John Molinaro, who is not the type to publish rumours without substance, is reporting that former Impact defender Kevin Hatchi is in the final stages of making a move to TFC.
The club, however, was pretty blunt. There was no gray area in Paul Mariner’s response.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
“No, we are not signing Kevin Hatchi. There are no plans to bring him into the club”
Ok, then.
As stated, Molinaro is not a print rumours type of reporter. I trust that his sources are solid. So, either a normally straight source is feeding Molinaro a line, or Paul Mariner is OK with outright lying – there is no subtly in that response.
It’s unclear whether it’s worth worrying about anyway. Although Hatchi seems solid enough there are some red flags. Notably, he’s played for nine different clubs since 2001.
He was also released by the Impact less than half a season after joining the club. Normally clubs throw out platitudes when they release a player, thanking them and wishing them the best of luck moving forward as they kick them out of town. However, Nick De Santis was a little more candid.
“Kevin Hatchi had certain qualities, but he didn’t fit in the group. We took this decision for the well-being of the team. All our players need to walk in the same direction, especially when the team is going through difficult times.”
That doesn’t sound promising.
Then again, TFC is in pretty bad shape at the back right now and it seems like it’s an attitude issue rather than a talent one. It’s unclear whether Toronto can be too picky right now.
I don’t think they’ll have to make the decision though. This one feels like an agent planting a seed.