Those of you waiting for the Red Bulls to swoop in on transfer deadline day and make a splash with some signings will have to wait. That isn’t going to happen.
Other than a proposal made to Red Bull Salzburg to bring in Ernst Obster on loan (a proposal that has not been approved yet) the Red Bulls will not be making any transfer deadline acquisitions (that includes Jorge Rojas, who will not be coming). That does not mean the Red Bulls aren’t lining up some potential signings, just that the players they are considering now are not attached to any club and can be signed after tomorrow’s transfer deadline.
The club is bringing in one final defender for a look in the coming days, and if the unidentified South American defender does not impress Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio then the team will hold on to the salary cap space and allocation money it currently has until the summer transfer window, when it will pursue one of the two attached defenders the team tried to sign during this transfer window (Deportivo Italia defender Gabriel Cichero is one, an unidentified European-based defender is the other).
Osorio stated that the club is still considering Scottish defender Chris Innes but that he won’t rush into a decision and Innes still has some other options, making a signing of the former Gretna defender unlikely.
"I can say that Chris came here that he is good in the air, a good organizer and good pro, Osorio said. "He has other options and I don’t want to jump into the first choice."
The unidentified trialist is expected to train with the team on Wednesday if he can get his VISA issues straightened out.
"If the player shows is he can play then we will consider signing him," Osorio said. "If it’s not, I will hold on to that money, I will spend it on another left-footed defender in the summer."
Cichero appears to be a very strong candidate to be signed. A 24-year-old central defender with a strong left foot, Cichero is expected to be available this summer.
As for Rojas, who Osorio has made no secret of coveting as a player, he chalked up the likely failed attempt to sign him to the club’s lack of salary cap space and allocation money. In other words, that $2 million deal reported in the Venezuelan press wasn’t close to happening (but you had to know that already).
Innes played in the reserve team’s game against Seton Hall on Monday (won by the Red Bulls, 5-0) and impressed. Also playing in that match was Paraguayan midfielder Lider Marmol, who the Red Bulls have not given up on signing. Marmol is also unattached so he could also be signed after Tuesday’s transfer deadline.
So why the optimism about Marmol? according to sources in Chicago, the Fire is considering a transfer deadline acquisition that could leave the club without the salary cap room to afford Marmol. If that is the case, then the Fire would lose its discovery claim to Marmol, which would move the Red Bulls into position to sign him.
Ives,
Any word on who the Fire are looking to sign today? How much cap space do the Fire have left? According to some people it could be around $600k when the $300k allocation from NYRB is taken into account. If that’s correct, the Fire can sign a max contract and still have around $200k for Marmol. That amount shouldn’t be a problem since his last counter offer to MLS was around $135k I think.
Here we go again. I’m a charter season ticket holder and after thirteen years I suppose I should be use to it; even so, the disrespect still hurts. Sure, the stupid play-off system allows a club to coast the first two-thirds of the season, but that doesn’t make it alright to deliver a sub-standard product for four months. The irony, of course, is that every year we’re told things will be ok by play-off time and come August they just get worse.
The simple fact is that RBNY is a lousy product. The few of us who keep buying it do so because a) we’re adicted to watching live professional soccer, b) there’s no local alternative, and c) we live in hope that this year the miracle will happen. Unfortunately, that means there’s no incentive for improvement. The culture of failure can only be stopped from the very top and questions about the coach and which players we sign right now are almost irrelevant. The much bigger issue is who becomes Managing Director and what kind of support he gets from the owners.
Does Orsorio ever stick to his word? It’s starting to sound like he’s says a lot of stuff that means a lot of nothing!
They have a chance to strengthen the team and they don’t because: The coach rightly knows that the second half of the season is more important than the first, therefore the 2nd transfer window more important than the 1st.
Or in other words, we all know what it is like to go to the market, starving, with only 3 dollars (and to make the analogy perfect, it is morning and we won’t have any more cash until tomorrow). There are always plently of good things there that you can afford, but we pass most of it up because we are looking for the best deal. Maybe it is best to skip breakfast for dinner…
This is rediculous, the Red Bulls have a chance to strengthen the team and they dont. They need to sign Innes and improve our deffense. Right now if we play the rest of the season with this team I think we are going to finish 6th just abouve Toronto FC and if that happens I am going to be ticked off and wont a new head coach already. Cuz our man now isnt showing me anything better then Arena did. Why does it have to be so hard to love the Red Bulls. Thank God for Bayern Munich.
Irish um not sure where you heard that because Marmol said he would play for whichever team and that he didnt have a preference.
Ives,so have you heard anything about who the player the Fire maybe coveting? We already know its a forward whose interested in playing for the Fire and hes from Europe. It doesn’t help really but any names?
There are rumors that Gonzalo Sebastian Garcia from Argentine Club Racing is on trial with RBNY. Apparently there was a substitute in the Seton Hall game with the same name as the U-20 international. Time will tell if this is the same player. He is under contract with Racing if it is the same player which means RBNY would have to sign him tomorrow.
Don’t get so excited about Marmol playing in our reserve matches while Chicago is still first in line with discovery rights. Marmol is going to refuse to play for Chicago. Period. He will only play for Osorio and if he can’t play for him he won’t play in the league. It’s that simple.
any word if they will give Matt kassel a contract?
Let’s not forget that the Red Bulls aren’t exactly an attractive club for players. We play in a low paying league, we play on fake crap turf, we have one of the worst track records in MLS history, and we change coaches like fans change their underwear. So we are going to make due with either young guys or never-beens until we get the new stadium up and Reyna retires and the DP slot opens up.
You guys are such whiners. We’re 1-1 & it’s Parke’s own fault he couldn’t play Saturday. Don’t blame the coach. As for Mendes, we’re not in the clubhouse, but the fact that the last two coaches didn’t want to play something may tell us something about him.
Would you rather sign the first player available or the right player?
With Richards & Freeman back, I think this is a fairly good team. Add a defender & a mid, which we will & we’re in good shpae.
You guys whine too much.
Let me get this right… Chicago have first refusal yet he’s playing in OUR reserve games. Why are we keeping a player fit for when he signs with Chicago?? This makes me think that Marmol is gonna end up here in NY. As for Innes, I also don’t see why he wouldn’t sign him. We’re in desperate need of another veteran center back especially since Osorio is the new Arena as far as Mendes is concerned.
You could see the result on Saturday coming as soon as you saw the lineup… why start two sub-par full backs in the center of your defense. Both looked way out of their depth trying to cope with Miller and Alvarez. I don’t care if he got his daughter pregnant… Mendes is the next best central defender on the team after Parke – play him!! I’m getting flashbacks to last year and Arena’s completely incomprehensible lineup decisions.
Mendes – we might as well trade him if he’s not going to play
I’m willing to bet that Osorio won’t be around for the second half of the season. In light of that, maybe its not so bad that he left Richie Williams $500k of cap space to sign players in the summer.
De Grandpre is smarter than I thought — he saw the writing on the wall and quit before he could get fired, leaving his resume without this embarrassment.
What is this obsession with a left- footed defender. Is this supposed player’s left foot going to bring us MLS Cup or Supporter’s Shield? Unless it is ROberto Carlos, then probably not.
I can’t express how frustrated I am to hear this. Picking up Marmol would ease some of that, but I think defensive midfield is the least pressing of the three needs (left wing midfielder and left-footed defender being the other two).
inkedAG – I guess Mendes, Carlos Boccanegra, and Jay DeMerit should start a support group!
I agree about Mendes. How does a guy go from Captaining a game and being a defense stalwart to a Water Boy? How the hell did that happen?
I just want to know one thing, did Carlos Mendes have an affair with Osorio’s wife?
How has he dropped so far down the latter that two outside backs and a left winger are above him in the pecking order at center back?
I don’t think Mendes is great…but I also never thought he was bad. But Osorio would apparently rather play a 0-5-5 then give Mendes a look.
I agree with Coach. How about this, let me know when the team will be complete and I’ll buy tickets to those games. With the amount of money that I’m sure most of the RBNY fans on here spend to support the team then is it too much to ask to field a quality team by April 15th? Why wouldn’t the Supporters Shield be a goal for us? Why bet all on the MLS Cup? RBNY fans need to look at what’s going on since JCO has come here and need to realize that he may be a good coach but he will not be able to duplicate the Condes and Marmols. He did all his tricks for Chicago and has left us with nothing. Bad job by JCO and Agoos!
Another point I’d like to make is that I’m not OK with the whole “as long as we’re OK by the playoffs” mentality. As a season ticket holder, I’d like to see the best possible product on the field from day one. I realize there are a lot of rules and constraints in the current system, and that we will never field 11 galacticos, but still …
What a joke. This will be another below average season for soccer in the Big Apple. MAYBE a playoff appearance, but going no further than the first round.
I’m losing faith by the second…
Its odd that we are keep Leitch, letting Mendes sit the bench, and we aren’t signing Innes? I’m curious as to the other teams he may have an offer with?
Ives, can you try to get a straight answer out of JCO about where we he thinks need reinforcements? First it was 3-4 players, then definitely three, then two and now one. Not only that, but this unnamed player probably won’t be here until July at the earliest.
In the meantime we will have Goldthwaite and Leitch playing in central defense while Mendes rots on the bench. Red Bulls fans could be excused for wondering what the hell is going on.
If Innes impresses then sign him and cut dead weight.
Keep the pursuit up for Marmol; there are plenty of jokers who get paid more than $100K. If Red Bull is willing to pay him more than $100K then the league should sign him for that amount. Chicago would have first option to sign him, but if it passes, the Red Bulls would have the option to do so.
The former.
And guys, Jeff Parke and eventually Hunter Freeman will be back, so the defense on Saturday isn’t likely to be seen again, new signings or no new signings.
“Osorio stated that the club is still considering Scottish defender Chris Innes but that he won’t rush into a decision and Innes still has some other options.
“I can say that Chris came here that he is good in the air, a good organizer and good pro, Osorio said. He has other options and I don’t want to jump into the first choice.”
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Did JCO means to say he wants to give the second defender an equal chance to make the team, like he did Innes? As opposed to Innes has other options, and JCO doesn’t want to be the first choice of those options. I’m assuming the former, but just making sure…
Big Apple Soccer says Innes is gone. So it’s Löbster or nothing. 300K plus to play with and we can’t find anyone who’s better than Chris Leitch? What’s wrong with this picture?
It sounds to me like he either isn’t high on Innes, or yet again, they can’t afford him. Hard to understand, in the sense that you have a guy on the bench (Mendes) making 70K that neither of the past 2 coaches would put out there even in the most desperate situations (I’d call Saturday’s lineup “desperate”)
How much would Innes want? He’s comming from Europe where the dollar is worth about half what it did a year or two ago. Offering him $100,000 now is in his mind the same as offering him $50,000 was 2 years ago.
If we lose Innes to his “other options” and end up stuck with the same backline all year long because this new defender coming in doesn’t impress it will truly be sad.
Not cool, I was hoping to check the site and see “Ronaldinho to join Bulls!”, oh well a man can dream
I hope RBNY signs Innes too!
Not good – not good at all. This is getting ridiculous.
Ives,
Just to clarify. Marmol is unattached to a club, but right of first refusal due to discovery rights still belong to Chicago, yes?
And I hope they sign Innes, I have trouble believing he’s not an upgrade over Leitch. Sign Innes to $100,000 and cut leitch, only a $40,000 taken off the cap. Feels like a no-brainer.