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Given that team captain Steven Caldwell will be suspended for Toronto FC’s next match against D.C. United, one of the interesting storylines heading into that match will surround whether or not defender Richard Eckersley will return to the starting eleven to give a young back line something of a veteran presence.
The 24 year old Manchester United product has missed TFC’s last two matches, with his absence in the team’s most recent 2-1 loss to Sporting Kansas City coming down to a coach’s decision rather than an injury.
With Darren O’Dea and Terry Dunfield already jettisoned by the club due to the perception that they were overpaid for the roles they played on the team, Head Coach Ryan Nelsen basically admitted on Tuesday that Eckersley takes up too much of TFC’s salary cap when you take into his account his role on the team.
“If you are having players on big salaries and max salaries in this league and above max salaries, you’ve got to be smart and in proportion with certain contracts,” Nelsen said following training on Tuesday. “This is not anything to do with Richard because he is a fantastic player and a really good player in this league. If you had Dani Alves, Glenn Johnson or Ashley Cole and you could put them on $500,000 to $700,000 contracts here, you wouldn’t do it. It makes absolutely no sense to put a left or right back on that amount of money because it destroys your salary cap.”
Nelsen has often pointed to the cleaning up of TFC’s salary cap as the main positive thing that the club has accomplished during his first season with the club and the recent hiring of new general manager Tim Bezbatchenko certainly suggests that prudent and well thought expenditures on players are now going to be the new normal for Toronto FC.
In many ways, Eckersley’s position with Toronto FC is remarkably similar to that of former team captain Darren O’Dea, who was allowed to leave the team in the summer transfer window in a move that was basically a salary dump by the club.
Both Eckersley and O’Dea have been quality performers for the club in recent times, but the reality is that the new regime simply did not and does not value the players commensurate with what O’Dea was being paid and what Eckersley is currently paid. Thus, with O’Dea already out the door, it will be interesting to see what might occur with Eckersley over the offseason.
According to Nelsen, he has no problem with the performances that Eckersley has been delivering as a right back on the pitch. However, the club does have a problem in that it has a right back that is being paid the equivalent of a DP level goal scorer.
“It is not the player’s fault that they are on these types of contracts,” Nelsen explained. “But you have to balance you salary cap in proportion to where you want to have the most money on the field and where it can have the most amount of impact. And that is where I kind of feel really bad for Richard. He is kind of in that situation where his agent did a really good job for him. Probably too good of a job.”
“We’re just trying to get a nice rebalance (on our salary cap and roster) and next year that is what we have to do,” Nelsen added. “We have to have some sort of fiscal responsibility when you are looking at contracts and types of contracts for different positions on the field.”
Regardless of whether or not Eckersley plays or not on Saturday against D.C. United, the writing appears to be on the wall with respect to the player’s long-term future with TFC.
Nelsen has also been full of praise for the player who has played in Eckersley’s place over the past two games, with the much more cap friendly Mark Bloom looking very much like a player who fits the new regime’s vision of an MLS fullback.
“I thought Mark had a really good game again (against Kansas City),” Nelsen said. “It was really difficult conditions for defenders and I thought he played really well again. We are just easing him along. It is good to have a guy like Bloom around. He is always composed on the ball and he defends one on one very well.”
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