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Ashtone Morgan


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  • 3 months later...
2 minutes ago, footballfreak said:

By my count, 13 MLS teams had at least one Canadian on their roster this season. Ashtone Morgan is the last man standing in the playoffs.

Celebrate Major League Soccer GIF by realsaltlake

An article from a few months back when he was actually getting playing time:

https://www.rsl.com/news/you-still-got-this-you-have-a-lot-in-the-tank-and-a-lot-to-left-to-prove

Right after it was published his playing time dropped off a cliff.

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12 hours ago, toontownman said:

USL beckons. 

Would be nice to see him and the likes of Hamilton in the CPL though, especially if the CPL cap is raised as promised and clubs can match USL wages better.

To be on the bench? Kwame is a better LB no question.

Edited by Shway
Disregard, read this completely wrong!
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I think he'll take substantially less money no matter what. If he resigns in MLS he'd likely make 65-80K,  but unlikely he gets more than that anywhere else.

Guy has ~200 MLS games, 18 caps, had 9 appearances for a playoff team last year, and 30 isn't that over the hill, so I could see a team bring him in as cheap cover that can do a job and mentorship value. If you're a team that's trying to win now, he's probably a lot more trustworthy than some 21 year old straight out of NCAA.

If Ashtone drops down a level I'd imagine it's a choice on his part cause he'd rather play week-in week-out.

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There is a big shake up coming in the lower leagues.  All those USL team pulled out, and a bunch more losing all the affiliated players that logically should go to this NEXT league as well. MLS teams might build the roster differently if they need a full squad to send down to the reserve league 24 times a summer.  Its going to be a wild offseason. 

Maybe MLS is looking for cheap LB cover or a bigger USL wants someone with an MLS pedigree to put them over the hump.  Hopefully Morgan finds somewhere to continue on. I still have a soft spot for him and the other early TFC homegrowns.  

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16 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

There is a big shake up coming in the lower leagues.  All those USL team pulled out, and a bunch more losing all the affiliated players that logically should go to this NEXT league as well. MLS teams might build the roster differently if they need a full squad to send down to the reserve league 24 times a summer.  Its going to be a wild offseason. 

Maybe MLS is looking for cheap LB cover or a bigger USL wants someone with an MLS pedigree to put them over the hump.  Hopefully Morgan finds somewhere to continue on. I still have a soft spot for him and the other early TFC homegrowns.  

USL is his most likely option at age 30.
That league isn’t really a development league, and teams are built in the same way as MLS squads.

I looked at Orange County’s and the Rowdies roster (the 2021 finals) and the average age was about 28 for both  teams. 

All that too say is I agree with you that big changes is coming to USL. The MLS next reserve league (as much as they don’t want to market it as such) will be an U23 league mixed in with fringe guys looking for match fitness. 

I think Morgan ends up in the USL if he doesn’t want to come home.

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If I am Morgan I am going where the money is at. Careers are short and when you've been on sub 200k you probably don't have much of an option NOT to go for the money. That's probably USL over CPL as things stand...

But I wonder if there are options in Scandinavia? Norway in particular seems to acquire players with a similar resume to Morgan. He'd probably make more in Norway than USL, plus he'd arguably be looking at a top division squad there. Not the big boys, but you know something mid or lower table.  

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1 hour ago, Big_M said:

senior minimum salary is over 80k in mls so he cant get less than that if he gets a contract...he cant occupy slots 25-30 so that goes against him

Yeah figured there was maybe something like that

Edited by A_Gagne
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14 hours ago, Obinna said:

If I am Morgan I am going where the money is at. Careers are short and when you've been on sub 200k you probably don't have much of an option NOT to go for the money. That's probably USL over CPL as things stand...

But I wonder if there are options in Scandinavia? Norway in particular seems to acquire players with a similar resume to Morgan. He'd probably make more in Norway than USL, plus he'd arguably be looking at a top division squad there. Not the big boys, but you know something mid or lower table.  

To add...

I know he's older (30 yrs), but going to Norway (for example) could possibly put him back in the CanMNT picture if his play is good. Adekugbe was getting caps while at Valerenga. 

This is not to say I prefer him to be called, just highlighting that a move to Norway would probably do more for his chances than USL, which is probably his most likely destination. I don't think a USL player has earned a cap under Herdman. 

Morgan is interesting...

He's had some big moments in his career, playing Champions League and winning trophies in MLS, things most MLSers moving to Scandinavia (or even Europe in general) cannot point to on their resume.

However, he hasn't actually played that much football. He's still sub 200 appearances in all competitions, which is very low for a 30 year old. I wonder if that makes him a 'young 30' or an 'inexperienced 30'....

He's got a respectable 18 caps for Canada, a country now ranked 40th in the world, so I guess that's a feather in his cap. 

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