Pretty early to start. His current contract runs to 2026 and had an option on it until 2028 I believe. Maybe he just wants to exercise that? Would be nice if he lowered his salary a bit for the last 2 years.Originally Posted by GMoneyTalks
I don't know if Insigne will extend his contract or if we want him too. He was great the first 4 games he played this season but he misses it seems like half the season due to injury every year.
I suspect this is his agent putting this out there to strengthen international demand. I love how he's playing and his commitment, but just as with Seba and Paz, if Saudi or Qatar came in with a big deal, they'd take it.
I don't blame him at all, it's just prudent, but man - and I'm someone who thinks he's proved people (myself included) wrong and been our MVP this year - it's just never a great look when a sudden extreme uplift in form precedes a contract negotiation. The cynical interpretation is he can turn it on when he wants, and maybe once the contract comes in, he'll tone down the effort again.
I don't think that's my read here, the passion he shows on the pitch is hard to fake, but it does create that cynical take
You think about it, due could be a solid part in our midfield for half a decade or more and maybe with substantial upside. We’d be crazy not to try.
He was pretty hard working when he arrived too. I think Bob just wore everyone down and it was mentally too taxing for all the players.
I don’t think it’s like an Osorio situation where he seems to turn it up 3x in a contract year.
Yeah, probably. The flexibility would make first-team spots very competitive.
St. Louis. That whole organization is Germany-central.
i wonder if they use the spot on the same sort of deal they got laryea on this year.
sign a high tam player, write transfer fee down in first year as DP, then have him on longer term deal as a TAM player.
Check out this tweet at https://x.com/Editor_ANS/status/1788315645135716401
Woah! Looks like we found our "core starter" who's deal fell through. Profiles as a pacey winger.
Last edited by GMoneyTalks; 05-08-2024 at 05:01 PM.
Hilary Gong. Can't say Hernandez isn't doing his homework. Plus this guy's name can provide many bong puns.
I don't know about that one.
Not sure that is a position of need and thus he would have been a starter right away.
sounds like he won't cost much either.
Just waiting for his MOTM moment where we can say at the water cooler the following Monday at work. "did you catch the TFC game Saturday? It was an absolute Gong show!"
His numbers are pretty poor. I'd be highly surprised if this guy was the "core" starter.
Whenever I see Gong, I just think of this guy from the elections last year
If this guy is the "core starter" then Hernandez has to go before he fills us with enough "core starters" to win back our spoon.
Yea I will one up this... no way that guy is a core starter.
^IF there is anything to that story (big if)... that slot was filled by Etienne.
Let's give Hernandez and Herdman some credit here. This guy is not coming, unless one of the Italians leave.
"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
basically every signing the herdman/ hernandez/ rubio axis made so far has turned out pretty well, let's give them the benefit of the doubt here.
Agreed. No one knew Deybi or Nicksoen either and both have been performing admirably.
Many people were complaining how we didn't get KSB instead of Spicer & now we're starting to see that upside potential in Spicer while also having a solid MLS ready floor.
I would have to trust Herdman & Hernandez here if this Gong show comes in and lights up the right side. Etienne is looking real solid to start.
I think Herdman & Hernandez' goal is to have 18 senior slots filled with above average MLS guys that none of us cringe when we see them in the line up or coming in during the 60th. We're almost there.
Of the pure Hernandez moves; Blessing bad. Ibarra bad. Mailula bad. Owusu good. Etienne Jr. seems good. Drafting Spicer at #1 definitely good but sort of obvious even though we passed up obvious a lot in our past.
Rubio may have been involved in some of these.
The more recent ones I am crediting Herdman with.
Yea I would say the moves Hernandez has made since Herdmann has been here have been good. Before that only Owusu has really worked out. But its not a huge sample size to work with.
Something weird and obvious just occurred to me.
Choiniere went public with his trade demand right after the deadline… what exactly pushed him over the edge?
What if Choiniere is the deal TFC thought they had?
"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
The timing seems to fit. And there's no doubt with him wanting to go to the World Cup he'd probably
Jump at working with Herdman.
And then 10 days later their head of personnel quits.
I know folks on here before have talked about wanting MLSE to sell TFC to a single owner.
But there is a huge benefit to having a cash cow behind the scenes. We don't lose players and personnel likely over pennies.
Last edited by SenorDingDong; 05-09-2024 at 07:04 PM.
Blessing got rid of MAK's contract & then Hernandez subsequently got rid of Blessing's contract. I wouldn't even say he was a bad player, just not worth what he was making but definitely a better deal than what MAK was giving us. To note I think Hernandez also saved conditional GAM on both contracts (for sure MAK, can't remember if there was conditional GAM on Blessing).
Ibarra wasn't a bad deal. That cost us 50k to hold their U22 player for them? Peanuts. Low risk, high reward. Similar to the Etienne deal. Atlanta keeps giving us players for next to nothing on cap hits. No complaints here.
Mailula seems to be the only true bad deal & I'm going to assume we'll be rid of it come July. The interesting part is now that TFC only have 18 senior slots, won't be able to move him unless there's a player coming in to stay compliant (or you're promoting a supplemental player to the senior roster. Gomis?)
I think once Hernandez had a coach requesting profiles his job became easier. I think he was probably taking some direction from Manning/MLS on some of the earlier deals before Herdman was brought in. Before he was told who to bring in now he's just provided with profile & he goes and finds the profiles and works on the players they can afford. Bigger pool of names to go through & take their time bringing them in.
Spicer wasn't obvious. Lots of initial flack for not getting KSB. He was slated to go 9th. Still lots of developing to do but could be a core starter sooner than expected.
I feel like we've been impatient with the moves for TFC (especially during the pre-season) but Hernandez & Herdman have gotten A LOT done. If Berna rumours are true that can give us some solid wiggle room to make more moves in the summer (from an MLSE budget perspective not cap perspective assuming that Berna reduces his annual value in a renegotiated contract). I had this year pegged as a transition year where we'd be battling for 8th-9th but Herdman's shortened the curve & we could potentially complete a rebuild either by the end of this summer or by the start of the 2025 season all while being competitive in 2024.
FWIW. Regarding Hilary Gong. Not sure of the quality of the Slovakia First League. Seems fast and direct. Decent crosses. Positioned on right and not left in these recent clips.
https://youtu.be/OeX7XD6o8c4?si=RYvDW8RJPsapOCmt
Last edited by Mr. Inbetween; 05-09-2024 at 09:26 PM.
Dude had major attitude problems which is why, when you look below the surface, Atlanta was willing to essentially toss him in the garbage under the guise of “cap issues”. Inserting him to the tire-fire environment of last year when there was not room for any more drama was a shit move.
He didn’t even want to play the role he actually excels at either (DM) and fancied himself a box-to-box mid (where he was pretty underwhelming).
I have no idea if it’s so… but I like it very much. Much more of it had come off. Even more if he forces a trade to us.
You have mischaracterized the cost of Ibarra.
Ibarra was the single dumbest move in team history, and that is saying something. Only in very specific situations (ie contenders with very specific short term needs, like a GK or something because of injury) would you take a young guy on loan without a purchase option! I mean, I think most 14 year olds know that!
We were a bad team and the cost of that deal was the playing time we didn't give to somebody we are developing.
How do suppose this transaction went down with the Academy kids and their parents? Or the parents of prospective Academy kids?
It was incoherent at the time, and all the way through it. The damage was significant.
Also... what was this "high" reward, exactly? The faint hope that he would want to stay? Hahahaha, they might have asked him first! ...
Last edited by ensco; 05-10-2024 at 08:13 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
Exactly. That move was 100% a new, inexperienced GM put in a tough spot and trying to show he doing something to fix the team without thinking of the long term implications. Add in that he chose Dunfield to manage the team at that point was baffling. Everything about Hernandez's first month was a mess and an old school TFC style mess. Trying to put wallpaper on a collapsing building kind of thinking as we've usually always done. Any good GM with some recognition on where we were would've ran a fire sale (if possible) and should have done no moves until we got a new manager and just rode out the kids with Dunfield until the end. Wouldn't have been any worse because it couldn't have been.
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