After the Portland Timbers captured the MLS Cup the focus of the league and its 20 teams turned to the off-season.
Free agency started for the first time, the trade window opened and the re-entry draft will see players change teams. Here’s a rundown of the happenings from the first official week of the off-season.
More Accolades For Seba
Sebastian Giovinco may not have won MLS goal of the year, but Eurosport viewers deemed his stunning strike versus the New York Red Bulls worthy of the honour.
Giovinco’s sensational effort for Toronto FC against New York Red Bulls on 14 October 2015 claimed a whopping 40% of the vote to secure the accolade ahead of four other contenders from Obafemi Martins (Seattle Sounders FC), Krisztián Németh (Sporting Kansas City), Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution) and Didier Drogba (Montreal Impact).
Yahoo Sport UK’s Kristan Heneage placed Giovinco in his best XI, deeming Seba’s 2015 campaign a prime example of what a quality designated player can do for a team.
Bleacher Report’s Joe Tansey named Giovinco the top MLS player in 2015, which is hardly surprising considering Seba’s trophy haul the past few weeks.
“It is nearly impossible to put Sebastian Giovinco's season into words. That's how magnificent the Italian's play was for Toronto FC. The Atomic Ant delivered a large number of world-class goals for the Reds, and he helped the club earn its first-ever postseason berth. The MLS MVP produced 22 goals and 16 assists in 33 games for Greg Vanney's side. The 28-year-old Italian had two hat-tricks, three two-goal showings and attempted the most shots of any player in MLS with 181, 73 of them on target. Giovinco's season is arguably the best ever in MLS, and he is only expected to get better as Toronto looks to improve its MLS Cup credentials in 2016.”
TAM TAM TAM
The league made waves this week, announcing owners would spend an additional $37 million on player salaries over the next two years. MLSSoccer.com’s Simon Borg broke down what this cash injection will mean.
While the Designated Player initiative provided the league a steady stream of high-profile stars and impact players — clubs can dig into their own pockets to sign up to three players whose salaries can exceed the maximum player budget charge of $457,500 — teams will now be able to invest in other core players using $800,000 of Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) in 2016 and 2017 to buy down player salaries to fit the team salary budget ($3.6 million), as well as an additional $125,000 each year to be used on Homegrown Player signings.
Q Heads To Germany
Quillan Roberts is following in the footsteps of teammates Justin Morrow and Collen Warner. Last year the veteran American duo trained with Werder Bremen. This year, Roberts will train for a week with the Werder Bremen U23 team. The club’s connection with former Reds captain Torsten Frings played a huge role in the decision. “Knowing that we have someone there in Torsten to look in on Q and make sure his training stint is as comfortable as possible allows [Roberts] to purely focus on the training and getting better,” said goalkeeper coach Jon Conway.
Free Agent Frenzy?
It hasn't exactly been a frenzy just yet, but there are a number of talented veteran players available on the open market.
Holiday Pack
Have a Toronto FC fan on your list for the Holidays? We have you covered. Head over to the team store for the latest swag or pick up the three game holiday pack, which includes tickets to the home opener and games versus the Montreal Impact and New York City FC. Pick up the pack and you also get a free TFC toque.
