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Which players should the Impact select?

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Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft provides the Montreal Impact a chance to build the foundation for its MLS roster, and the club will have some decisions to make based on how much it wants to spend and which direction it wants to go off the bat.

Designated Players Julian de Guzman, Andres Mendoza, Mustapha Jarju, Branko Boskovic, Frank Rost, Milton Caraglio, Omar Bravo and Jeferson are all free for the taking (although Rost is likely to return to Germany after a few-month stay with New York), giving the Impact the option to make a major investment immediately.

Other intriguing names on the unprotected list include Brian Ching (although the veteran striker has reportedly said he will retire if selected), Freddy Adu, Andy Williams, Sanna Nyassi, Bobby Convey and Justin Mapp. 

According to The Oregonian, the Portland Timbers have a deal in place with the Impact to not have any players taken, stemming back to the Timbers agreeing to loan Ryan Pore to Montreal during this past season. That leaves 17 other teams to sweat out the draft process, in which a team can lose no more than one player.

Which players do you think the Impact should take? Should they go for any of the high-priced talent available? Whom do you expect to be selected?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Like Newcastle, they should go shopping in France. And not just because it’s Montreal, France has the cheapest players of the big give leagues by far, a big reason why Newcastle is doing so well this year.

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  2. Fagundez is a homegrown player that is automatically protected and not available in the expansion draft. If they can sign protected players they might want to try selecting Donovan.

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  3. That’s a silly response.

    First, in this economy, if you have a house that’s worth $200k or more, in most areas there’s no guarantee it sells fast. That’s a HUGE issue.

    Second, he’s not going to play much longer–maybe a year or two. Which means…if your spouse has a good job, it may mean that you’re REDUCING your financial security by continuing to play and move to Montreal.

    Third, the Canadians are serious about work permits. Again, if you’ve got a spouse with a job, she may not be able to work legally in Canada. It happened to Richard Mulrooney’s wife.

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  4. Is is about what they should do…

    DEF:
    Adrian Cann
    Darrius Barnes
    Robbie Russell

    MID:
    Bobby Convey
    Ned Grabavoy
    Emmanuel Ekpo
    Michael Stephens
    Mehdi Ballouchy

    FWD:
    Freddy Adu
    Sanna Nyassi

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  5. From Houston’s perspective he’s about to GenAdi graduate and go on the cap. Notoriously cheap about such things and lost Ianni to Seattle in similar circs.

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  6. It’s a little goofy when I’m supposed to honor his desire to be in Houston when their listing of him as available is at least nominal betrayal/lack of reciprocity. If you choose to game the system you risk the consequences. Buy the ticket take the ride.

    The “next-level” analysis would be that there still remains room for bluffing and calling in this card game, and Montreal can still draft him knowing they’ll force Houston to compensate them for “return of poster boy.” In that sense this pressures Houston while it threatens Montreal….Houston likes to play hardball but if Ching says he’ll retire if stuck in Montreal, lot of pressure on Houston to do a deal if he gets drafted.

    In fact, it’s interesting to consider whether it starts to get a little JP Angel-like where you can push the leverage based on desperation.

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  7. It really doesn’t matter who they pick. If history has taught me anything, at least some of the players they pick will end up getting shopped around and even traded.

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  8. G Greg Sutton
    M Justin Mapp
    D Zarek Valentin
    M Sanna Nyassi
    M Austin DaLuz
    M Danny Cruz
    D Darius Barnes
    F O’Brien White
    D Nana Attakora
    F Peri Marosevic

    3 Canadians, balanced core, total cost 748K (Mapp and White only ones $100K or over). Adrian Cann and Joey Gjertsen could be sentimental choices as ex-Impact players.

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  9. Can’t be;ieve Costly is on this list…He is going to be monster after a 1/2 year in the league. It usually takes foreigners at least a 1/2 year to get acclimated.

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  10. I too would like to see this approach. If he is a bust then you let him go at the end of the season. Low risk/high reward. Also i fthey were able to secure a top quality DP striker who would have the CLOUT to say “GIVE ME THE DAMN BALL” he would have to give it up or risk further damaging his rep.

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