TFC needs a centre back

As Toronto FC's 2011 season ended on a feel good note and gave much to look forward to for next year, thoughts turned to what improvements could be made to the squad in the off-season.

At the top of everyone's list is a quality centre back -- a real leader who would have a similar galvanising effect as Torsten Frings and Danny Koevermans had on the midfield and attack respectively, allowing TFC to play Aron Winter's favourite 4-3-3 formation and still look relatively solid at the back.

Fans are learning to be patient as there have been no announcements yet, and the only new signings in any position so far, Jeremy Hall and Reggie Lambe, offer promise and hope rather than any kind of impressive track record. The January trading window should bring more action, but the salary cap dictates that TFC are unlikely to be bringing in anyone of undoubted quality to improve the roster, and aside from similar experimental signings or the draft, may have to look within the existing squad for improvements.

When it comes to prospects for the centre back position, there a pair of updates from the team last week. Paul Mariner confirmed Dicoy Williams is struggling in his comeback, but there's better news when it comes to Adrian Cann.

Cann himself tweeted that he had completed a successful rehab stint in Los Angeles and Mariner suggested he'd be back sometime in pre-season, if not by the start of it. If he can return and be the same player he was before his injury, that will be a huge boost to TFC's defence.

If his 2010 team MVP award owed quite a bit to internal politics and not wanting to give the title to Dwayne De Rosario after his cheque signing shenanigans (and didn't Cann's 2011 pre-season hold out give that decision a delicious touch of irony?) his value to the team was again shown last season.

Despite a rotating cast of mediocre full backs to start the campaign, and a very shaky midfield in front of him, Cann managed to hold things together fairly well at the back, especially when paired with Williams.

One of the first games he missed just before his season ending ACL injury proved his importance as TFC fell apart without him, crashing 6-2 to the Philadelphia Union. The defence was suspect for the rest of the season; Andy Iro proved he wasn't the answer, and many times the preferred formation of 4-3-3 had to be sacrificed for the sake of defensive coverage.

I think it's obvious that Winter would prefer not to have to make that sacrifice. But would Cann be enough to make the back line more durable? If he can come back at the same level as he played at in 2010 and 2011, then I'd say yes, but that's a big if as an ACL injury is a very tough one to come back from, especially at 31 years of age.

If he can come back at that level, then he's an obvious upgrade over Iro and should work well next to Ty Harden if Harden can continue his improved and more confident form from the end of last season.

Add in Richard Eckersley (hopefully) and Ashtone Morgan as full backs, and there's plenty of hope. Not a world beating back line by any means, but with Iro, Dicoy Williams and Doneil Henry as backup, it's an MLS-worthy defence, and if the midfield and whoever ends up in goal can do their job, it should be good enough.

Ideally, TFC will draft a defensive prodigy or somehow find salary cap room to sign a shiny new centre back to be The Man back there, partner Cann and move the aforementioned defenders a step down the depth chart, as without that addition, it would be alarmingly vulnerable to the sort of injury problems that caused chaos in 2011.

If they can't find that player, well much like a lot of things in MLS, Cann would be an imperfect solution to a question nobody really wants to have to ask. He may not be the commanding presence and leader that the defence showed last year it so clearly needs, but he's unquestionably an improvement and an option TFC is lucky to still have.

Imagine how bare the cupboard would look if he'd been picked by Montreal in the expansion draft.

Duncan Fletcher is a Toronto-based writer and key contributor to Waking the Red, a blog about Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. Follow Duncan on Twitter.