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Report: TFC sends Matias Laba on loan to Whitecaps

Matias Laba

By IVES GALARCEP

Toronto FC needed to find somewhere to send Argentine midfielder Matias Laba, and they finally found a taker in a fellow Canadian MLS club.

TFC are sending Laba to the Vancouver Whitecaps via an intraleague loan, Vancouver newspaper The Province reported on Tuesday evening.

Laba became expendable in Toronto after TFC added three Designated Players this winter, including Michael Bradley. Laba joins a Whitecaps side that already has several defensive midfield options, including Nigel Reo-Coker and Gershon Koffie.

Laba is just the second player to make a move via an MLS intraleague loan, joining Tony Cascio, who has joined Houston on loan from the Colorado Rapids.

What do you think of this move? Think the Whitecaps are looking like a playoff contender, or still think the loss of Camilo Sanvezzo will be too much to overcome?

Share your thoughts below.

 

 

 

Comments

  1. It’s amusing how some of the comments seem to suggest that the league is bending over backwards to twist the rules for TFC. This is TFC for goodness sake. If they’d lit up the league for years and benefited from MLS rule bending before you might have a complaint but jeez…they’ve been redefining awful for years.

    Reply
  2. So, sign as many DP’s as you want and then loan out the ones who are low on the DP pecking order in order to comply with MLS salary cap regulations.

    The precedent has been set.

    Reply
    • I’m confused…what’s wrong with this? TFC could never have more than 3 DP’s at once playing for them and most likely are absorbing at least a small cap hit. Sure, there’s an argument about opportunity cost, but, in any league other than the NBA they don’t try to punish you for making bad moves in a long-term sense.

      Also, this not a precedent-setter, the Galaxy at the very least loaned out JPA to Chivas to get Robbie Keane.

      Reply
      • Wrong. LA *traded* JPA to Chivas, not loaned. Yes, there is a difference and yes it’s pertinent to the Laba situation. By trading JPA to Chivas, JPA was technically no longer a Galaxy asset. Laba was only loaned out to Vancouver, so technically Laba is still a TFC player.

        Thus, 4 DP’s and a new precedent.

      • The loan lasts for a whole year… how are you an asset if you don’t play one single game? Yes, he is “technically” a TFC player, but will never play for the team in 2014, and will not produce any benefit for the team during that time.

        As mentioned above, TFC did not set a new precedent; Seattle did loaning Montero. They followed precedent – big difference, IMHO

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