TORONTO—How excited was Tosaint Ricketts when he finally became an official member of Toronto FC after his career was effectively in limbo for months?
“His reaction yesterday when I told him in the middle of training that we got his [paperwork] was priceless. He was jumping up and down, and hugging everybody,” coach Greg Vanney revealed to reporters after Thursday’s practice.
It’s not hard to understand the enthusiastic reaction of the Canadian forward, who could debut for the Reds in Saturday’s home game vs. D.C. United, when you consider some of the difficult circumstances he’s been through in his career.
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Ricketts, a 28-year-old native of Edmonton, had been without a team since parting ways with Turkish outfit Boluspor over unpaid wages earlier this year. Ricketts has been training with TFC since May, but the Reds couldn’t complete the deal to sign the out-of-contract Canadian until Boluspor sent them his International Transfer Certificate. TFC thought that was going to weeks ago—due to a series of complications on Boluspor’s end, the ITC only arrived on Wednesday.
Ricketts’ experience with Boluspor wasn’t the first time he was involved in a dispute over unpaid wages. He had the same problem back in 2012 when he played for Politehnica Timisoara. Only after fighting the club and the Romanian Football Federation by arguing his case to FIFA did he become a free agent and was he allowed to sign with another team.
“It’s frustrating, but I’m just thankful it’s over. I’ve dealt with this a couple of times in the past; I’m more mature about it this time around. I kept my patience, and I’m just happy it’s over,” Ricketts said on Thursday.
Making a living by playing in countries such as Turkey and Romania can be difficult for a wide variety of reasons for foreign players, not the least of which is that sometimes you don’t often get paid on time—or at all, as Ricketts learned the hard way.
“It’s hard to anticipate, because a lot of teams promise you everything at the beginning, and some teams in the past have shown that they’re capable of holding up their end of the deal. But things change from year to year, new [team] presidents come in and it’s hard to predict. I got unfortunate a few times with that situation,” Ricketts explained.
A mainstay with Canadian national team since making his debut in 2011—he has 12 goals in 50 appearances (35 as a starter)—Ricketts has spent his entire club career abroad thus far, turning out for teams in Finland, Romania, Norway, Israel and Turkey. During the 2014-15 season, he made 18 appearances and scored one goal for Boluspor.
After leaving the Turkish club, the time seemed right to come to MLS.
“I’ve been thinking about it for awhile. I spent a lot of time overseas, and [MLS] has developed so much; the level [of play] has gone up a lot. I just felt like this was the right time to come back home,” said Ricketts, who admitted that a few Canadian teams were interested in him when he became a free agent.
Ricketts provides Toronto more depth at the forward position, and in light of the amount of time Jozy Altidore has missed this season because of injury that’s a good thing. He can also play as a winger, thus giving the Reds’ attack some much-needed width, although Vanney plans to deploy him as a forward.
“For us, he’s a forward. In a lot of what we’re doing it’s a two-forward system. He’ll rotate in as needed when his skill set matches what we need for the day or what we need for a moment in the match,” Vanney explained.
Vanney likes Ricketts’ all-around game, explaining he gives Toronto “a little added element of speed,” that he can be a dangerous player inside the penalty area, that he “can create problems for the opposition,” and that “in the air he’s got great jumping ability and he’s a good header of the ball.”
“I’m just here to provide a spark. I’m a very [quick] player and I can stretch teams out,” Ricketts said.
Ricketts’ arrival does, however, create a bit of logjam at the forward position, and it speaks to the lack of overall balance on the roster.
Altidore is expected to return to action this weekend after being out since May with a hamstring injury. Also, young Canadians Jordan Hamilton and Mo Babouli have shown well with Altidore on the sidelines—Hamilton has three goals in Toronto’s last five games—and Japanese rookie Tsubasa Endoh is another option up front.
All of which raises the question: Did Ricketts’ signing fill a void on TFC’s roster or even address a serious need?
“First of all, I don’t know if you can have too many forwards. Forwards sometimes [lose] form. Jordan is in a good run right now so he’s earning every minute that he gets and he’s been great. But we’re also getting to the end of the season—we need guys to be in form and you never know exactly which two or three guys those are, and you always want to keep them in rotation,” Vanney explained.
“What Tos also brings is experience. He’s 28 years old, he’s played in Turkey, he’s played in some challenging environments, he’s played internationally [so] there won’t be too many situations I think in MLS that he’ll be in awe of. He’ll be ready to step on the field and perform when called upon.”
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