Valencia is done. Wouldn't go near him. He hasn't played as a winger for years at club level.
Plus, his crosses could never get past the first man in the prem. That isnt going to suddenly change in MLS.
Valencia is done. Wouldn't go near him. He hasn't played as a winger for years at club level.
Plus, his crosses could never get past the first man in the prem. That isnt going to suddenly change in MLS.
Last edited by Areathrasher; 04-03-2019 at 06:24 AM.
In a year William from Chelsea would be a nice DP signing. His contract ends next summer.
"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
Didn’t Cesar let 7 goals in a World Cup Game... It is always easy to find someone’s faults.
I think the big concern is that we have seen Bono’s potential. How do we get him back there, is it challenging him with competition or is it bringing him a mentor? He is still young. But we need to make sure we have someone that can play in case he can’t and why i agree with giving Westberg some playing time.
Football is funny, we lost some games last year where clearly the Gods were against us.... Does the NYCFC shot hit the post and big Bono save right after happen in 2018? Probably not and with our confidence shattered, we end up losing (last year).
But this is 2019 and we’re back.... Now where is our newest signing.
COYRs
I'm a utd fan and I wouldn't touch Valencia with a 40ft barge pole. Great player and servant over the yrs to Utd as a winger and then in recent seasons as full back but he's done. Once he lost his pace he found a new position at right back, but now he doesn't have the legs anymore to get up and down the flank. He doesn't trust himself to take on defenders so he checks back and plays easy lay off. When he does cross, more often than not hits shins of first defender, although even in his prime his crossing was hit or miss. If it is just a pure defensive right back you need, maybe, but you need more these days from that position.
Markel Susaeta is rumored to be coming to MLS. He's a free agent this summer, he's probably too good to be a tam player, I wonder if they could bring him in on a tam deal then move him to a DP contract next year with Bradley going down to a tam contact.
^Is there some reason Alessandrini cannot be bought down? I thought that was how LA would deal with their 4 DP problem... the rules around this are baffling.
"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
He seems to be just over the limit to buy down but everything with these MLS rules is ridiculous. Who knows? Maybe if we wait until the deadline in May, the 3 months he put in in LA will have dropped his remaining salary below that level. It's possible since nobody knows how any of it works.
Not sure why taking Bradley's salary down to a TAM is even being mentioned or believable. That isn't going to happen. Be realistic...he's a DP.
He won't. He will be going elsewhere.. time to bring a different dp.
It's seemed likely to me for a while that Bradley would be offered another long term contract at max TAM money freeing up the DP spot. I think TFC is and should be committed to doing what it takes to lock MB up long term as both a player and then as a coach/front office asset. If they gave him 6 years at max Tam he could transition to management when they mutually felt his time on the field was done. I also think Michaels's commitment to family and the city work in favour of something like that
Didn't Bradley do this once before - take a pay cut to make sure we could bring in Altidore? Or am I making things up?
I'm fully in the camp that if there's one person on this team who would take a personal hit to make the team better it would be Bradley. Obviously his next contract is going to be a lot smaller than what he's currently getting - I don't think $1.5 is completely out of the question and that puts him in TAM territory.
TFC management changes: "like adding a new fish to your aquarium of failure." - Shakes
I think Bradley's situation is impossible to read.
I would guess he will be offered an extension at the max TAM number, but the real question is what he wants to do.
If I were to guess... he probably wants to get settled in a big US city and start thinking about getting some post-career roots in the US. (The USMNT hate will fade.)
No big opinion. I think he likes it here, maybe he is willing to stay a while, or even emigrate. But it's pretty likely, based on what the vast majority of TO athletes have done, that he'll ultimately settle in an Atlanta, Chicago, LA...
Of course he can always do that after 2-3 more years at TFC, but I think there'll be lots of interest in him at the TAM number. He'll be on a free. Committing $5M to him for 3 years is not that big a deal. I expect multiple clubs to be interested. Especially ones that maybe need a culture restart (San Jose? Orlando? The new Chicago City post Schweinie?)
(I often think this issue is looked at through rose coloured glasses by Torontonians. This is a nice place and all, but it's not that easy to get people who didn't grow up here, and have options, to actually choose this as their long-term home. Weather and taxes are a big problem, and the culture and school curriculum can seem weird to Americans)
Last edited by ensco; 04-04-2019 at 08:26 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