Maxime Crépeau

[BearcatSA]

2 hours ago, Shway said:

Agreed. 

I think a lot of you have red leafy glasses on. There's really just not a lot of keepers under 6ft in Europe. 

He may play bigger than he is, but to the  scouts and analysts it's not good enough. 

Yes, I would say the measurables are against him.  By the same token, those red leafy glasses tend overrate the performance and potential of guys with the more eye popping physical traits.

 

 

[Boominbooty]

8 hours ago, Watchmen said:

 

The reason he gave at the time was "family reasons" but it's pretty well known at this stage that it was because the Whitecaps were so poor and he was unhappy with MDS being let go. LAFC came calling and he was happy to move there. I'm simply saying that rather than going to LAFC (and I believe signing an extension) that he'd look to move to Europe instead. Which is essentially what I think @Unnamed Trialist is also saying, that he should have gone to Europe for more of a challenge.

I had heard from fairly reliable sources that he got frustrated with Caps management. He has some legit offers on the table to move to Portugual (maybe Braga?) but Caps wouldn't let him go. Not sure the details but he needed them to release him and they refused. A chance to go play for an, at the time, Europa league team and they said, nope. So he was choked and wanted to be moved out and on to an MLS contender. How was he able to be released to LAFC? Not sure, I think that is the mystery of MLS. 

[Bison44]

46 minutes ago, Boominbooty said:

I had heard from fairly reliable sources that he got frustrated with Caps management. He has some legit offers on the table to move to Portugual (maybe Braga?) but Caps wouldn't let him go. Not sure the details but he needed them to release him and they refused. A chance to go play for an, at the time, Europa league team and they said, nope. So he was choked and wanted to be moved out and on to an MLS contender. How was he able to be released to LAFC? Not sure, I think that is the mystery of MLS. 

Release as in waive a transfer fee??  What did they end up getting from LAFC..a million garber bucks??  I think sometimes we really put too much on europe.  Whats wrong with him being a top keeper on one of the top teams in MLS??  He has already won  a trophy, become a hero down in LA, he should be right in the mix to take over from Borjan...he isnt doing so bad.   

[An Observer]

3 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

Release as in waive a transfer fee??  What did they end up getting from LAFC..a million garber bucks??  I think sometimes we really put too much on europe.  Whats wrong with him being a top keeper on one of the top teams in MLS??  He has already won  a trophy, become a hero down in LA, he should be right in the mix to take over from Borjan...he isnt doing so bad.   

Normally teams don't release players if they want to go play for another side.  They sell them.  So not sure what he was frustrated about if the Portuguese side was not willing to buy him.

[Unnamed Trialist]

8 hours ago, costarg said:

I was scrolling down the page to make the same comment.  Max is often listed at 5'11" or 6', but unless he grew a few inches after 23, I'm not sure he's even 5'10".  Teams seem to spend and gamble more on tall keepers with less skill than an excellent keeper that is shorter.  

It's a fair point. Though he's very sure in the air, truth be told.

In La Liga last season there were 3-4 keepers at 6 foot or less, none on big teams.

[Boominbooty]

I think it was that the Caps would not sell him as he was still under contract BUT they were willing to send him to LAFC for the weird MLS payment scheme. 
 

[Corazon]

Iker Casillas was 5'11 or 6'0 and was an exceptional keeper in his day.

[BearcatSA]

6 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

It's a fair point. Though he's very sure in the air, truth be told.

In La Liga last season there were 3-4 keepers at 6 foot or less, none on big teams.

Navas, I think, is listed at 6 foot.  Not the Jolly Green Giant, by any means, but a terrific keeper.

(Would you bring a guy like him in as a DP keeper, Burki-style?)

[Watchmen]

1 hour ago, Boominbooty said:

I think it was that the Caps would not sell him as he was still under contract BUT they were willing to send him to LAFC for the weird MLS payment scheme. 
 

Yeah, I'm not sure I buy that.  They had to stagger the LAFC payments because they had too much GAM as it was.  A sale to Europe would have been much more beneficial to them, both financially and in terms of optics - fans could definitely understand the club selling him to Europe, but selling him within the league did not go over well.

[InglewoodJack]

14 hours ago, costarg said:

I was scrolling down the page to make the same comment.  Max is often listed at 5'11" or 6', but unless he grew a few inches after 23, I'm not sure he's even 5'10".  Teams seem to spend and gamble more on tall keepers with less skill than an excellent keeper that is shorter.  

FOTMob has him at 6’1 and Sofascore has him at 185 cm which is just a hair under 6’1. That must’ve been a heck of a growth spurt.

I wonder how tall he is compared to Sirois. Sirois is apparently 6’0 according to the same apps. 

[Boominbooty]

35 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

Yeah, I'm not sure I buy that.  They had to stagger the LAFC payments because they had too much GAM as it was.  A sale to Europe would have been much more beneficial to them, both financially and in terms of optics - fans could definitely understand the club selling him to Europe, but selling him within the league did not go over well.

Buy it or don’t buy it. I’m not bothered. I’m telling you what I heard from a source close to the player. There was an offer from a club in Portugual, Crepeau wanted to go, the Caps said no, Crepeau caused a stink and so ultimately the Caps moved him to LAFC. 

[Bison44]

So a Portugal team tried to low ball, or get a free transfer for Crepeau and Van didnt go for it??  Hmmm, I dont blame them. You want to help players on but its show business, not show friends eh??  Let LAFC let him go on a free transfer then, they wont go for that either.  

[GasPed]

5 minutes ago, Boominbooty said:

Buy it or don’t buy it. I’m not bothered. I’m telling you what I heard from a source close to the player. There was an offer from a club in Portugual, Crepeau wanted to go, the Caps said no, Crepeau caused a stink and so ultimately the Caps moved him to LAFC. 

Yeah, that story doesn't really make sense unless there was something else afoot.  "If you don't sell me to Portugal, I'll hate you and pout until you trade me somewhere else"?  That would be very weird - somewhere between unprofessional and psychotic.

[Obinna]

29 minutes ago, Boominbooty said:

Buy it or don’t buy it. I’m not bothered. I’m telling you what I heard from a source close to the player. There was an offer from a club in Portugual, Crepeau wanted to go, the Caps said no, Crepeau caused a stink and so ultimately the Caps moved him to LAFC. 

Since it's just hearsay, do you mind sharing what club it was? Or if you don't want to say exactly, can you say if it was a club outside the top 4 (Braga, Sporting, Porto, Benfica)? 

Thanks!

[The Real Marc]

37 minutes ago, GasPed said:

Yeah, that story doesn't really make sense unless there was something else afoot.  "If you don't sell me to Portugal, I'll hate you and pout until you trade me somewhere else"?  That would be very weird - somewhere between unprofessional and psychotic.

Isn't this the situation in about a third of all transfers?

[costarg]

1 hour ago, InglewoodJack said:

FOTMob has him at 6’1 and Sofascore has him at 185 cm which is just a hair under 6’1. That must’ve been a heck of a growth spurt.

I wonder how tall he is compared to Sirois. Sirois is apparently 6’0 according to the same apps. 

Such a mystery, really weird!  I was curious so looked around.... and the plot thickens: Wiki puts him at 181cm which is 5'9", but they list him at 5'11" imperial.  FifaCM list him at 180cm and 5'10".  So not only the eye test, but even the math doesn't compute.

[InglewoodJack]

1 hour ago, costarg said:

Such a mystery, really weird!  I was curious so looked around.... and the plot thickens: Wiki puts him at 181cm which is 5'9", but they list him at 5'11" imperial.  FifaCM list him at 180cm and 5'10".  So not only the eye test, but even the math doesn't compute.

I know in other sports players and teams will occasionally massage a player’s measurements; in basketball there are a lot of 6’10 guys listed at 7’0 so they can play centre- interestingly enough, it’s long been rumoured that Kevin Durant is 7’0 but lowered his reported height so he could play more skill positions when he was coming up. 
 

For Crepeau, hard to tell unless you have pictures next to guys whose height you know, but it’s possible that he is 5’10 or 11, but if he really stretches back and maaaaaaybe spikes his hair, a team physician can give him an extra inch and a half and bring him up to 6’1. These artificial inflations matter when the player is young and coming up because teams assess on potential, but a team in Europe could tell very easily whether he is 6’1 or if he really is a few inches shorter.

[Boominbooty]

2 hours ago, GasPed said:

Yeah, that story doesn't really make sense unless there was something else afoot.  "If you don't sell me to Portugal, I'll hate you and pout until you trade me somewhere else"?  That would be very weird - somewhere between unprofessional and psychotic.

becuase there has never been an athlete who has never tried to force a trade or refused to play?

this happens in all sports

[Boominbooty]

2 hours ago, Obinna said:

Since it's just hearsay, do you mind sharing what club it was? Or if you don't want to say exactly, can you say if it was a club outside the top 4 (Braga, Sporting, Porto, Benfica)? 

Thanks!

Braga

[Obinna]

9 minutes ago, Boominbooty said:

Braga

Damn - that's a real shame. On paper LAFC is probably close to Braga, if we put aside how unbalanced MLS rosters are, but as we see they get into Europe pretty regularly so that would have been a cool destination. 

[InglewoodJack]

21 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Damn - that's a real shame. On paper LAFC is probably close to Braga, if we put aside how unbalanced MLS rosters are, but as we see they get into Europe pretty regularly so that would have been a cool destination. 

I wonder how this calculus changes if/when Copa Libertadores expands to Mexico and MLS. I don't know if/when it'll happen and if Crepeau will be around when it does, but LAFC is one of the best teams in all of CONCACAF- Braga is a team that's all but a guaranteed champions league group stage out, but you have to think LAFC can at least do some damage in South America. If the choice is say, play for Braga, get smoked by Real Madrid and Napoli, make eek out a win against a team like Union Berlin, or you get the opportunity to go and play against River Plate, Palmeiras, Flamengo, Newell's, etc. Just the experience of playing an away game at any of those stadiums in south america is huge for a player.

It's more of a hypothetical question than one about Crepeau because he's stuck with playing in Concacaf, but I wonder how the Europe vs. MLS transfer path will look once top MLS teams start getting to play in South American tournaments. We want all of our guys to play in European tournaments, but for a lot of guys, I think there will eventually be a choice between playing for a top MLS team that might be competitive vs. a team that will make the Champions league but lose every game (ie Celtic, or if Malmo makes it next year, etc.). I guess we'll see this in action if the rumour about Inter Miami playing in next Copa Libertadores is true- you have Kamal Miller staying in North America, and now he's on a team that will be playing some very big opponents.

[Watchmen]

4 hours ago, Boominbooty said:

Buy it or don’t buy it. I’m not bothered. I’m telling you what I heard from a source close to the player. There was an offer from a club in Portugual, Crepeau wanted to go, the Caps said no, Crepeau caused a stink and so ultimately the Caps moved him to LAFC. 

I don't think anyone is disagreeing there might have been an offer for Crepeau from Braga. I think we're saying that the offer was probably so low that as a club it couldn't be accepted. Schuster has been willing to move players on, but the offer still has to be reasonable.

Edited October 24, 2023 by Watchmen

[GasPed]

8 hours ago, The Real Marc said:

Isn't this the situation in about a third of all transfers?

Well, I have to admit there are many players who want out, and anywhere will do, when they're unhappy with their playing time or with the coach.  But I don't think that applies here.

[Unnamed Trialist]

10 hours ago, Obinna said:

Damn - that's a real shame. On paper LAFC is probably close to Braga, if we put aside how unbalanced MLS rosters are, but as we see they get into Europe pretty regularly so that would have been a cool destination. 

Braga is definitely on the rise. I watched 2nd half of the Youth League vs Madrid yesterday and that's a solid bunch of kids (0-0)…makes you think they'll emerge as the 4th strongest in Portugal. They had good players all over the pitch including keeper.

I appreciated why that kid Juvy Kooner couldn't break in.

Still have hopes for Maxime to make a move but if he becomes Canada's starter and is at LAfc I'm confident he'll perform.

[rkomar]

12 hours ago, costarg said:

Such a mystery, really weird!  I was curious so looked around.... and the plot thickens: Wiki puts him at 181cm which is 5'9", but they list him at 5'11" imperial.  FifaCM list him at 180cm and 5'10".  So not only the eye test, but even the math doesn't compute.

5'11" = 71" = (71 x 2.54 = 180.3)cm.  So, the math does compute.   5'9" is about 175 cm.