The club announced today that we've acquired defender Nick Garcia from San Jose, along with the rights to Canadian striker Ali Gerba.
In Nick Garcia, we've acquired a veteran defender who at 30, is still in his prime as a centre half. He captained the Earthquakes 2.0 last season, as was widely considered as their defensive leader. Not a bad pick up for us. Given the fact that Marvell Wynne will be missing around a month at the Confederations Cup and then the Gold Cup, it was obviously pretty clear that Marco Velez wouldn't be the best option in the centre of our defense, especially with Nana Attakora likely to cover Wynne's spot at right back.
As for Ali Gerba, this is one guy that TFC fans have wanted for a while. He's not a Toronto FC player yet mind you - we just have his rights. Mo mentioned that he's looking forward to sitting down with Gerba and hashing out all the details to his contract very soon though, so I think that it's pretty inevitable that the Canadian wants to come home. He has a very impressive scoring record for Canada with 11 goals in 23 appearances. He spent this past winter playing in League One with Milton Keynes Dons.
Amidst all of this, goalkeeper Greg Sutton has been released. He was taking up around $150K and that is way too much for a backup goalkeeper in this league. It does leave us a little inexperienced in goal, however, as the goalkeeping job is now in the hands of Stefan Frei and Brian Edwards. I'm not too worried though. Frei's hands seem to be pretty capable.
After my rant after Saturday's loss at home to the Galaxy (see below), I'm pretty glad that some things have finally changed. I think this is pretty encouraging too - it shows that Mo's not going to sit back and wait for Marco Velez to start showing up, or to wait for Chad Barrett to start hitting the net. It's all great news, so let's see if it all pays off.
In Nick Garcia, we've acquired a veteran defender who at 30, is still in his prime as a centre half. He captained the Earthquakes 2.0 last season, as was widely considered as their defensive leader. Not a bad pick up for us. Given the fact that Marvell Wynne will be missing around a month at the Confederations Cup and then the Gold Cup, it was obviously pretty clear that Marco Velez wouldn't be the best option in the centre of our defense, especially with Nana Attakora likely to cover Wynne's spot at right back.
As for Ali Gerba, this is one guy that TFC fans have wanted for a while. He's not a Toronto FC player yet mind you - we just have his rights. Mo mentioned that he's looking forward to sitting down with Gerba and hashing out all the details to his contract very soon though, so I think that it's pretty inevitable that the Canadian wants to come home. He has a very impressive scoring record for Canada with 11 goals in 23 appearances. He spent this past winter playing in League One with Milton Keynes Dons.
Amidst all of this, goalkeeper Greg Sutton has been released. He was taking up around $150K and that is way too much for a backup goalkeeper in this league. It does leave us a little inexperienced in goal, however, as the goalkeeping job is now in the hands of Stefan Frei and Brian Edwards. I'm not too worried though. Frei's hands seem to be pretty capable.
After my rant after Saturday's loss at home to the Galaxy (see below), I'm pretty glad that some things have finally changed. I think this is pretty encouraging too - it shows that Mo's not going to sit back and wait for Marco Velez to start showing up, or to wait for Chad Barrett to start hitting the net. It's all great news, so let's see if it all pays off.
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3 comments:
Thats all the mention you give to Sutton? Loyal service from the very beginning and thats what we give him. Backup or not, this move was disrespectful to Greg and doesn't do justice to all his hard work.
"Thanks for all your hard work and passion for the club during your time here."
It might have been disrespectful, but releasing him makes sense. It's unfortunate nonetheless.
Good riddance and it's about time! As for "being disrespectful" buddy this is a professional sports team--not the salvation army. Get a clue.
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