TFC 2018-2019 Off-season

[Bison44]

They'll have a big chunk of TAM to play with, is that how it works??  They were using it on him, now he's gone it goes back into the kitty like monopoly money??  

[Mikmacdo]

2 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

They'll have a big chunk of TAM to play with, is that how it works??  They were using it on him, now he's gone it goes back into the kitty like monopoly money??  

Yes and I think he was on the max 1.5 mill. 

[jpg75]

5 hours ago, Mikmacdo said:

We could get Jansen and someone

I'd rather get one superior quality player than 2 decent players.

[jpg75]

2 hours ago, Bison44 said:

They'll have a big chunk of TAM to play with, is that how it works??  They were using it on him, now he's gone it goes back into the kitty like monopoly money??  

They'll free up the TAM they would have spent on Vazquez's salary plus additional TAM funds from the transfer.

[Mikmacdo]

2 hours ago, jpg75 said:

I'd rather get one superior quality player than 2 decent players.

With a condensed schedule and CCL, I disagree. Depth will be key or TFC will end up like last year. 

[Gian-Luca]

Currently it leaves Osorio & Chapman as the top creative midfielders on the team. I don't think that will be enough to win CCL and on top of that they are still about 2 strikers short up top as they haven't replaced Ricketts or re-signed Hamilton yet. For all the grumbling about both players, they are both more proven strikers at the MLS level than Bakero or Akinola who don't have a goal to their names at the MLS level yet (Akinola's only goal for the senior team was against Ottawa). Both young players of course (but then so is Hamilton still).  So the team now needs a lot of improvement attacking-wise.

It does make me thing 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 is the way they are going - losing Vazquez presumably means Osorio-Delgado-Bradley as a midfield three with Chapman and erm.....Fraser as subs? Can't remember who else we have in midfield now (not counting the guys they drafted who we have no idea are good enough yet, nor am I counting Ryan Telfer who is really a winger). I wonder if they will be re-interested in Endoh, who did play well for TFC2 when he came back last year and scored some impressive strikes from midfield and could be a cheap option to go along with a major TAM signing.

[Mikmacdo]

57 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Currently it leaves Osorio & Chapman as the top creative midfielders on the team. I don't think that will be enough to win CCL and on top of that they are still about 2 strikers short up top as they haven't replaced Ricketts or re-signed Hamilton yet. For all the grumbling about both players, they are both more proven strikers at the MLS level than Bakero or Akinola who don't have a goal to their names at the MLS level yet (Akinola's only goal for the senior team was against Ottawa). Both young players of course (but then so is Hamilton still).  So the team now needs a lot of improvement attacking-wise.

It does make me thing 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 is the way they are going - losing Vazquez presumably means Osorio-Delgado-Bradley as a midfield three with Chapman and erm.....Fraser as subs? Can't remember who else we have in midfield now (not counting the guys they drafted who we have no idea are good enough yet, nor am I counting Ryan Telfer who is really a winger). I wonder if they will be re-interested in Endoh, who did play well for TFC2 when he came back last year and scored some impressive strikes from midfield and could be a cheap option to go along with a major TAM signing.

Hamilton and Endoh are with the team in camp. 

If we have three guys up front (Jansen or another forward) why do we need another creative midfielder? Liverpool is the best team in England right now and doesn’t really have a creative mid. Osorio is pretty creative while Delgado and Bradley can provide defense. 

We also have Nick Deleon to play midfield. 

[Bdog]

Aww man, Vazquez was the best player in the league in 2017. It's a shame his knees are made of glass (like mine!).

I'm lost when it comes to the salary cap these days with GAM, TAM, and whatever else there is but don't we now have $2.5 million from VV and Aketxe leaving?

[Mikmacdo]

30 minutes ago, Bdog said:

Aww man, Vazquez was the best player in the league in 2017. It's a shame his knees are made of glass (like mine!).

I'm lost when it comes to the salary cap these days with GAM, TAM, and whatever else there is but don't we now have $2.5 million from VV and Aketxe leaving?

I read 3 mill 2.5 mill plus the 500k in fees from VV. 

[Mikmacdo]

Endoh and Hamilton are back. 

We still need a winger and a number 10

[Gian-Luca]

1 hour ago, Mikmacdo said:

Endoh and Hamilton are back. 

We still need a winger and a number 10

Both signed to first team contracts, by the way  (since Endoh was TFC II only last year).

https://www.torontofc.ca/post/2019/01/16/toronto-fc-sign-tsubasa-endoh-jordan-hamilton

I think a number 10 and another striker (an experienced one) are more the needs rather than a winger - they have Morrow, Telfer & Morgan on the left, De Leon, Auro and even VDW on the right and they even played Chapman there a couple of times (although IMO that's not his ideal spot).

Re: Hamilton, last week I had started to think that he wasn't coming back because of this article - from the TFC official website - which listed him as one of the "departures":

https://www.torontofc.ca/post/2019/01/10/roster-takes-shape-vanney-lays-out-clear-vision-2019-season

Silly me for believing what I read from TFC's own website.

As for Endoh, I wonder if that lessens Laryea's chances of being signed - maybe not since they must have been planning his signing for some time and have brought Laryea in anyway, it just strikes me that if TFC sign a new #10 with the VV tam/gam/spam money they would get (whatever it is called), it's not going to be used on Laryea.

[Keegan]

Why re-sign Endoh?  Talk about a step backwards - this team is so puzzling sometimes. 

Like what kind of message does it send when you re-sign a guy who couldn’t cut it when the team was good and you transfer your best player from that same time?  

Also, what does it say about Endoh that he wasn’t wanted anywhere else in the mean time? Odd..

[Mikmacdo]

Maybe Endoh has improved? And he is just a cheap depth signing. 

Endoh did score 3 beautiful goals vs Cincy last year. 

[Gian-Luca]

Endoh's performance seemed to go up dramatically in USL play in 2018 vs. 2017. In 2017 he wasn't really scoring all that much, whereas in 2018 the numbers rose sharply in quantity and more importantly IMO, quality. It was tough to ignore those laser beam-strikes from distance and he and Hamilton (who got the same number of goals albeit in even fewer games) seemed to form a good rapport in the handful of games they did play together. So if he's a late-blooming improved player, then fair enough. That might not be enough for him to make a significant impact against MLS opposition of course.

Just as long as they don't bring  Ben Spencer back........

[Mikmacdo]

TFC should loan Bakero to a CPL team or Ottawa if that will free up an international spot. Endoh isn’t domestic yet due to the slow process of immigration in Canada. I guess TFC could loan him out as well but I think he will be useful this season as a backup. 

Vanney said today he sees the team using a 3-5-2 formation again or a 4-4-2 (no diamond). I guess they could change if we bring in another forward who is good enough to start. 

 

Depth Chart

GK:

Bono

Patterson-Sewell

Free Agent?

CB:

Mavinga

Ciman

Moor

Zavaleta

Hagglund

Dunn

LWB:

Morrow

Morgan

Telfer (I’d play him over Morgan)

RWB:

VDW

Auro

Deleon

DM:

Bradley

Fraser

CM:

Osorio

Delgado

Chapman

Endoh

TAM Free agent needed here

Forward

Giovinco

Altiore

TAM Free agent needed here

Hamilton

Akinola

Griffen Dorsey? TFC2?

[Blindside16]

On 1/15/2019 at 1:26 PM, Gian-Luca said:

TSN article claims that the move was initiated by Vazquez, which I suppose makes the club look less insane. Now I wonder why Victor wanted to leave when he claimed he and his family were so much happier here than in Mexico - simply a new challenge in warmer weathe than Toronto? Cash?

https://www.tsn.ca/tfc-to-transfer-vazquez-to-qatar-club-1.1241831

 

He was promised big bucks plus a coaching job when he retires.  Rumours have it that he maybe linking up with Xavi over in Qatar.

[Mikmacdo]

Vancouver signed Derek Cornelius and Montreal is signing ZBG. I wish TFC would bring in a young Canadian from overseas.... cough* Millar*cough. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

On 1/17/2019 at 1:08 PM, Blindside16 said:

He was promised big bucks plus a coaching job when he retires.  Rumours have it that he maybe linking up with Xavi over in Qatar.

That's exactly what I thought since they're colleagues of sorts,  though I don't know if he's going to Xavi's team. They are using Aspire Academy to get coaching licences and experience.

[Obinna]

23 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

That's exactly what I thought since they're colleagues of sorts,  though I don't know if he's going to Xavi's team. They are using Aspire Academy to get coaching licences and experience.

He was sold to Al Arabi. Xavi is with Al Sadd. So different club, but Xavi's club seem to be the giant in Qatar, winning a record 13 league titles. By contrast, Vazquez new club sit fourth with 7. 

Perhaps they are emulating Al Arabi's approach and hoping that Vazquez can sort of be their Xavi.

[Unnamed Trialist]

44 minutes ago, Obinna said:

He was sold to Al Arabi. Xavi is with Al Sadd. So different club, but Xavi's club seem to be the giant in Qatar, winning a record 13 league titles. By contrast, Vazquez new club sit fourth with 7. 

Perhaps they are emulating Al Arabi's approach and hoping that Vazquez can sort of be their Xavi.

I actually do think that @Blindside16 is on the right track, regardless of the team he is playing for. Xavi is going to make a major assault on coaching a big club soon, after paying his debts to Qatari soccer (I doubt up to the WC, but maybe close), and I would not be surprised if he saw VV as a possible assistant.

[Obinna]

3 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I actually do think that @Blindside16 is on the right track, regardless of the team he is playing for. Xavi is going to make a major assault on coaching a big club soon, after paying his debts to Qatari soccer (I doubt up to the WC, but maybe close), and I would not be surprised if he saw VV as a possible assistant.

If that were the case, wouldn't it make more sense for him to be joining Xavi's club now? Not saying you're wrong, but it seems more likely that Al Arabi would be the ones offering him a coaching opportunity after his playing days, not a rival club such as Xavi's team.

[jpg75]

Qatari teams are only allowed a few imports (3 or 4?) and Xavi and Vazquez play similar roles so there would be challenges to them signing with the same club.

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, jpg75 said:

Qatari teams are only allowed a few imports (3 or 4?) and Xavi and Vazquez play similar roles so there would be challenges to them signing with the same club.

Gabi is also on the books with Al Sadd, so that's 2 imports. Plus there's a South Korean and Algerian international, so that's your 4.

[Mikmacdo]

So Hagglund was traded to Cincy, I guess Zavs is staying for another year. I prefer Hagglund at his salary and his ability in the air on set peices to Zavs but whatever hopefully Zavaleta is glued to the bench this year. 

[Blackdude]

TFC did get the first allocation ranking by trading Hagglund. I thought it would require a lot more than that to get it. I'm guesssing that TFC has already his sights on another player. I think TFC might win what could be the most lopsided trade in MLS history.