Victor Loturi

[Obinna]

10 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

For Canada him, Kone and Eustaquio all possess similar features but if we had to pick one to be the 6 at this time it would probably be Loturi. He’s sort of like Piette but with more speed and dribbling ability - probably not as physical though. 

I think that's a fair take. I previously brought up something similar - that Loturi is similar profile to Eustaquio and Kone, hence we may eventually want a Jayden Nelson in the mix to balance the midfield out. That's assuming he progresses as a CM, of course. That's with respect for a 3 man midfield though. Seems like we have been moving closer to a two-man lately, which Loturi would be more suited for than Nelson. I wouldn't trust Nelson in a two-man midfield.

[toontownman]

 

Not especially new news but all but confirmed he is in. Congrats Victor (and Dom). Super psyched to see what he can do around this group of players. As people have mentioned most players can look like gold with specially edited highlight videos but there is much more in the clip than I knew he had in his locker and at a much higher level. 

Hope there might be another couple of surprises on the roster but getting a closer look at Loturi is exciting. It will boost his stock all around.

[PiedPilko]

7 minutes ago, toontownman said:

 

Not especially new news but all but confirmed he is in. Congrats Victor (and Dom). Super psyched to see what he can do around this group of players. As people have mentioned most players can look like gold with specially edited highlight videos but there is much more in the clip than I knew he had in his locker and at a much higher level. 

Hope there might be another couple of surprises on the roster but getting a closer look at Loturi is exciting. It will boost his stock all around.

Petition for OS to stop putting Herdman in thumbnails of videos he isn't in.

[dyslexic nam]

I have to admit, I am way more excited to see this kid after watching the video clips.  On paper, and a few weeks ago, a guy playing for the then-bottom team in the SPL wasn't that exciting.  But he looks pretty damn good in that (admittedly curated) video, and Ross County are fighting their way out of the relegation spots.  Looks like a good guy to be called in at only 21.

[Aird25]

Not to sound rude, but some of you might want to consider watching CPL

[InglewoodJack]

4 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

Not to sound rude, but some of you might want to consider watching CPL

My thing with the CPL is that it's so tough to contextualize performance vs. what's going on elsewhere. Pepple looked like the next big thing in the CPL, and per Grimbsy's fans, he looked like he was a level or two below League Two, just completely out of element. No knock on him because he's young and a raw talent, but you see Loturi in the CPL, and it's nice, but how will that translate in Scotland? At least in SPFL, we've had quite a few CANMNT players in that league, he plays against Celtic and Rangers, two certified good teams, you can start to understand how he might look on the international stage.

I mean, Ollie Basset was playing like 14th division english soccer, and now he's the CPL MVP. Not to say we shouldn't be keeping a closer eye on the league, but performances in Canada don't always seem to translate to what we should expect from the player once he goes to Europe.

[Fresh Prince of MTL]

8 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

My thing with the CPL is that it's so tough to contextualize performance vs. what's going on elsewhere. Pepple looked like the next big thing in the CPL, and per Grimbsy's fans, he looked like he was a level or two below League Two, just completely out of element. No knock on him because he's young and a raw talent, but you see Loturi in the CPL, and it's nice, but how will that translate in Scotland? At least in SPFL, we've had quite a few CANMNT players in that league, he plays against Celtic and Rangers, two certified good teams, you can start to understand how he might look on the international stage.

I mean, Ollie Basset was playing like 14th division english soccer, and now he's the CPL MVP. Not to say we shouldn't be keeping a closer eye on the league, but performances in Canada don't always seem to translate to what we should expect from the player once he goes to Europe.

There are definitely players that fit playing styles of certain teams and leagues better than others. But for Pepple I really don't think he seemed like the next big thing in his CPL time. Sure he scored a good amount but if you watch the goals they were mostly tap ins or PK's. I remember even his curated highlights looked disappointing when he made the move

[Aird25]

54 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

My thing with the CPL is that it's so tough to contextualize performance vs. what's going on elsewhere. Pepple looked like the next big thing in the CPL, and per Grimbsy's fans, he looked like he was a level or two below League Two, just completely out of element. No knock on him because he's young and a raw talent, but you see Loturi in the CPL, and it's nice, but how will that translate in Scotland? At least in SPFL, we've had quite a few CANMNT players in that league, he plays against Celtic and Rangers, two certified good teams, you can start to understand how he might look on the international stage.

I mean, Ollie Basset was playing like 14th division english soccer, and now he's the CPL MVP. Not to say we shouldn't be keeping a closer eye on the league, but performances in Canada don't always seem to translate to what we should expect from the player once he goes to Europe.

All I'm saying is that, I suspect people wouldn't be so surprised by this highlight package if they had watched any of Loturi's 3000 minutes in CPL. People are talking about a player that came from our domestic league as if this is the first chance they've had at seeing him play. 

I also really don't get why people get so hung up on trying to compare CPL to other leagues we'll never compete against, but if you had watched Pepple, you might not say that he looked like the next big thing. He was unbelievably raw, and most of his goals were incredibly scrappy. The potential is there, but I argued before he left that no matter where he landed he likely wouldn't come near to replicating the ridiculous form he had over a handful of games in CPL. Basset's quick stop over in England doesn't mean an awful lot to me

Edited March 16, 2023 by Aird25

[Kadenge]

Playing in the Scottish league tells you he can handle the physical side of the game and based on some of those crunching tackles he actually seems to enjoy it

 

[BearcatSA]

Congratulations, Victor!

[Cicero]

20 hours ago, InglewoodJack said:

Pepple looked like the next big thing in the CPL, and per Grimbsy's fans, he looked like he was a level or two below League Two, just completely out of element.

Pepple had one good month in CPL. It was a really good goal-scoring month, but I was surprised when he moved on so quickly. Obviously had good connections in England, so it seemed foreordained, but I wouldn't have called him a star in the CPL. I'm not totally sold on Bassett either, but at least he put in a full season of solid performances. I think the issue with any player on the edge of making a living doing it is that their commitment, and thus performance level, can fluctuate wildly. So it's tough to figure out who among those marginal professionals can up their game given the chance. 

I think out of those players who consistently performed over a season or more, the record is pretty good for CPL players moving up.

[narduch]

And now Pepple is tearing it up with the reserves. Which might be more of an indictment on that level.

 

[InglewoodJack]

7 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Pepple had one good month in CPL. It was a really good goal-scoring month, but I was surprised when he moved on so quickly. Obviously had good connections in England, so it seemed foreordained, but I wouldn't have called him a star in the CPL. I'm not totally sold on Bassett either, but at least he put in a full season of solid performances. I think the issue with any player on the edge of making a living doing it is that their commitment, and thus performance level, can fluctuate wildly. So it's tough to figure out who among those marginal professionals can up their game given the chance. 

I think out of those players who consistently performed over a season or more, the record is pretty good for CPL players moving up.

Yeah, absolutely. I was kinda being pedantic, but what I meant is that CPL performance doesn't always translate to success abroad, and watching Loturi play this well in Scotland should be a pleasant surprise to anyone watching him. Of course watching his entire career probably gives you a better read on the type of player he can become, but like you said, those performances can fluctuate, so how good he was in Canada isn't going to make me think that what he's doing in Scotland any less impressive or "normal".

[Aird25]

I hope we get another chance to bring him in. It seems like it would have been prudent to cap him this window.

[narduch]

Just now, Aird25 said:

I hope we get another chance to bring him in. It seems like it would have been prudent to cap him this window.

I'm assuming he will be at the Gold Cup and will play.

I'm expecting a bunch of absences. Especially because of Nations League 

[RJB]

3 minutes ago, narduch said:

I'm assuming he will be at the Gold Cup and will play.

I'm expecting a bunch of absences. Especially because of Nations League 

I wonder if the opposite is true.  Players may be more likely to stick around because they are there already for Nations League.

[narduch]

1 minute ago, RJB said:

I wonder if the opposite is true.  Players may be more likely to stick around because they are there already for Nations League.

Maybe.

I assume Alistair Johnston will skip it so that he can have a break.

Probably David too if he gets his big move.

[Obinna]

9 minutes ago, narduch said:

I'm assuming he will be at the Gold Cup and will play.

I'm expecting a bunch of absences. Especially because of Nations League 

I wonder if we get the reverse, with Loturi coming back into camp for the finals but not Gold Cup?

On one hand, it makes sense to call European guys closer to their end of season, just to make sure they are as close to match fit as possible, which is part of the argument for Loturi in NL finals. 

On the other hand, GC is less than a month after, so if he can stay fit and keep training it probably doesn't matter. That would be the Loturi GC argument. 

Perhaps even he gets called to both. That helps keep his fitness up for GC, where the real minutes could be, especially if we draw a weaker pot 4 team. 

Either way, excited for him to get his chance. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

47 minutes ago, Obinna said:

...On the other hand, GC is less than a month after, so if he can stay fit and keep training it probably doesn't matter. That would be the Loturi GC argument...

If South Sudan hadn't called him up would John Herdman have done so for these games? We'll probably never know for sure but this call up could just have been an exercise in saying we are keeping tabs on you so hang in there and don't do anything rash.

[Aird25]

24 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

If South Sudan hadn't called him up would John Herdman have done so for these games? We'll probably never know for sure but this call up could just have been an exercise in saying we are keeping tabs on you so hang in there and don't do anything rash.

I would have thought his club form was enough to merit a call up, but I guess it depends how you rate Scottish football. Who would you have called up instead?

[Cheeta]

Hosting Celtic in the wee hours Sunday morning by the way.  Set the alarm.

[InglewoodJack]

I very much doubt South Sudan factors into Herdman’s plans for Loturi. They’re ranked 165 in the world, have never been higher than 134th, they’ve never qualified for the World Cup, the African cup of nations, the Arab Cup, and have won a total of 10 games all time, with their biggest win came against 99th ranked DRC (last week!). The only teams in the top 10 African nations per fifa rankings they’ve ever played have been Mali and Burkina Faso, and the only teams outside of Africa they’ve played have been Jordan and Uzbekistan. No disrespect to them, they’re still probably the youngest national team in the world, or close to it, but there’s no marketing or exposure advantage for Loturi to play for them- if he ever accepts a cap from them, it won’t be because Canada ignored him, it’ll be because his desire to play for South Sudan is so huge that he’d accept their call regardless of how Canada rated him. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Perhaps worth bearing in mind that his brother is already playing for them and he was signed by Ross County as well. Would Loturi have even been called up by South Sudan if they weren't expecting him to show up?

Edited March 30, 2023 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[InglewoodJack]

6 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Perhaps worth bearing in mind that his brother is already playing for them and he was signed by Ross County as well. Would Loturi have even been called up by South Sudan if they weren't expecting him to show up?

No reason not to call him- it isn’t like South Sudan has a deep talent pool and wasting a call up on an extreme longshot is going to take a place from an exciting young prospect. 
 

Not going to pretend I’m an expert on their team, but looking at club level, I think even at Raith Rovers, Akio is playing at the highest level of any of their players, aside from one player who has two apps for Atlanta United, just to give context to their team strength.

maybe he pulls a (reverse?) Freddie Freeman and decides that honouring his heritage is more important than anything else, and in that case there’s nothing we can do, but barring that scenario, don’t see what would entice him to play for them. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Just now, InglewoodJack said:

No reason not to call him-

So why haven't they previously? Haven't been paying close attention but assume it would have been a talking point on here if he had been and haven't seen anything like that being posted. If William Akio rated caps for them it is hard to believe Victor Loturi didn't as well.