Ayo Akinola

[dyslexic nam]

18 hours ago, Free kick said:

Its also skewed toward attacking or offensive minded players.  Those are easier to evaluate because you can find stats.   For defensive minded talents, its much harder.  

Yeah, there is no doubt in my mind that Priso should make the cut - especially given his age.  

Edited October 13, 2021 by dyslexic nam

[Stryker911]

What's the timeline for his return? Is he a possibility for November? Or January?

[Floortom]

5 minutes ago, Stryker911 said:

What's the timeline for his return? Is he a possibility for November? Or January?

8 months from time of surgery would be absolute best case - that would mean a May return. Most likely scenario is an August-September return.

[canuckgbp]

And worst case is something like what happened with Achara. He got injured early July I believe. He got surgery a week later and he didn't come back August of this year. Basically 13 months. 

Not sure on the details of why it took longer though. 

Edited October 13, 2021 by canuckgbp

[toontownman]

Man that sucks. I was hoping for an early 2022 recovery, might have also muddled him and Priso up injury wise. Such a shame as he would have been playing a huge part across this window and likely the next for the National team. 

[Razcle]

Are we feeling that Ayo won’t be in game shape for 2022 WC?

Edited October 24, 2021 by Razcle

[dyslexic nam]

19 minutes ago, Razcle said:

Are we feeling that Ayo won’t be in game shape for 2022 WC?

Impossible to say IMO.  If he plays the latter half of the MLS season, he could be tearing it up.  But if he is later coming back then it is pretty unlikely he would be fit.  

It also depends on how he treats his layoff time.  I still think of the way Bayern’s Goeretzka used the COVID layoff.  He came out of it in beast mode.   And if I was a young guy in a position to play a role in the World Cup (the first of two) in roughy one year from now (with an exciting Canadian team) I would be making sure I was training as hard as my medical team let me. 
 

[An Observer]

Possibly for WC as that is still slightly more than a year away. He will need to have a big second half for TFC next year to get into the conversation which is probably difficult as coming back from a major injury. And especially the case if David, Larin and especially Cav are on top form, Ennin still progresses and Jebbison switches, I just don’t see it as likely as our depth in the spot he plays is just too great (and similar on the wings)

 

 

 

 

[Big_M]

world cup is in a year and not in the summer..if he got his surgery in august he should be fit by spring at the latest..so question wont be if hes in game shape but rather his quality compared to others and club performance

[An Observer]

5 hours ago, Big_M said:

world cup is in a year and not in the summer..if he got his surgery in august he should be fit by spring at the latest..so question wont be if hes in game shape but rather his quality compared to others and club performance

I am aware of when the WC is.  But not only does he have to regain game shape but he will have to regain form which isn’t always easy after an injury like this.  We will see.

[Bison44]

"The guy in the TSN special mentioned two camps, one specifically where someone else from his team was selected."  ElHombre.

Sorry I thought I would move this over to Ayos thread.  This also always bugged me.  We know that he was already on US U-14 roster in 2014, started playing for US spring of 2015.  So these camps had to have been in early in 2014 or mb 2013.  So he is not listed on any of the canadian 2014/2013 camps, so the gripe is at 14/13 he never got into the ID camps?  

Just a quick check, David, Tabla, Faria, Hundal, Adona Reid, Dada-Luke are names you would recognize that were in those camps listed as forwards. 

[El Hombre]

9 hours ago, Bison44 said:

"The guy in the TSN special mentioned two camps, one specifically where someone else from his team was selected."  ElHombre.

Sorry I thought I would move this over to Ayos thread.  This also always bugged me.  We know that he was already on US U-14 roster in 2014, started playing for US spring of 2015.  So these camps had to have been in early in 2014 or mb 2013.  So he is not listed on any of the canadian 2014/2013 camps, so the gripe is at 14/13 he never got into the ID camps?  

Just a quick check, David, Tabla, Faria, Hundal, Adona Reid, Dada-Luke are names you would recognize that were in those camps listed as forwards. 

From what I understand, Akinola made his debut in 2015 with the US.  Canada had a number of U15 camps in 2014 and 2015 and went to a tournament later in 2015.  I assumed it was not getting invited to those identification camps in 2015 that pushed him towards the US.  As I tried to mention elsewhere (but gave up talking to a brick wall), there was some healthy competition at "Forward" at that time (David, Davies, Hundal etc.).  So its not like he was overlooked by nothing but scrubs. 

CSA scouting is not great.  They tend to focus on physical development rather than skill, in my opinion.  No idea where Akinola was on the development curve at the time, but that could've contributed to it.  The other thing was that Hundal outperformed Akinola until about the age of 18 when a 17 year old Akinola overtook him.  By that time, he was already in the US system.  Nevertheless, they were at least being proactive with cross the nation identification camps.  Kids are always going to slip through unless the budget is increased by a factor of 10.

I didn't like the TSN feature because it provided facts in a vacuum (what players were chosen over Akinola, what position did this other kid on Akinola's team play etc.).  All of that provides context rather than a lazy narrative of "CSA Bad!"

Where the CSA has dropped the ball is that I don't see those camps happening which is a real shame.  That needs to be brought back.

[Sal333]

20 hours ago, El Hombre said:

I find this claim rather specious.  This is the first I'd heard that Canada rejected him.  Unless that was when they decided to go with a young Jonathan David over Akinola.

 

Yesterday you weren't even aware that Canada had on a number of occasions passed on Akinola. You were so sure of yourself you called my claim specious. The above excerpt from your post says as much. And then you qualify Canada's pass by placing David in the camp - as if there was room for only one forward.

Now in the below post you're speculating why he was passed over. They had what they thought were better players at the forward position. Funny that the USA program that produces three or four times the talent that Canada does had the room to accept him in one camp.

Maybe you should just admit you're not informed on subject and leave it at that instead of calling people specious or thick walls.

 

16 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

From what I understand, Akinola made his debut in 2015 with the US.  Canada had a number of U15 camps in 2014 and 2015 and went to a tournament later in 2015.  I assumed it was not getting invited to those identification camps in 2015 that pushed him towards the US.  As I tried to mention elsewhere (but gave up talking to a brick wall), there was some healthy competition at "Forward" at that time (David, Davies, Hundal etc.).  So its not like he was overlooked by nothing but scrubs. 

CSA scouting is not great.  They tend to focus on physical development rather than skill, in my opinion.  No idea where Akinola was on the development curve at the time, but that could've contributed to it.  The other thing was that Hundal outperformed Akinola until about the age of 18 when a 17 year old Akinola overtook him.  By that time, he was already in the US system.  Nevertheless, they were at least being proactive with cross the nation identification camps.  Kids are always going to slip through unless the budget is increased by a factor of 10.

I didn't like the TSN feature because it provided facts in a vacuum (what players were chosen over Akinola, what position did this other kid on Akinola's team play etc.).  All of that provides context rather than a lazy narrative of "CSA Bad!"

Where the CSA has dropped the ball is that I don't see those camps happening which is a real shame.  That needs to be brought back.

 

[El Hombre]

8 minutes ago, Sal333 said:

Yesterday you weren't even aware that Canada had on a number of occasions passed on Akinola. You were so sure of yourself you called my claim specious. The above excerpt from your post says as much. And then you qualify Canada's pass by placing David in the camp - as if there was room for only one forward.

Now in the below post you're speculating why he was passed over. They had what they thought were better players at the forward position. Funny that the USA program that produces three or four times the talent that Canada does had the room to accept him in one camp.

Maybe you should just admit you're not informed on subject and leave it at that instead of calling people specious or thick walls.

 

 

Definition of Specious: Having a false look of truth or misleading in appearance.

My issue from the very beginning was the framing of the situation as "Canada rejected Akinola".  This is not true.  Which is why I called the wording specious. 

Yes, I knew that Canada didn't call him into camps.  However, to frame this as Canada "rejecting" Akinola is misleading.  Other, perhaps more deserving at the time, players were chosen ahead of him for two camps.  The use of the word "reject" places the blame entirely on the CSA and misrepresents what happened at the time.

Edit: apologies to @Bison44, I really didn't want to continue this here.

Edited November 4, 2021 by El Hombre

[narduch]

TFC confirmed today that Akinola is now a free agent 

[canuckgbp]

Surprising. I wonder if they tried to extend him and he didn’t want to?
 

Or maybe they didn’t want to extend him while he is still injured? 

[Ivan]

3 minutes ago, narduch said:

TFC confirmed today that Akinola is now a free agent 

Wow, big news.  Wonder if they offered him a new contract and he wants too much?  Hopefully, its not the injury that scared TFC off.

[Dominic94]

Whattttt wow. They didn’t have an option on him ? TBH he’s got options and I certainly don’t want him behind Jozy again.

[Bison44]

Just now, Dominic94 said:

Whattttt wow. They didn’t have an option on him ? TBH he’s got options and I certainly don’t want him behind Jozy again.

HEHHE, I wouldnt worry about being behind Jozy.  To do that you'd need to be in the press box 90% of the time.  Bad optics if they let their most promising young goal scorer get away.  Its one thing to sell a Lareya/Oso etc, but to lose a local homegrown academy product that actually contributes...to free agency???  I am looking forward to see the next  Dom Dwyer type lined up to replace him next season, that'll bring the fans back.  

[dyslexic nam]

In the absence of some amazing silver lining, that is pretty shitty news.  There are only a few things that seem like it would drive a decision like this:

- TFC medical folks could think injury may impact him going forward  

- he may have some locker room issues

- he may be looking for more money than they will pay, which may make it hard for him to find another team

Crazy for them to let go of a young Canadian striker who did so well for them in the MLS is Back tourney.  I guess it could end up being a good thing if he lands a starting role somewhere else but I would have been happy to have him stay at TFC and be working with guys like Shaff, Rutty, Priso, Nelson and Okello. 

[Corazon]

Based on Toronto FC's Instagram Account

TFC Exercised Options on Westberg, Auro Jr., Osorio, Okello, Shaffelburg & Achara

TFC Declined Options on Silva, Gonzalez, Zavaleta, Romeo & Mullins

TFC Out of Contract at the End of the Year for Dunn, Fraser, DeLeon, Endoh, Gallardo & Akinola

 

So I am not 100% sure that Fraser, Dunn & Akinola are for sure gone but that they may still be working through contracts.  Someone else with more information could confirm or correct this.

With Westberg signing and Bono still on contract, it looks like one of the many Canadian Goalies in CPL/MLS will not be making the move to Toronto unfortunately.  

[Ruffian]

Iain Hume commenting on twitter that it would be a pretty sh!tty move for TFC to not sign him because of his injury situation and leaving him to find a new team while injured. I hope this is not the case.

Edit: Oliver Platt's tweet that Iain replied to is gone. Jumping to conclusions: this is so they don't piss of TFC

Edited December 1, 2021 by Ruffian

[archer21]

This is completely speculation and I have no idea what the MLS rules are but there’s a chance it could be because of the injury and his medical benefits. I have a friend who played another sport professionally (not at the highest level) that got injured toward the end of a season and kept getting paid in the offseason even though he usually only gets paid in season (because the injury could stop him from finding other work in the offseason I think). So maybe Akinola can keep getting paid by the league/insurance due to injury if he isn’t being paid by a club. Could be mutually beneficial to Akinola and TFC if he gets to be paid without costing the team anything.

[Approve My Account Pls]

13 minutes ago, Corazon said:

Based on Toronto FC's Instagram Account

TFC Exercised Options on Westberg, Auro Jr., Osorio, Okello, Shaffelburg & Achara

TFC Declined Options on Silva, Gonzalez, Zavaleta, Romeo & Mullins

TFC Out of Contract at the End of the Year for Dunn, Fraser, DeLeon, Endoh, Gallardo & Akinola

 

So I am not 100% sure that Fraser, Dunn & Akinola are for sure gone but that they may still be working through contracts.  Someone else with more information could confirm or correct this.

With Westberg signing and Bono still on contract, it looks like one of the many Canadian Goalies in CPL/MLS will not be making the move to Toronto unfortunately.  

Out of contract doesn't necessarily mean he won't come back though, could be a matter of ongoing negotiations or maybe he wants to test the market. Would be more inclined to agree with @dyslexic nam if it were a declined option

[RS]

6 minutes ago, Approve My Account Pls said:

Out of contract doesn't necessarily mean he won't come back though, could be a matter of ongoing negotiations or maybe he wants to test the market.

This. Contract negotiations are never done until they are.