2019 Offseason Thread

Snake eating tail: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...-fc-set-acquire-alex-mitrita-9-1-million-deal

"If accurate, those numbers would likely qualify Mitrita, 23, as a Designated Player." :tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:

I think the important link to DP eligibility is what qualifies for TAM, which is maximum $1.53mm pa (including transfer fee).

$9,100,000 transfer fee / 4 = $2,275,000 + $1,100,000 salary = $3,375,000 per annum over 4 years. We juuuuust missed it by $1.8mm. Oh well...

At those numbers, I really would have preferred Janssen.
 
I think the important link to DP eligibility is what qualifies for TAM, which is maximum $1.53mm pa (including transfer fee).

$9,100,000 transfer fee / 4 = $2,275,000 + $1,100,000 salary = $3,375,000 per annum over 4 years. We juuuuust missed it by $1.8mm. Oh well...

At those numbers, I really would have preferred Janssen.

I know there were reports MLS was interested, but have we seen anything indicating the player wanted to come to MLS? It sounds like he's heading to Real Betis in La Liga, which probably means there was never any real chance of him coming here.
 
two games in UAE will be streamed but no commentary. Games vs orlando and minnesota will not be streamed (unless orlando provides one i guess) and Nashville will be shown but no details yet.


So basically someone holding their cell phone up the whole match. Hope they have steady hands and a long battery life.

Perfect opportunity for one of our pods to grab the stream and broadcast their own audio over it. I’m looking at you DudesInBlue NYCFCfan
 
I know there were reports MLS was interested, but have we seen anything indicating the player wanted to come to MLS? It sounds like he's heading to Real Betis in La Liga, which probably means there was never any real chance of him coming here.

Supposedly Dru also had interest from La Liga. Why we had to bid up.
 
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Mlssoccer.com reports*:
1/25/2019: Juan Pablo Torres to join NYCFC. DID IT HAPPEN? YES
1/10/2019: NYCFC interested in Gary Mackay-Steven. DID IT HAPPEN? Not Yet
11/26/2018 & 12/31/2018: Kevin Quevedo could join NYCFC. DID IT HAPPEN? No
11/20/2018: NYCFC targeting Sergio Leon. STATUS: DID IT HAPPEN? No
11/13/2018: David Villa to play one more season, not for NYCFC. DID IT HAPPEN? Yes
8/17/2018: Nice offer EUR 7 million for Jesus Medina. DID IT HAPPEN? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
1/30/2018: Man City to buy and loan Jack Harrison. DID IT HAPPEN? Yes
1/21/2018: Stoke bid $4.5 million for Jack Harrison. DID IT HAPPEN? No, but ^
1/5/2018: NYCFC interested in Joey Pelupessy. DID IT HAPPEN? No
12/17/2017: Jesus Medina says he will sign with NYCFC. DID IT HAPPEN? Yes
12/11/2017: NYCFC sign Anton Tinnerholm. DID IT HAPPEN? Yes

*Tagged as a report, clearly references NYCFC in headline, from today until I got tired of looking.

They also reported Pirlo rumors before he signed, but I didn't got back far enough. It seems like they're pretty good with language - if they say someone signed, they signed; if they say someone is interested/targeted/bidding, be more skeptical
 
Mlssoccer.com reports*:
1/25/2019: Juan Pablo Torres to join NYCFC. DID IT HAPPEN? YES
1/10/2019: NYCFC interested in Gary Mackay-Steven. DID IT HAPPEN? Not Yet
11/26/2018 & 12/31/2018: Kevin Quevedo could join NYCFC. DID IT HAPPEN? No
11/20/2018: NYCFC targeting Sergio Leon. STATUS: DID IT HAPPEN? No
11/13/2018: David Villa to play one more season, not for NYCFC. DID IT HAPPEN? Yes
8/17/2018: Nice offer EUR 7 million for Jesus Medina. DID IT HAPPEN? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
1/30/2018: Man City to buy and loan Jack Harrison. DID IT HAPPEN? Yes
1/21/2018: Stoke bid $4.5 million for Jack Harrison. DID IT HAPPEN? No, but ^
1/5/2018: NYCFC interested in Joey Pelupessy. DID IT HAPPEN? No
12/17/2017: Jesus Medina says he will sign with NYCFC. DID IT HAPPEN? Yes
12/11/2017: NYCFC sign Anton Tinnerholm. DID IT HAPPEN? Yes

*Tagged as a report, clearly references NYCFC in headline, from today until I got tired of looking.

They also reported Pirlo rumors before he signed, but I didn't got back far enough. It seems like they're pretty good with language - if they say someone signed, they signed; if they say someone is interested/targeted/bidding, be more skeptical
POI.... they will be wrong about Villa’s one additional year when he plays a season for QFC
 
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While we’re notching and moaning about our lack of reinforcements, in the last 2 days, TFC, Atl and DCU have all lost their best players.

Giovinco is headed to Saudi Arabia and Lucho Acosta is rumored to be headed to PSG (!!).

Someone recently mentioned Terence Boyd. He is headed to Toronto.
 
Does anyone else get irrationally upset when a quality/name brand player chooses a league in countries like Saudi Arabia or China, over MLS?

At least Acosta is going to a champions league team; that's how you rep MLS!
Could never bemoan a player’s desire to cash in on a folly league like China or middle-east league..... these guys have a finite shelf life and they should make whatever they can - not their fault MLS pays a fraction comparatively to these contracts. Hell, even the top-5 leagues lose players to them all the time, so it’s not a black mark on MLS’ status.
 
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Could never bemoan a player’s desire to cash in on a folly league like China or middle-east league..... these guys have a finite shelf life and they should make whatever they can - not their fault MLS pays a fraction comparatively to these contracts. Hell, even the top-5 leagues lose players to them all the time, so it’s not a black mark on MLS’ status.

Yes, hence my use of "irrationally".
 
Reports that Aberdeen rejected NYCFC's Mackay-Steven bid. They expect us to come back with another, but he's available on a free this summer so we could just wait.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sp...ltic-aberdeen-jonny-hayes-gary-mackay-steven/

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport...ransfer-deadline-live-celtic-rangers-13928601

There’s also the theory that bringing in the player in the summer, aside from saving the money on the transfer fee and how that would translate onto the roster charge, is that teams can’t strategize for how you’ll play with the new player. There’s no tape yet.
 
Fun fodder for FootyLovin's EASL language barrier theory.
First, DT clearly knows he's supposed to say "MLS" not "the MLS" because he does so roughly 20% of the time, often with a hesitation, but he can't help mostly saying "the MLS" because he's used to a language where nouns usually don't exist without an article.
Second, he says multiple times that the most important thing for a team in the MLS is a striker, which probably causes heads to explode because we're signing everything but strikers. But as he goes on it's clear that by "strikers" he means "players who score goals" and he says something like "strikers, wingers, forwards" at least once as part of the same topic.

And finally I take from this that he is suggesting another important scorer could be coming later, maybe summertime later.
 
There’s also the theory that bringing in the player in the summer, aside from saving the money on the transfer fee and how that would translate onto the roster charge, is that teams can’t strategize for how you’ll play with the new player. There’s no tape yet.
There’s also a theory that bringing a player in the summer means less time to gel....
 
There’s also the theory that bringing in the player in the summer, aside from saving the money on the transfer fee and how that would translate onto the roster charge, is that teams can’t strategize for how you’ll play with the new player. There’s no tape yet.
There’s also a theory that bringing a player in the summer means less time to gel....
Yeah, this cuts both ways.
 
Second, he says multiple times that the most important thing for a team in the MLS is a striker, which probably causes heads to explode because we're signing everything but strikers. But as he goes on it's clear that by "strikers" he means "players who score goals" and he says something like "strikers, wingers, forwards" at least once as part of the same topic.

And finally I take from this that he is suggesting another important scorer could be coming later, maybe summertime later.
His lessons-learned from last season's sinking ship seem to be that MLS defenses (and midfields) are essentially a wash, a possession-only focus only gets you percentage stats, and the difference is, in fact, what you do in front of the goal. Yup x 3. Interestingly, he also (albeit somewhat diplomatically) supported the really interesting "with/without Villa" statistics you set forth yesterday.