Gilberto is returning to Major League Soccer, but it won’t be with Toronto FC, as the Chicago Fire claimed the Brazilian forward off waivers from TFC.
“Gilberto is in the prime of his career and can immediately help our club push toward the MLS Cup playoffs this year and for years to come,” Chicago coach Frank Yallop said in a news release.
“We’ve been tracking Gilberto for some time now and knew he could become available due to Toronto FC’s designated player situation. He’s shown he can score goals in this league and we look forward to him joining our club here in Chicago.”
Toronto GM Tim Bezbatchenko told local reporters that TFC received a fee for Gilberto from Brazilian club Vasco da Gama when they loaned him out earlier this year (more on that later) and that it would get a piece of any future sale of the forward. But TFC didn’t receive anything extra as part of Monday’s transaction that saw the Reds lose Gilberto to Chicago.
How did Chicago get Gilberto? And why did TFC place the Brazilian on waivers in the first place?
It’s complicated, but the basic explanation is that Gilberto’s loan spell with Vasco was recently terminated. When Vasco unexpectedly ended the loan deal earlier than expected it meant the forward was immediately back on TFC’s books and thus Toronto was no longer roster compliant under Major League Soccer’s rules.
MLS teams are allowed three designated players, and TFC already has three: Sebastian Giovinco, Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley. Gilberto put the Reds over the limit, so Toronto was forced to place him on waivers. Chicago was first in the waiver draft order because they currently sit in last place in the MLS standings.
Gilberto, 26, scored seven goals and added five assists for Toronto in 28 MLS games in 2014, but he became surplus to requirements after TFC inked Altidore in the off-season. That signing gave Toronto one more than the maximum three DPs, so TFC sent Gilberto on loan to Vasco.
Gilberto scored nine goals in 13 matches for Vasco in the Rio de Janeiro state championship. But in this year’s Serie A (the Brazilian first division) Gilberto failed to score in 12 appearances.
Were there not other options TFC could have used to keep Gilberto or, at the very least, get something for him?
Toronto could have traded one of their other three DPs to make room for Gilberto, but that was never going to happen. They could have sold him, but the unexpected termination of the loan meant TFC would have had to put together a deal right away in order to be roster compliant—and considering his current goal-scoring drought it’s hard to imagine teams were beating down TFC’s down with offers.
Toronto could have traded him to another MLS club, but teams knew TFC were not roster compliant, so the Reds had no leverage.
What about Allocation Money? Could the Reds not have paid down Gilberto’s contract to a non-DP level in order to keep him?
According to the MLS players’ union website, Gilberto was earning $1.2 million US this season. Even if TFC maxed out the $500,000 available to them via the new Targeted Allocation Money rule, they still would have come up short.
Also, MLS rules stipulate that Targeted Allocation Money and regular Allocation Money may not be used in combination when buying down the budget charge of a Designated Player. So that wasn’t an option for Toronto.
