Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio sang the praises of Venezuelan midfielder Ronald Vargas, calling him an excellent player, but Osorio made it clear that Vargas is not a target of the Red Bulls.
"He is a very good player but he is not someone we can afford," Osorio said at Red Bulls media day on Tuesday. "Not with teams in Europe and Argentina getting ready to make big offers for him."
Osorio admitted to having seen Vargas play during a recent trip to South America, but Vargas was not the player he was at the game to watch.
"I saw him he is not the player I was there to see," said Osorio, who would not reveal his actual target.
Osorio stuck to his statements from February that he and the Red Bulls plan on adding one or two players before the end of the current MLS transfer window. Osorio described the three players he is targeting as a left-sided midfielder, a defensive midfielder and a left-footed central defender.
Osorio also stated that one of his targets is a European-based player who the club could wait until the summer transfer window to acquire.
Freeman out 4-6 weeks with ankle injury
Red Bulls defender Hunter Freeman will miss four to six weeks of action after suffering strain ligaments in his right ankle during the U.S. Under-23 national team’s Olympic Qualifying final against Honduras on Sunday.