Based on the initial reaction to Toronto FC's signing of borderline Irish international Darren O'Dea, it's possible that some Reds' fans may boo his first touch. In training.
O'Dea has the misfortune of not being Olof Mellberg and of following in the tradition of Marco Velez, Nick Garcia, Andy Iro and Ty Harden. No fan is prepared to let themselves get too excited by any signing, let alone one that was clearly plan D, perhaps for both parties.
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And, there is little doubt there are questions. Like the players listed above there are questions about his foot speed and he does seem to be on a downward spiral in his career (although he turned down an offer from Leeds, so one wonders what the full story is.) You can almost hear the Cel-tic Re-ject chants booming out already.
However, there are things to like about the signing. For one, he's young. At just 25 he fits into the under reported and under appreciated youth strategy of TFC. Finally, the club is looking to establish a young core with (hopefully) an eye to keep them together for a long period of time. It took six years, but it seems TFC has finally learned that it's a bad idea to trade Sam Cronin for allocation money so you can sign 30 plus year olds in futile runs at the playoffs (out of respect for Vancouver and Montreal I won't illustrate that the Impact and Whitecaps seem not to have learned that yet and had better win now).
So, that's good. What else is? Well, we aren't talking about a guy that came from the Indonesian third division. He was a regular starter in the Championship (a league that shares many of MLS' more frantic elements (speed, hard tackling and parity from top to bottom.) He should have a better understanding of what to expect than, say, Mista did.
Due to TFC's salary cap situation it's safe to say they got him at a decent price and he still has lots to prove in his career. One of the fears with signing a DP defender is that the position requires a certain level of physical commitment that not every star player will be willing to bring. You need to do your homework and understand where the player's head is at least you end up with a player like, say, Mista (although Mista isn't a defender I'm sure most Toronto fans will be OK with us crapping on him twice in this article). O'Dea would be an idiot to mail it in. His career would be over if he did.
There is little doubt that this singing is far from a sure thing. It's also pretty clear it's hardly a surefire bust.
We won't know which way the signing is leaning until we see him on the pitch. Hopefully for TFC fans it's finally the former. History tells us to expect the latter.