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The Montreal Impact have continued to wheel and deal as Jesse Marsch shapes his roster, with the latest blockbuster coming Monday with Montreal dealing Seth Sinovic and an allocation to Sporting Kansas City for veteran midfielder Davy Arnaud.
The deal is a smart one for Kansas City, which gets back starting left back and hometown product Sinovic, while also parting with Arnaud, a captain who had lost his place in Sporting's central midfield. The allocation money secured in the deal (likely to be in the $75K range) should also help Sporting KC as it searches for roster reinforcements. (For those unfamiliar with MLS allocation money, it is essentially salary cap space, so when a team acquires say $100K in allocation money, that's $100K the team can apply to its salary cap).
Montreal always figured to deal Sinovic after landing three left backs in the MLS expansion draft. By adding Anaud, the Impact bring in a strong leader and locker room presence, but just as importantly, a tenacious central midfield presence who should push the likes of Sinisa Ubiparipovic and Bryan Arguez.
The Impact aren't done dealing. They are expected to talk trade with the Houston Dynamo for the rights to Brian Ching, and could still deal away another left back.
As for Sporting KC, the club has been linked to a winter move for a Designated Player, with a midfielder a strong possibility. Losing Arnaud won't hurt KC too much after the rapid rise of Graham Zusi and Roger Espinoza's continued improvement.
What do you think of the trade? Which team do you think got the better of the deal?
Share your thoughts below.
Actually, Montreal probably would have taken Arnoud. So people are crowing about this b/c SKC exposed a player they wanted, who was taken, then traded a player they didn’t want (who was protected) but acquired some allocation money.
Actually, SKC could have done the same deal PRIOR to the expansion draft–trade Arnoud for allocation money (which then frees up a spot to protect Sinovic). And b/c they weren’t getting Sinovic in return, they might have been able to get more allocation money or a draft pick.
If Arnoud leaving is good (b/c he wasn’t starting and has a big cap hit) and Sinovic is important and valued, then you protect Sinovic and expose Arnoud. Instead, SKC gambled that Montreal didn’t want Sinovic, he got taken and while they got him back they also had to give something up.
I’m not saying it’s a bad deal, just not anything to crow about.
Excellent trade both ways… Montreal needed a central mid & at the time had 3 left backs in Wahl, Gardner, & Sinovic.
im sure montreal wants hainault, question is whether houston wants ching back bad enough to trade off a young centreback.
Before I say its a great deal for Sporting I want to see what they do with the extra salary cap space and allocation money. They are in good position right now but they do need to address their midfield depth this offseason.
Many times you have to look beyond the stat sheet to see and know a player’s worth. Davy did a lot for Sporting — even if he wasn’t scoring goals or getting assists.
For example, you know that great goal by Zuasi in Dallas when he beat Hartman from long range? Well, truth is, Zusi was just going to send in a cross. Davy told him to go for goal. BAM! That’s leadership.
And Marsch knows first hand that he wants/needs veteran leadership on an expansion team. Davy is a similar player to his new coach.
Arnaud hasn’t done anything in years…Montreal could have done better with this move
If i was in Montreal’s position id trade Ching for Hainault (played for montreal before)- that would give one them one impressive starting Defense- then they can go and sign a DP forward to slot alongside Braun- and perhaps another DP defensive mid and they would have a veryyyy solid team. If Rivas can capture the form that caught inter milans eyes then he can be one of the best centerbacks- and him paring with Hainault will make them one of the better centerback duos in the league.
I wasn’t commenting the loss of those players as a bad thing (it has obviously turned out to be a good thing), just pointing out something interesting…maybe they had too many voices on the team?
You also have to consider MTL may have taken Arnoud if left exposed. If so, they loose him outright… this way, they get the allocation $ (ie something from nothing).
TBH, I wondered why they protected Davy in the first place, but now it make sense (assuming they had this in mind from the get-go, and if so… BRILLIANT!)
How much does Arnaud have left in the tank? I would have kept Sinovic, based on age, salary, potential.
Leadership is overrated.
Look at the ages and salaries of these players…..KC is getting younger and better. Doesn’t matter about captaincy.
Different situation. SKC traded old for young (more years left in his legs) plus allocation money.
Houston would have to do the opposite situation. If Montreal’s target for this deal is Hainault, they’re going to have to give Houston one hell of a deal in addition to Ching.
I agree that it’s a win-win. Montreal gets a solid leader, SKC gets their young guy back plus allocation money. As prizby said earlier, I hope Houston and Ching will get together and come up with a similar business-like solution.
Indeed.
Well, a new captain for Sporting…that means that counting whoever they make captain in 2012, 5 teams in the last 2 years will have captains that played on the same Kansas City team:
1. Jimmy Conrad – Chivas (before he retired)
2. Josh Wolff – DC
3. Jack Jewsbury – Portland
4. Davy Arnaud – SKC (and Montreal?)
5. New SKC captain
That has to be some kind of record…
And 75k plus Arnauds wages is over 300 K to spend elsewhere
You can only protect 11, SKC FO did work on this, it was a great move on their part.
I don’t see this as such a great deal. They shouldn’t have exposed Sinovic in the expansion draft. I get that Arnaud clears up cap space and may no longer be critical to the team but he’s still a good player. Effectively, SKC lost a player they didn’t want to give up (Sinovic) and had to trade to get him back but did acquire some allocation money in the process.
Good surname for Montreal.
What a deal! KC retains their cheap, hometown starting LB, gets a bit of allocation $ back and trims approx. $250K from the cap. Arnaud was a great KC player for years and years but he lost his starting spot. Kinda like losing Jewsbury last year. No major loss for KC. Montreal now has a great team leader and a decent midfielder to build around
Ives, how does allocation money work? How and where is it applied. Thanks.
Great trade SKC! The front office looks brilliant today in my book (hindsight being 20/20 of course).
Very sorry to see Davy go though. He’s been a great ambassador for the team and a stand up guy in the community. Montreal you got a true leader and a strong player on your squad today. Everybody wins!
see this houston