TORONTO — A defender from outside Major League Soccer is likely the first player in Toronto FC's door during the secondary transfer window.
How many more follow will depend on how much room GM Jason Hernandez can clear in both personnel and salary. But coach John Herdman is expecting activity.
"We're excited," Herdman said after training Friday. "There's a couple of things the front office has been working on for a long time. And we're pretty confident that it's going to be a good start to the window for us."
Help is needed with Toronto (7-13-3) having lost six straight and enduring a nine-game winless run (0-7-2) in MLS play.
While the transfer window opened Friday in Canada, it won't begin south of the border until July 18 in an unusual twist
That's due primarily to the inability of Major League Soccer and the Canadian Premier League to settle on a date, with the CPL wanting it to open earlier (July 5) than MLS (July 18). Canada Soccer struck a compromise at July 12 with the U.S. going with July 18.
That means the window will close earlier (Aug. 8) in Canada than the U.S. (Aug. 14).
"They have the benefit," Hernandez said of his U.S. rivals.
That's because TFC will not be able to compete with offers late in the U.S. window.
Clubs can hold off on moving players until the final minutes of a window to see if they can get a better deal. Or they can lower the asking price for a distressed asset they want to shed.
Toronto acquired Derrick Etienne Jr. on the final day of the primary transfer window in April, sending Atlanta up to US$375,00 in general allocation money to get a winger who has proved to be a valuable addition.
The hope is there will be more alignment in the future. But the current imbalance isn't stopping Hernandez.
"At the moment we feel pretty confident we're at the finish line with a defender that we hope to formalize, finalize and announce early next week. Fingers crossed," said the GM. "We look forward to that because we do feel the player we're looking to secure will give us a big boost."
With big-spending Toronto currently having next to no salary cap room, there will have to be movement out the door. And Hernandez believes there will be more takers this season than last when the TFC finished last in the league at 4-20-10.
"Even though we have our challenges in this moment in time and we're in a tough stretch, there is a nice sample size of certain folks and individuals in our group who have done well by themselves and shown at different moments what they can do," he said.
Hernandez says all options are open in terms of clearing the deck for new players — from sales and trades to waiving players and contract termination by mutual agreement.
Everyone is at play — "relatively," he said.
"We are not in a position to be closed off to any conversation about anyone," he added. "There's certainly folks that have done well by themselves and would make it a longshot to be a conversation that we would want to move on from."
Jonathan Osorio, the club captain, would be one such player unlikely to figure in such conversations, he added
The GM says he has spoken to some TFC players and their agents about their future with the club, saying he always valued such transparency during his playing days.
"Those are conversations that have happened and they will continue to happen," he said.
After collecting 10 of a possible 15 points in the first five games of the campaign (3-1-1), Toronto has picked up just 14 of a possible 54 in the next 18 games (4-12-2). Injuries, absences due to international duty and a lack of depth have taken their toll.
"The positive was certainly a little more than I probably had anticipated come Matchday 1," said Hernandez, a former TFC player. "And the suffering is a little more than I had anticipated."
But like Herdman, Hernandez sees a brighter future.
"If we are playing at our best and we have players fit, we can give good teams a tough night," he said. "But the reality is we're still a thin group. So if we have to go several players into our bench, we just look drastically different and our quality is drastically different.
"We haven't been able to … rectify the quantity and quality gap just yet."
With TFC and Argos president Bill Manning exiting the club Thursday, Hernandez is now reporting to MLSE president and CEO Keith Pelley.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2024
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
