Osorio has signed with a new agent who also represents Pozuelo. They have a lot of players in Europe (and MLS). https://www.promoesportagency.com/en/footballers
Insigne is indeed in town and has aged 20 years since joining TFC.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1587978326496497664?s=20&t=jz4yarPGVlT4eRNmmLR9Qg
Potential target here. Has played some CF in recent years.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/GlennDavisSoc/status/1587918541139111937?s=20&t=wEiimSrtfmX-BaUXyaWwbw
Just back to the "Gap between MLS v CPL" debate: Interesting to see that, for the Bahrain camp, Herdman had about 15 discretionary spots (ie excluding guys like Kaye, Oso, who are obviously in the mix for Qatar).
He called a whole raft of marginal MLS guys, and not a single CPL guy (he didn't pick Russell Rowe either).
Last edited by ensco; 11-03-2022 at 09:15 AM.
"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
I can't say I'm shocked. Even if a kid at that level has the talent to play at a much higher one, until he does, he's still used to the game at a pace that is barely professional.
Even though its overall talent level is probably on par with the National League in England, the CPL seems to play at half the pace, and well below USL-C. Can't imagine a defender or utility player giving useful minutes when they've had no time to adjust to the heightened pace. The MLS guys struggle as it is, I find. They're find on technique and in possession, mostly, but are more inclined to crack under rapid pressure, I suspect, as the Uruguay game showed.
Its funny how pace of thought helps a player from Europe's better levels be really good when they first get to MLS - and then about 3 months in, they lose that edge. I'm not sure its the training or the lifestyle.
Yeah, the Richard Eckerlsey effect.
I think it very much IS the training. I've seen interviews with guys who've gone over to England and the level there is incessant, tough, gruelling even.
THey can't do that here, because they lose two days a week to travel. Over the course of about forty weeks, that's at least eighty fewer training days. No wonder they always need a multi-month 'adjustment' period when they go to Europe in-season.
But some of it is attitude; the number of times we've seen players come into MLS camps unfit over the years has been mind boggling. In Europe, there's no off-season anymore, just a few weeks break during which they're required to stay fit and on diet.
Last edited by jloome; 11-03-2022 at 08:45 PM.
Ive said this many times but MLS teams should probably be playing 5 or so less games over the course of the year vs. Teams elsewhere, all else equal.
Squad depth being one factor. Lack of depth for many teams being another. Problem is, ownership would never give up the gate and extra tv fixtures.
Could also call it the Michael Bradley effect.
It was a big debate at the time and there was a lot of pushback, but looking back at it he really did regress year over year in terms of his pace of play. I think it has to do more with the average player quality and having to play down to others levels more often than not.
This wasn't helped by
a) everything having to go through MB
b) a DP MVP midfielder who tried to do too much (I will die on the hill of Poz being self indulgent when it comes to dribbling)
c) teams sitting back in a low block because they knew our defence would eventually break
********
In general, since 2018, if our players think when on the ball, they do not succeed. Quick instinctive play.
I think he means in 2015-2017.
Makes a lot of sense though. How Bradley played in year one with Nelson, he was trying really hard to fit into a box-to-box type mood. He was rangy.
Later on, he morphed into a pure DM, basically single handedly snuffing out the counter attack and focusing on scooping the ball off the backline and starting to move the ball through midfield.
Football IQ has improved in this league a lot in the past 5 years. But still light years away from Europe.
The new agency does have a good number of players in MLS. Plus the agency looks to have a full suite of services (tax planning, marketing support). Oso could be looking to get the post WC sponsorship dollars and set himself up better financially for the future. But yeah, I understand the concern. Oso obviously wants to go to Europe, but I feel like TFC will offer the most money. Hopefully if he ends up back at TFC he doesn't feel resent or like he's settling.
I don't even think oso necessarily wants to "go to europe", just for the hell of it (otherwise he would be playing in Greece right now).
It's his last major contract, he wants time to weigh everything up in detail, then pick the best option.
I looked through their roster. They have five or six MLS players, but only three are from the American branch of the agency which is new. The others were signed before they joined MLS.
This is a signing to get a deal in Europe. These guys are massively connected in La Liga and have put players at just about every club there, as well as several in the Premier League.
This is purely an effort to step up to another level and get a deal overseas, I think.
I suspect that unless the money just isn't elsewhere, it's not likely he's coming back. It seems like a statement of intent; get new agents with lots of Euro success, do well at the World Cup, land a deal there... which to be fair to him is what Oso has said he's shooting for all along.
Since he'd be leaving on a free, if he ever wanted to come back, he wouldn't have to go through the Allocation Order, right? That's only if they leave on a fee of over 500k, correct?
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/MichaelSingh94/status/1588585366864293888?s=20&t=CHbw3nKBd-TDTYR-h6CXFg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZaprWb2NMg
what a great message from federico.
very excited for the next season already