RealGM

Wo1verine wrote:Why did Toronto let GIo go? I thought the guy was a legend here.

They didn't want to give him more than 2 yrs and pay him the same amount I think because hes 32 and had an injury plagued season.

On PTS, TFC President said that they are close to signing a replacement that "soccer fans will know, top player in the prime of his career" so fingers crossed.

TFC finally making some signings...

Independiente de la Chorrera vs. Toronto FC
2019 Concacaf Champions League
February 19, 2019 — 8 pm
WATCH: TSN4 in Canada

Soccer returns tonight. 8PM, TSN4 for Champions League. I'm thinking we'll make it past this round, but that's it. No Giovinco is going to make for a tough ride in Champions League.

T-d0t wrote:

Wo1verine wrote:Why did Toronto let GIo go? I thought the guy was a legend here.

They didn't want to give him more than 2 yrs and pay him the same amount I think because hes 32 and had an injury plagued season.

On PTS, TFC President said that they are close to signing a replacement that "soccer fans will know, top player in the prime of his career" so fingers crossed.

Did they end up signing anyone? I heard rumours about nani but i guess Orlando had first dibs

Sent from my FRD-L14 using Tapatalk

azorian wrote:

T-d0t wrote:

Wo1verine wrote:Why did Toronto let GIo go? I thought the guy was a legend here.

They didn't want to give him more than 2 yrs and pay him the same amount I think because hes 32 and had an injury plagued season.

On PTS, TFC President said that they are close to signing a replacement that "soccer fans will know, top player in the prime of his career" so fingers crossed.

Did they end up signing anyone? I heard rumours about nani but i guess Orlando had first dibs

Sent from my FRD-L14 using Tapatalk

Rumored guy is 27yr old Alejandro Pozuelo, from the Belgian league.

azorian wrote:

T-d0t wrote:

Wo1verine wrote:Why did Toronto let GIo go? I thought the guy was a legend here.

They didn't want to give him more than 2 yrs and pay him the same amount I think because hes 32 and had an injury plagued season.

On PTS, TFC President said that they are close to signing a replacement that "soccer fans will know, top player in the prime of his career" so fingers crossed.

Did they end up signing anyone? I heard rumours about nani but i guess Orlando had first dibs

Sent from my FRD-L14 using Tapatalk

They're in talks to get Alejandro Pozuelo.
He's the top player in the Belgian league (he's Spanish). He's a Victor Vazquez type playmaker (VV also won Player of the Year in Belgium), but younger (27 vs VV 32) and less injury concern. Seeing a couple recent games and highlights, I think he's a bit better than VV, plus he's younger, faster, etc.
The transfer has hit a legal snag. Pozuelo's contract has a buyout clause where any team can sign him for 8 million euros and the team can't do anything. TFC has met the clause, but his team is refusing to accept the money, saying that the player verbally agreed to stay until the end of June (which the player says he was forced to do under duress - after a Saudi team tried to sign him a month ago) - Verbal contracts have weight in Belgium. Essentially, his team doesn't want him to go because they're in first place and losing their best player would hurt them, obviously, and are trying to get him to stay until the rest of the year, while TFC want him asap.

RyderMike wrote:

azorian wrote:

T-d0t wrote:They didn't want to give him more than 2 yrs and pay him the same amount I think because hes 32 and had an injury plagued season.

On PTS, TFC President said that they are close to signing a replacement that "soccer fans will know, top player in the prime of his career" so fingers crossed.

Did they end up signing anyone? I heard rumours about nani but i guess Orlando had first dibs

Sent from my FRD-L14 using Tapatalk

They're in talks to get Alejandro Pozuelo.
He's the top player in the Belgian league (he's Spanish). He's a Victor Vazquez type playmaker (VV also won Player of the Year in Belgium), but younger (27 vs VV 32) and less injury concern. Seeing a couple recent games and highlights, I think he's a bit better than VV, plus he's younger, faster, etc.
The transfer has hit a legal snag. Pozuelo's contract has a buyout clause where any team can sign him for 8 million euros and the team can't do anything. TFC has met the clause, but his team is refusing to accept the money, saying that the player verbally agreed to stay until the end of June (which the player says he was forced to do under duress - after a Saudi team tried to sign him a month ago) - Verbal contracts have weight in Belgium. Essentially, his team doesn't want him to go because they're in first place and losing their best player would hurt them, obviously, and are trying to get him to stay until the rest of the year, while TFC want him asap.

TFC can't afford to wait until June, the season could be over for us by then.

I feel like without Bezbatchenko our negotiating skill level from the front office has been lacking. Losing Bezbatchenko has been like the Jays losing Alex Anthopoulos.

LittleOzzy wrote:

RyderMike wrote:

azorian wrote:Did they end up signing anyone? I heard rumours about nani but i guess Orlando had first dibs

Sent from my FRD-L14 using Tapatalk

They're in talks to get Alejandro Pozuelo.
He's the top player in the Belgian league (he's Spanish). He's a Victor Vazquez type playmaker (VV also won Player of the Year in Belgium), but younger (27 vs VV 32) and less injury concern. Seeing a couple recent games and highlights, I think he's a bit better than VV, plus he's younger, faster, etc.
The transfer has hit a legal snag. Pozuelo's contract has a buyout clause where any team can sign him for 8 million euros and the team can't do anything. TFC has met the clause, but his team is refusing to accept the money, saying that the player verbally agreed to stay until the end of June (which the player says he was forced to do under duress - after a Saudi team tried to sign him a month ago) - Verbal contracts have weight in Belgium. Essentially, his team doesn't want him to go because they're in first place and losing their best player would hurt them, obviously, and are trying to get him to stay until the rest of the year, while TFC want him asap.

TFC can't afford to wait until June, the season could be over for us by then.

I feel like without Bezbatchenko our negotiating skill level from the front office has been lacking. Losing Bezbatchenko has been like the Jays losing Alex Anthopoulos.

TFC doesn't want him in June. They went to Belgium today and are going to allow him to stay until mid-March (end of Belgian regular season) otherwise they will move on. Bez was an unfortunate loss, but understandable given his promotion and going back home to Columbus (although he wasn't perfect, his last two high profile signings in Aketxe and vDw are also hurting us). I'm glad AA is gone, he was great early, but he ultimately destroyed our farm system and left us with bloated contracts (Martin, Tulo) and would've left us with more (JBautista and EE) if he stayed.
LittleOzzy, I see you always posting some TFC news, if you're interested in some TFC discussion, I'm part of a TFC discussion board that I can pass along to you (not sure if I'm allowed to post another forum's link here). Lots of high-quality, informed discussion on TFC. Pozuelo story has been major discussion point for a week with lots of insight into the situation, much more than I can explain here. Love this board, but for soccer news, that's definitely the place to be.

red patch boys?

RyderMike wrote:

LittleOzzy wrote:

RyderMike wrote:
They're in talks to get Alejandro Pozuelo.
He's the top player in the Belgian league (he's Spanish). He's a Victor Vazquez type playmaker (VV also won Player of the Year in Belgium), but younger (27 vs VV 32) and less injury concern. Seeing a couple recent games and highlights, I think he's a bit better than VV, plus he's younger, faster, etc.
The transfer has hit a legal snag. Pozuelo's contract has a buyout clause where any team can sign him for 8 million euros and the team can't do anything. TFC has met the clause, but his team is refusing to accept the money, saying that the player verbally agreed to stay until the end of June (which the player says he was forced to do under duress - after a Saudi team tried to sign him a month ago) - Verbal contracts have weight in Belgium. Essentially, his team doesn't want him to go because they're in first place and losing their best player would hurt them, obviously, and are trying to get him to stay until the rest of the year, while TFC want him asap.

TFC can't afford to wait until June, the season could be over for us by then.

I feel like without Bezbatchenko our negotiating skill level from the front office has been lacking. Losing Bezbatchenko has been like the Jays losing Alex Anthopoulos.

TFC doesn't want him in June. They went to Belgium today and are going to allow him to stay until mid-March (end of Belgian regular season) otherwise they will move on. Bez was an unfortunate loss, but understandable given his promotion and going back home to Columbus (although he wasn't perfect, his last two high profile signings in Aketxe and vDw are also hurting us). I'm glad AA is gone, he was great early, but he ultimately destroyed our farm system and left us with bloated contracts (Martin, Tulo) and would've left us with more (JBautista and EE) if he stayed.
LittleOzzy, I see you always posting some TFC news, if you're interested in some TFC discussion, I'm part of a TFC discussion board that I can pass along to you (not sure if I'm allowed to post another forum's link here). Lots of high-quality, informed discussion on TFC. Pozuelo story has been major discussion point for a week with lots of insight into the situation, much more than I can explain here. Love this board, but for soccer news, that's definitely the place to be.

You can post the link here. All good in that regard.

What a pathetic showing last night was. I knew it was going to be rough, but I did not expect that. I figured we would make it through to the next round, but that's clearly not happening.

Finally a bit of good news for TFC.

LittleOzzy wrote:

Read on Twitter

Finally a bit of good news for TFC.

Is he worth DP money ?

T-d0t wrote:

LittleOzzy wrote:

Read on Twitter

Finally a bit of good news for TFC.

Is he worth DP money ?

Honestly, I'm not sold on him. He's a very good player, but I'm not sure if his talent will translate well to MLS soccer.

I sure hope I'm wrong though.

Jozy is back!!!!

Two games, two wins. Great start for TFC.

Pozuelo playing?

TSN Now!

T-d0t wrote:Pozuelo playing?

Yes.

Wholy F#%{€ That was one of the best performances in the MLS by a player I’ve ever seen and it was his debut. Pozuelo is like Seba and Vasquez combined. Love his humbleness but still savage to actually try a panenka for his first ever penalty kick?!

That game was just insane. One of the best TFC games ever, and what a debut.

Pozuelo is the real deal.

Damn that was an excellent game. Very satisfying.

Really really liked Pozuelo's play. Seemed very active, coming back often, and I really liked his attitude (seems less likely to pout if he's not given the ball on every occasion, unlike certain other players).

I had no idea who he was prior to this, but obviously a good deal of scouting went in to see how he'd fit in with the team.