find it unprofessional, but football as an industry is largely unprofessionalised at the moment, and many *many* agents, clubs, and execs use Transfermarkt as a rough guide to the marketplace, where in the past they might have activated an industry contact/intermediary to do the same. What should probably gain a little more scrutiny is the crudeness of the use of the database, to narrowly search for players on the Italian NT only.
It is so dumb its staggering. TFC can't spend the equivalent amount on 19 year olds already in Europe.. even if they could time travel. Insigne is taking their money BECAUSE of his age. No player regardless of the offer is taking that money at the start of their career. The magic of this deal is that he's not already 34. To pretend that there is some other option on the table to TFC is a trash take. They can either overspend on DP's or be just like every other MLS club. That is the only way they can use the money to their advantage and people are crying like it makes any difference at all if he makes 3 or 30 million a season. It really doesnt.