2017 Summer Signings

[Fantazma]

Wasting the money on trades in the draft is the FO making up for the embarrassment of not starting their academy at all levels right away. Atlanta has homegrown players in year one. When you see how badly Atlanta's FO has outperformed us in one year despite the vaunted CFG money machine, it makes all the excuses ring hollow.

look they didnt want to buy out all the affiliates etc since they wanted to start from scratch.....they wanted the "city way" its their philosophy we knew that from get go...we knew this

as for ATL they wanted to buy...i mean they had to they are having their massive training facility so they needed kids in them ...cant have that and only have first team and only one Youth team.

we are just starting to build our own first team facility.

as for atlanta homegrowns i dont know how many of them have had an impact ( or how many minutes) on the team. its all villalba, almiron and other signings to have impact on that team for me that i have seen.

 

[LionNYC]

Claudio had no experience being a Sporting Director prior to taking this job. You have to think he only got it because of his days at Manchester City and because of his kid, Gio, who is the crown jewel of the US Youth Academy system.

Once the kid leaves, I think he's out.

And also, I'd would rather have that extra GAM and TAM that expansion teams get rather than 5 extra Expansion Draft spots. That draft was ultimately poor for us aside from the Patrick Mullins sale to DC (yes, McNamara too, okay).

 

[Rimil]

I generally agree with most of what you are saying, however I'll defend the Lewis pick at least a little bit.

$350k on a high-ish upside young American is very different than $350k on a decent veteran foreign player. We paid both an upside premium (~$100k?) and a non-international premium (~$75k per international spot). In other words, I could argue he's "worth" the same amount as a $175k 32-year-old foreigner.

Also, in your rage (j/k), you appear to be talking from both sides of your mouth. On one hand, you are shitting on the front office for not bringing in more depth. On the other hand, you are shitting on the Lewis addition because he started the year as a backup. You have to either support spending money on your bench or not, pick one.

also you paid 350k one time. you're not paying 350k every year, so you need to prorate it for the number of years he is under contract, then apply all the discounts. If you want to look at it as 350k all this year then next year he is an incredibly efficient purchase for what he has shown is skill plus potential to grow.

I personally like the idea that the FO is spending money in this year with an eye for growth into the next year. I don't want to mortgage our future for one season, which lets be honest even in the best of times playoffs are a crap shoot. If you wanted to spend 350k for a veteran starter, who knows how long his legs last, or if he picks up an injury and is done for this season and next. He will cost us 350k every contract season, where as lewis is super effin cheap next year. layer on a couple more players like that each season and we have a 2-3 super cheap starters 2-3 supersubs plus 3 DP slots and all you need is 5-10 MLS average salary guys to have a multi-season playoff caliber team.

 

[sbrylski]

also you paid 350k one time. you're not paying 350k every year, so you need to prorate it for the number of years he is under contract, then apply all the discounts. If you want to look at it as 350k all this year then next year he is an incredibly efficient purchase for what he has shown is skill plus potential to grow.

I personally like the idea that the FO is spending money in this year with an eye for growth into the next year. I don't want to mortgage our future for one season, which lets be honest even in the best of times playoffs are a crap shoot. If you wanted to spend 350k for a veteran starter, who knows how long his legs last, or if he picks up an injury and is done for this season and next. He will cost us 350k every contract season, where as lewis is super effin cheap next year. layer on a couple more players like that each season and we have a 2-3 super cheap starters 2-3 supersubs plus 3 DP slots and all you need is 5-10 MLS average salary guys to have a multi-season playoff caliber team.

This is an even better argument than I made. I'm now convinced it was a good move, even if Lewis never becomes a regular starter.

 

[Falastur]

It is clear that CFG has just bought Torque FC from the Uruguayan 2nd tier and is investing what is a lot of $$$ for that market in order to get it promoted to 1st division. For example, this guy Mallo was bought from the Uruguayan 1st division to play in 2nd division despite the fact that the transfer fee was his highest ever and he's been National Team U20. Same case with the Venezuelan guy that's rumored for us. I don't know how this may favor us or be detrimental. But same as with CFG's purchase of Girona it just means that CFG has many places to rotate its younger players and we are just one of many.

Rumours of CFG purchasing Girona are still yet to be proven true. I'm not saying it entirely happen - when rumours persist got this long there's generally substance to them and it could be a long-build thing - but it's also worth pointing out that when approached for comment, CFG said they had no interest in the takeover. (they fix admittedly sag the sand about investing in mls back in 2012, but such examples are the exception not the rule).

MCFC are due to play Girona in a friendly next week. That would be the perfect occasion to announce it, but who knows. If MCFC return to Manchester with no announcement then I think we can officially pug that rumour to bed as nonsense.

 

[sbrylski]

Claudio had no experience being a Sporting Director prior to taking this job. You have to think he only got it because of his days at Manchester City and because of his kid, Gio, who is the crown jewel of the US Youth Academy system.

Once the kid leaves, I think he's out.

I think Reyna will probably be around for continuity until the youth organization matures - a complete academy structure and reserve team in place. I don't know where to place the credit, but all signs point toward us building a wonderful academy, slowly but correctly.

Once the car is built, I could see them handing the keys over to a big time driver.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

also you paid 350k one time. you're not paying 350k every year, so you need to prorate it for the number of years he is under contract, then apply all the discounts. If you want to look at it as 350k all this year then next year he is an incredibly efficient purchase for what he has shown is skill plus potential to grow.

I personally like the idea that the FO is spending money in this year with an eye for growth into the next year. I don't want to mortgage our future for one season, which lets be honest even in the best of times playoffs are a crap shoot. If you wanted to spend 350k for a veteran starter, who knows how long his legs last, or if he picks up an injury and is done for this season and next. He will cost us 350k every contract season, where as lewis is super effin cheap next year. layer on a couple more players like that each season and we have a 2-3 super cheap starters 2-3 supersubs plus 3 DP slots and all you need is 5-10 MLS average salary guys to have a multi-season playoff caliber team.

Looking to the future makes sense, IF your current team does not have a rotation of Ethan White and RJ Allen as your starters at RB and Michael Lopez as primary backup to every defensive position. A team with the best player in the league is in win-now mode. Or should be, if the FO care about winning, which is yet to be proven.

 

[sbrylski]

Looking to the future makes sense, IF your current team does not have a rotation of Ethan White and RJ Allen as your starters at RB and Michael Lopez as primary backup to every defensive position. A team with the best player in the league is in win-now mode. Or should be, if the FO care about winning, which is yet to be proven.

Tom, I'm partially taking the other side just because it's more interesting to debate than agree, but we are 3rd overall of 22 teams. As much as we like to ride the waves up after wins and down after losses, we are literally two timely goals (or goals prevented) over 23 games from being in 1st for the Supporters Shield.

This forum's expectations are thru the fucking roof. We are a really, really good team. Sure, 80% of that is Villa, but point still stands. We would probably still be a borderline playoff team without him. And one of the main reasons we aren't better isn't because we drafted Jon Lewis instead of added a decent RB or something, it's because CFG decided to give us Pirlo as a DP to sell t-shirts.

 

[Rimil]

A team with the best player in the league is in win-now mode. Or should be, if the FO care about winning, which is yet to be proven.

I would subscribe to that if the best player wasn't a DP in a salary capped league with an owner that perceivable could consider the cost a petty cash transaction. Sadly I am of the opinion that Villa - as great as he is and don't get me wrong I love him for what he does - can be replaced if you dangle enough money in front of someone just as talented. And since he is in the DP slot and it doesn't hurt our cap to pay a future player more and as the cost is going to a freaking multi-multi-billionaire I don't see how price could be a limiting factor.

The idea that you should be in a win now mode when you have the best player in a league is when you literally have the best player, like you cannot find any better player because of the limitations on the human body have restricted any better player coming into the league. At that point I could justify making the best use of that players productive years by stacking talent around him so that you can go through a dynasty like period.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

If there's no announcement in the next couple of hours I don't think we made any moves.

 

[Marito]

No, but for the fact that they built a roster with 37 players at wing and zero at right back.

But since you bring it up, if you are going to blow starter money on a draft pick, you should pretty much guarantee he can beat out TMac day one.

But I think for the majority of this forum he DID beat TMac on day one, but PV took his sweet time noticing it. I don't know if there's anyone left who will point out a TMac performance this year where they wouldn't have preferred to have JLew instead. We cannot control how PV does things, including BTW the strange strange saga of Mix.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

Tom, I'm partially taking the other side just because it's more interesting to debate than agree, but we are 3rd overall of 22 teams. As much as we like to ride the waves up after wins and down after losses, we are literally two timely goals (or goals prevented) over 23 games from being in 1st for the Supporters Shield.

This forum's expectations are thru the fucking roof. We are a really, really good team. Sure, 80% of that is Villa, but point still stands. We would probably still be a borderline playoff team without him. And one of the main reasons we aren't better isn't because we drafted Jon Lewis instead of added a decent RB or something, it's because CFG decided to give us Pirlo as a DP to sell t-shirts.

I agree we are a damn good MLS team, even with the glaring holes in our lineup. All that means to me is that you don't need a superstar to upgrade the team. Choose a guy who hasn't been a CB his whole career, or a guy that wasn't playing beer league soccer three years ago at RB and you upgrade significantly. That goes for LB and backup CM too. A winning team shouldn't fall to shit if one CM goes down. I was all for trusting PV and giving White/Allen a chance this year, but its been obvious for quite a while that they aren't cutting it. Plans should have been in place for a move months ago at RB. And them crying cap space doesn't sway me since you don't need a superstar to upgrade the spot.

So, to me, the moves you have made INSTEAD of getting a RB get called into question. Pirlo is certainly one of those moves, but 350k on draft picks that weren't in the plans in 2017 are prominent too.

 

[dannd23]

I can't see us giving away an INT spot if weren't going to fill at least one spot with the GAM we have.

 

[JGarrettLieb]

no disagreements from me. Mix as the 4th midfielder on this team would be huge bc he can play any of the 3 spots. But I do not PV to play him and also think a majority of the supporters would be upset to see Mix back on a GAM contract.

Mix or Ring pick one, we have the salary cap for one or the other, not both.

academy is the answer for me....but thats years away

We signed James Sands this year, the only reason we haven't seen him play is because he was injured in training.

 

[dannd23]

Mix or Ring pick one, we have the salary cap for one or the other, not both.

I don't think you'd have to pick. Mix on a prorated salary which would be half the season we could easily afford. It's not gonna happen.

 

[LionNYC]

If I don't see a tweet by 3 PM, I'm giving up hope.

 

[EganSoccerWords]

If I don't see a tweet by 3 PM, I'm giving up hope.

Keep in mind that the window is just for transfers. We can sign free agents until the roster deadline in September.

 

[sbrylski]

Keep in mind that the window is just for transfers. We can sign free agents until the roster deadline in September.

Free agents: https://www.transfermarkt.com/statistik/vertragslosespieler