Marino is a 21 year old guy living in an English speaking country for the first time and walking in to a team that had a pre-established attack that was by far the best in MLS last and one of the best again this season. I don’t think anyone should be rushing to count him out already.
He also has two kids according to an announcer on the broadcast a week or so ago. I do think he has been a bit disappointing as well but yes, you gotta give him a bit more time to settle in and to break in to a team of championship winning players.
You can see the talent but you can also see the decision making issues. A perfect example was late in the game Saturday he was in the box with a clear opportunity. He over dribbled and lost the ball. What you might not have seen on the broadcast was Cucho lighting him up once the ball moved down to the other end of the field. He could have shot or passed and he decided to dribble.
If AJ needs a miracle worker, I would be surprised. And if he needs one, there is nobody I would turn to sooner than Wilfried Nancy. It takes two to tango. Diaz was already here. If he blossoms into something big, I'll concede the point. But by my assessment, Diaz did not have the final quality to excel. On Hinestroza, I would say that is a fair counterpoint, so far. Let's see. Either way, a "jury still out" example of of one against an impressive list of young talent that has been blooming under Nancy: Morris, Matan, Farsi, JRR, Arfsten, Schulte for starters. And this is just during his short stint here. The reason he here, is because of his success in developing youth in Montreal.
Yep, Nancy has built up a pretty good track record so far. Hinestroza kind of reminds of me of Arfsten last season. You could see some of Arfsten's quality last season. He's dangerous on the ball. Comfortable attacking the box. But his decision making was always too slow last season, and even the beginning of this season. But he's become much more comfortable with the system recently and you are really starting to see him thrive. Cheberko was very similar from a defensive point of view between last season and this season. I think we'll see something similar happen with Hinestroza. You can see the quality there. You can see the effort he's willing to put. The intensity he's played with off the bench in the last few games has been impressive. He just needs it all to click and that will take a bit of time.
It's worth noting that Hinestroza only turns 22 this month (Arfsten is 23). I can pretty tough on Hinestroza, but he certainly does have technical ability and brings energy to our play when he's in there. He's under contract through 2026 with a 2027 option year. As a U22 player, his hit on the roster budget is inconsequential. In other words, he's to going anywhere and will have plenty of chances to impress.
Welcome to the club, Garber Bux. St. Louis City has announced the signing of attacking midfielder Marcel Hartel. He joins as a designated player.Hartel, 28, coming off a career year with St. Pauli. had 17g/13a to lead the club to win the German second tier.Columbus receive $350k for his discovery rights. pic.twitter.com/ddXicDHTyV— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) July 2, 2024
Well, we have our Max Garberbux. Morris is gone to 'Boro. We got $350k here. One open INT spot (unless we we have more guys coming off IDK about). CM surely the biggest need with Aidan gone.
Interesting that Montreal midfielder Mathieu Choiniere was a coach’s selection for the all star game. That means Nancy rates him as a quality player. If Choiniere still wants out of Montreal, what better location than Columbus?
I thought the coach's selections were very interesting. A few seemed forced by MLS, but others were players I could see Nancy admiring.
In order to receive gam for discovery rights, aren’t we required to make a “legitimate” bid for the player? I think there is a rule governing this. Something like a team that makes a bid can trade the discovery rights for the going rate. Failure to make a bid means we forfeit the discovery rights for a set $50k. If nothing else, it proves we are looking for a quality #9. I’m good with that.
I'd take Choiniere in a heartbeat. He was on the all star team last year as well so his selection is hardly a surprise. Montreal isn't very good, but their main problem is defense. And yes, he's made it clear he wants out. His contract expires at the end of the season but the Clubfeet hold an option for '25
Back in April, it was reported that we'd be hearing the details about those several tweaks to the roster rules that would be taking effect for the summer window. Well, the window opens in 16 days, so you'd think MLS will make some official announcement about this fairly soon. These don't sound like earth-shattering changes, to be honest, but the rumored extra $2M in GAM would be pretty damned big, if it ends up happening. Point being, I'm sure Tall and Nancy know what's in the works and are planning accordingly. If no rule changes end up happening mid-season, that's one thing. But if we suddenly have extra GAM to spend buying down budget hits, plus increased flexibility in DP/U22 signings, we should be setting the bar higher in terms of summer player signings. Every other team with ambition will be.
That's my read of the rules, as well. If we had a real interest in this player and an ability to sign him, I can see the amount needed to acquire his rights from us being considerably greater than $50K in GAM. On the other hand, it's possible that the base amount teams get compensated for this has been raised by the league. There's really no way of knowing for sure.
Bogert said we wanted Hartel but couldn't come to an agreement. Given how Reus's Charlotte deal went down, guessing 350k is the going discovery rights deal for big names/dps
That kinda sucks that we missed out on this guy, but with that number of 1.5m, this tells me that they wanted to either keep their options open for a DP or they’ve already targeted one. They aimed as high as they possibly could.
Starter wise yes CM & CF, depth wise CB but we need multiple guys .I don’t think we can get a target forward without selling JRR or Ramírez. I would not let Ramírez go until after the season.
This would be worth it solely to watch a certain segment of the USMNT fanbase lose their minds. As long as Claudio is inserting himself in Gio career decisions, there's no way he ever comes here, but the thought of it is pretty funny.
Well, it also signals, to me at least, that we wanted to go bigger at DP. so, not cheap in total. We liked Chambost (TAM) + DP over --------------- this guy (DP) + TAM guy.
it shouldn’t just be Gio. Sargent, McKenzie, Richards, McKennie, Weah, Musah, hell everyone but Pulisic should consider MLS so they get solid minutes leading up to 2026