Pat Onstad’s scouting project in South America is coming to fruition, at last.
Toronto FC has been linked to a new pair of players as of late, both hailing from Argentina. According to The Canadian Press and The Toronto Sun, those deals could be completed soon, with late April being the due date for the two players.
The first name may be a familiar one to Toronto FC fans; Maximiliano Urruti is a forward from Newell’s Old Boys who looks like Cristiano Ronaldo on the pitch (in hair style and stature, less so than skill). He has been linked to Toronto FC for a while now. The other name is brand new; Matías Laba of Argentinos Junior, is a 21-year-old midfielder who has picked up more than 50 caps for his club and is a member of Argentina’s U20 side.
So, looks like there’s plenty of potential from the two, though pedigree does not always translate to success in Major League Soccer, as Pablo Vitti once spectacularly demonstrated. With Robert Earnshaw scoring goals and a returning Danny Koevermans promising to do the same, Toronto’s forward line can only be improved with another strong striker in Urruti. It is, however, Laba who may be the more instrumental figure at Toronto FC in a central midfield role.
Toronto FC currently starts a combination of Jeremy Hall, Terry Dunfield, Luis Silva and Jonathan Osorio at the centre of the midfield; of the four, Jeremy Hall has looked the strongest in the defensive mind-set and Luis Silva the best in terms of attacking. The two are complimentary in the middle of the park but they are also inexperienced; Hall had played at right fullback for much of his time in Toronto, while Luis Silva prefers playing behind the striker, a role that Hogan Ephraim currently occupies.
“It’s going good,” said Hall, when asked about his transition from fullback to midfielder. “I think I’m getting better every training session, every game. I’ve been watching the video with the coaches so that’s definitely helping me as well seeing my passes, my positioning, stuff like that.”
While Hall may be excelling in his role in the middle of the park, Luis Silva has also made his presence felt; his first appearance yielded an assist on a goal that Osorio tapped in against the LA Galaxy; his second showing improved Toronto FC’s overall play, which attributed to the last-minute comeback against FC Dallas just last week.
Yet with Matías Laba now linked with Toronto FC, and Terry Dunfield out for a few weeks with a minor injury, the midfield duo becomes Toronto’s primary focus. When, just a few months back, the issue of centerback was prevalent, a solution has been found in Danny Califf and Gale Agbossoumonde, alongside Darren O’Dea. Now, Ryan Nelsen can focus on signing quality midfielders to compliment the rest of the roster’s upgrades.
So, what kind of player is Matías Laba? I took to twitter to find out that Laba is described as a purely central midfielder who has plenty of pace and runs quite a bit; he was also described as a collector, translated to English as a player who can intercept the ball. In almost every case, fans of the team said he was a great player.
One consensus among Argentinos supporters was that Laba is not a creative midfielder. He was described multiple times as a “recuperador” which roughly translates to someone who recovers but the context of which is clear – Laba is a player who intercepts and recovers the ball, not necessarily a creator of plays or chances.
He also has a rumoured transfer fee of $1.5 million, so he’d better be a strong option at that price. Toronto FC could use the young designated player rule on him, which would allow for only a $200,000 hit against the salary cap, as opposed to full designated players who hit just a little over $350,000.
If Laba were to sign, he would replace Jeremy Hall on the field, not Luis Silva. Hall plays the role of recovering midfielder and that seems to be the position Laba is comfortable in as well. What Toronto FC is getting is a player akin to Torsten Frings but with one major difference; Laba has speed and running ability to match his defensive, ball-recovery skills. At only 21 years old, he is also a player Toronto FC can build around.
Considering all this, the transfer fee of $1.5 million may still be steep. However, the potential to acquire an anchor in midfield, the kind of player(s) most teams in MLS have, is hard to ignore for financial reasons alone.
There are plenty of big name central midfielders in Major League Soccer; the Montreal Impact’s most effective player of late has been Patrice Bernier, a distributive midfielder whose playing style mimics that of Gilberto Silva in both position and passing.
Real Salt Lake’s Kyle Beckerman is perhaps the biggest name in defensive midfielders in MLS, and his run-down, physical style makes him a tough player to get past. Playing alone in the defensive midfield role, Beckerman controls the flow of the game himself, to great success in Salt Lake City. His is a role like that of Xabi Alonso; it doesn’t hurt that Beckerman, like Alonso, can take a wicked free kick.
The Seattle Sounder’s Osvaldo Alonso is a perfect compromise between the two; he has passing skills and defensive prowess that makes his inclusion for the Sounders game sheet almost guaranteed. Another player who plays the solo defensive midfield role is former TFC player Sam Cronin, who’s smaller but livelier but equally effective.
FC Dallas has found plenty of success with not one, but two quality central midfielders in Michel and Andrew Jacobson. Sporting Kansas City has not one, but three multipurpose midfielders in Paolo Nagamura, Oriol Rosell and Benny Feilhaber. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Galaxy opt not to use defensive midfielders, with Marcelo Sarvas and Juninho very much the forward-thinking types.
Then you have Jack Jewsbury in Portland, Brian Carroll in Philadelphia, Ricardo Clark in Houston, and Logan Pause in Chicago, amongst others. Each is a quality midfielder and each operate in a unique way, some more defensive than others, some with more running ability, others with more passing skill. Yet, even though they play the role of midfield maestro alone, they are rarely alone on the field.
In many cases, MLS outfits prefer using a combination of one defensive-minded midfielder and one box-to-box or attacking central midfielder. Since the most popular formations in the league are the 4-4-2 and the 4-2-3-1 (or any deviation of the two), having a pair of complimentary midfielders is key to a successful midfield.
It’s something that Toronto FC’s brain trust has certainly been working to improve.
As Kevin Payne and Ryan Nelsen continue to rebuild this team, Matías Laba’s arrival at Toronto FC could very well be looked back on as the arrival of one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle. The end of April cannot come soon enough!
Matías Laba highlights package
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