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Braz to sign with TFC Tuesday


Grizzly

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The local CTV station in Montreal just reported that Adam Braz will be one of the Canadian internationals announced to have signed with TFC on Tuesday. Not unexpected as his contract with the Impact has expired. They are also reporting that Sutton may sign with either LA or TFC but that both teams are having difficulty stomaching Saputo's demand for a six figure [:0] transfer fee.

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quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

They are also reporting that Sutton may sign with either LA or TFC but that both teams are having difficulty stomaching Saputo's demand for a six figure [:0] transfer fee.

Well, that's a pretty big bracket. 150k and 860k are not the same thing.

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quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury

One from the USL, one from Second Division Norway, one from Third Division Norway.

All decent players, but I must say these signings aren't exactly blockbuster.

When the club talked about bringing guys back from Europe, these were the types of players I was expecting. They'll bring back the guys playing in lower level leagues that don't pay great and have no real hope for advancement. Both Reda and Pozniak have probably gone as far as they can in Europe. Meanwhile, established players (like Bernier) or guys with a lot of upside (Ademolu for example) will likely be staying in Europe.

I think these players will be positive players for the club, but likely not MLS all stars.

Jason

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quote:Originally posted by Daniel

Well, that's a pretty big bracket. 150k and 860k are not the same thing.

Yes but even 100k is way too much for Sutton. He might be worth that much if he shows he can play at MLS level but he is a 29 year old keeper who has played 3rd or 4th division level soccer for his whole career. If I was TFC I wouldn't pay that much for him when I could get a superior keeper on a free transfer without difficulty whatsoever. The only reason to pay that much for him is because he is Canadian. However, TFC is not having difficulty signing Canadians and will soon have 4 Canadians on the roster with possibly more coming. They can already meet their Canadian quota with the number of Canadians they have. Being Canadian was not enough to keep Serioux on their roster and I doubt it will be enough to make TFC overpay for Sutton either. If a deal is to be made, I think the Impact would only get a much smaller fee (say 25 000) but would get a good slice of any additional transfer fees if he transfers somewhere else later.

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quote:Originally posted by loyola

They should look at Stama, he's about the same quality and must be much cheaper.

What kind of european keeper could TFC get for 100K? A CCC keeper or below?

There would be a lot of European keepers available on a free transfer the quality depending on what type of salary TFC is willing to pay. If I were managing TFC I would rather put the $100 000 towards paying a top keeper's salary than for a transfer fee for Sutton.

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quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

There would be a lot of European keepers available on a free transfer the quality depending on what type of salary TFC is willing to pay. If I were managing TFC I would rather put the $100 000 towards paying a top keeper's salary than for a transfer fee for Sutton.

Do transfer fees count against the salary cap? Who pays the transfer fees, the league or the club?

Also, what are these salary allocations that Toronto FC has acquired over the last couple of days?

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quote:Originally posted by Winnipeg Fury

One from the USL, one from Second Division Norway, one from Third Division Norway.

All decent players, but I must say these signings aren't exactly blockbuster.

These are discovery signings. Given that Kreis, O'Rourke and Hesmer were traded for allocation money and expansion teams typically get three allocations for their first season there can be no doubt that there will be more Jim Brennan ex-Premiership player type signings.

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quote:Originally posted by BringBackTheBlizzard

These are discovery signings. Given that Kreis, O'Rourke and Hesmer were traded for allocation money and expansion teams typically get three allocations for their first season there can be no doubt that there will be more Jim Brennan ex-Premiership player type signings.

I think BringBackTheBlizzard is bang on with his assesment. All those allocations that Mo has traded for will likely be used on 1 or more players with some degree of name recognition (they might not necessarily be Canadian but recognizable nonetheless). If they happen to be Canadian, TFC will likely have to pay a bit of a premium (the same way CFL teams pay non-imports a premium just for being Canadian).

I can't believe TFC would really have to pay a big transfer fee for Sutton but I believe signing him would be a good move, even if for PR only, because he is a Canadian international and has had good success in the USL. If the stories of a 6 figure transfer fee are true, Saputo must have his shorts really in a knot over Federal funds building us a nice stadium in Toronto. Why else would he impede the progress of one his star players. You would think he would be proud to seeing one his guys move up to a bigger league under normal circumstances.

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If the Impact are going to sell their all-time best keeper and consistent MVP, they're not going to do it on the cheap just because... just because what, exactly? They're looking at the transfers they got for Ali and Grande and those players were not as important to their new teams as Sutton would presumably be. On top of that, the Impact would have to replace him with a domestic player or reduce their foreign field players, all of which limits options. Sutton probably won't be playing at the Impact in 2007, but that doesn't mean that Toronto's the only possibility. Besides other MLS teams (he also has a US passport), there's a whole world out there.

As for being pissed off at the CSA/TFC thing, I don't think it has to do with the funding of the stadium itself, rather the MLS exclusivity negotiated BY the CSA (therefore impeding other potential Canadian bids for 3 years) and giving 6 national team games a year in Toronto despite new stadiums coming in other places like Montreal and Vancouver. Saputo's pissed because TFC was formed under the CSA's auspice and it did not act in the best interest of its other constituents while negotiating deals.

TFC is a rival, not a friend.

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Whether or not this results from Saputo being pissed off, the end result of this may be that the amount of money that it is worth to TFC to pay for Sutton may not equal the amount of money it is worth for the Impact to let him go. To make this happen either TFC must decide to overpay for him because he is Canadian or the Impact must decide to let him go on the cheap to help him further his career. The strange thing is that Sutton is in this situation in the first place because unlike Braz he signed a 3 year contract last year with the Impact. Of course I don't know what type of money the Impact are paying him (does anyone here know?) so maybe Saputo made him an offer too good to refuse. Yet it seems like Sutton held all the cards last year when he renogotiated his contract because not only would he garner a lot of interest from any other USL team and possibly MLS teams he also has an American passport so nothing would stop him from playing for a US team either. If the Impact were not willing to offer him a one-year contract last year, which seems doubtful, it seems he would have had a lot of other options.

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Interesting that LA (Yallop) is thinking about Suton considering some on this board do not think of our National Teal goalkeeper any good, Yallop must be bad at picking good Players??? As for the TFC, are these the players that will fill the BOM Center?

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quote:Originally posted by georg

Interesting that LA (Yallop) is thinking about Suton considering some on this board do not think of our National Teal goalkeeper any good, Yallop must be bad at picking good Players??? As for the TFC, are these the players that will fill the BOM Center?

Yallop certainly wasn't very good at picking players as national team coach particularly during WCQ. You should also try reading the what people post before you comment. Noone is saying Sutton is crap, he may even turn out to be a good MLS starting keeper. What I and others are saying is that he is unproven at that level and is not worth the amount of money that Saputo is apparently demanding.

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