TORONTO – Kevin Payne is at it again.
Toronto FC’s president and general manager has made some more bold promises, stating the club is close to signing two attacking players of designated-player calibre.
Payne disclosed the news following the team’s Friday practice and after Major League Soccer’s transfer deadline passed Thursday night without the Reds completing any business.
“We had a couple of targets, and one in particular that we pursued until very late, and it didn’t come together. It was a pretty ambitious signing. That didn’t happen,” Payne admitted.
“However, I want people to know that we are still working on two big signings that are not affected by the transfer window. So, we still believe there will be some significant news … probably one (signing) within a week and (another) within two weeks that will really change our team for several years to come.”
He later added: “Both of the players that I am talking about that we are still pursing are big signings and will have a dramatic impact on our club for a long time to come.”
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Although the transfer window is closed, teams can still add players who are out of contract and make trades within MLS until the league’s roster freeze deadline of Sept. 13. MLS teams can also negotiate with players currently under contract with other clubs to try and bring them in for January, 2014.
Payne confirmed that the two players Toronto has targeted were not subject to the transfer deadline – meaning they aren’t currently under contract to other teams – and would be able to join TFC right away if signed.
“Both of them are DP calibre players,” Payne said. “I think we’ll have resolution internally on both of them in about a week.”
This isn’t the first time that Payne has made such brash and public proclamations about securing prospective newcomers. Last Friday, Payne said he hoped to sign two attacking players by the transfer deadline, including the club’s third designated player.
“We are working pretty much 24 hours a day on some fairly sizeable signings,” Payne said at the time. “We’re coming up towards the end of the transfer period. These things are all complicated, but I do hope we’ll have some news before the transfer period ends. … We are going to sign some DP-level talent in the next week or so.”
Toronto coach Ryan Nelsen was not on the bench for Wednesday’s friendly between TFC and AS Roma, as he was out of the country in order to try to complete a deal ahead of the transfer deadline. Nelsen was back running practice on Friday morning, but offered no details when asked about his trip or the deal that, in Payne’s words, “didn’t come together.”
“It’s a player who’s under contract for a club so I can’t really talk about it. We got permission from the club to talk to the individual but we can’t talk about it publically,” Nelsen stated.
Multiple sources told sportsnet.ca that Toronto had been in talks with Italian club Atalanta over the possible transfer of Argentine midfielder Maximiliano Moralez. Payne declined to comment when asked if Moralez was the player he was trying to sign before the deadline.
Payne also didn’t want to talk about another Argentine player, forward Maximiliano Urruti.
Urruti, 22, has been a long-term transfer target of the Reds, with Nelsen saying a deal to sign the Argentine prospect was “virtually” done earlier this year. It didn’t pan out and it looked like the deal was dead, but just last week Payne said Urruti was available again after he severed ties with his club Newell’s Old Boys over not being paid his wages.
“We continue to try to find a way to sign Maximiliano Urruti, and we hope that will occur,” Payne stated last week. “There’s a possibility he could end being a player in MLS and in Toronto.”
But on Friday when Payne was asked to clarify Urruti’s contract situation with Newell’s and the chances of him coming to Toronto, all he said was, “We’re monitoring the situation, I’ll put it that way. Anything is possible.”
Nelsen was a little more forthcoming, suggesting there were serious obstacles to overcome.
“What I do know is there some complications with his contract, whether he’s under (contract) or not, whether he’s getting paid or not,” Nelsen explained.
“He’s not our player. I do know he’s a fantastic player … and he’d be a lovely addition to our team, but he’d be a lovely addition to any team. At the moment though he’s, I think, under contract.”
That Toronto FC needs attacking reinforcements is beyond question. The Reds boast the third-worst offence out of the 19 teams in MLS, with 20 goals in 22 games.
Designated player and Dutch forward Danny Koevermans has sat out most of the season through injury, and top scorer Robert Earnshaw has missed significant action over the last month with a hamstring problem. New Zealand international Jeremy Brockie is set to return home on Aug. 26 once his loan deal is done, and Toronto still hasn’t replaced Luis Silva, a bright young, attacking prospect who was recently traded to D.C. United for allocation money.
Forwards Andrew Wideman and Justin Braun (three goals between them in 17 appearances this season) have both been largely ineffective, underling the need for Payne to sign new players who can have an impact in the final third of the field.
The club did bring in Swiss left back Jonas Elmer and Spanish winger Alvaro Rey before the deadline, but what the club really needs is a goal-scoring forward. So far, Payne hasn’t been able to sign one.
The lack of new recruits, coupled with the fact that Toronto is near the bottom of the standings with a 4-10-8 record and poised to miss the playoffs for a seventh straight season, has led to new levels of frustration amongst a long-suffering and disenfranchised fan base.
Payne, though, maintains he won’t be swayed by such sentiment when making deals.
“We’re not going to rush into things. If I was worried about (fans’ feelings) only, we could have signed players but we might be sitting here a year from now saying ‘why did we do that?’ and ‘Why didn’t we wait for this guy?’ Payne stated.
“We worked very hard to try to bring in players who were subject to the transfer window. Those didn’t come together except for Rey and Elmer. We think both of those are going to make our team better.
“The fans should not be worried. … Our fans should be comforted by the fact that we are going to get some signings done and we’re going to spend quite a bit of money on those signings.”
Payne insists that the club is committed to doing its due diligence before it brings in prospective new players, and making absolutely sure they are the right fit for the team.
“We’re trying to be really patient. There were guys we could have signed (before the deadline), and frankly there were guys we could have signed that would’ve made us better. But we’re trying to sign the right guys, we’re trying to sign players that will really make an impact on our club for some years to come,” Payne offered.
“We targeted a couple of guys. It didn’t work out. We’re going to keep doing our diligence between now and January. We’ll have a lot more time, we know what our budgets are, we know what we are able to do, and we can go after this in an even more organized manner than we were able to this time.”
