Today Toronto GM Kevin Payne told journalists that the Reds were close to making three discovery signings. Two of the three required a bit more work, but one was very close to signing. With Toronto obtaining a bunch of allocation money at the SuperDraft and with the Ryan Johnson/Milos Kocic trade, making effective signings is vital for TFC this year. Otherwise, they gave up the No 1 pick in the draft and two established players for nothing.
However, TFC fans will be forgiven for taking a wait and see approach to promises of imminent transfers. After all, they’ve been burned by false promises by TFC’s front office before.
However, there is a new man in charge. With Payne calling the shots should Reds’ fans be more optimistic about his ability to deliver impact players?
Let’s look at his recent history of discovery signings with DC United.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
2008
Gonzalo Martínez – 22 appearances, 1 year with club
Marcelo Gallardo – 15 appearances, 1 year with club
José Carvallo – 1 appearance, 1 year with club
Gonzalo Peralta – 18 appearances, 1 year with club
Louis Crayton – 18 appearances, parts of 2 seasons with club
2009
Ange N'Silu – 9 appearances, 1 season with club
Dejan Jaković – 80 appearances, still with club
Danny Szetela – 4 appearances, 1 season with club
David Habarugira – 28 appearances, 1 season with club
2010
Troy Perkins – 22 appearances, 1 season with club
Danny Allsopp – 23 appearances, 1 season with club
Juan Manuel Peña – 10 appearances, 1 season with club
Luciano Emílio – 4 appearances, 1 season with club*
Branko Bošković – 43 appearances, 3 seasons with club
Pablo Hernández – 10 appearances, 1 season with club
Junior Carreiro – 3 appearances, 1 season with club
2011
Rodrigo Brasesco – 3 appearances, 1 season with club
Charlie Davies – 26 appearances, 1 season with club
2012
Emiliano Dudar – 11 appearances, still with club
Hamdi Salihi – 22 appearances, still with club
Marcelo Saragosa – 16 appearances, still with club
Raphael Augusto – 0 appearances, still with club
*It was his second period at the club. His first was far more successful.
Since 2008, Payne has made 22 discovery signings. While acknowledging that Salihi looks like a solid pick up, it’s probably too early to fully evaluate the 2012 signings.
So, limiting it to players signed between 2008 (earliest date that transfer data is readily available) to 2011, there are 18 players signed from outside North America.
Of those only two -- Branko Bošković and Canadian Dejan Jaković – made more than 30 appearances with DCU.
In total, 15 of 18 were gone after a single season.
Discovery signings aren’t science. Even the best managers struggle to hit more than half the time. With that in mind is Payne’s record good enough to give Toronto fans hope?
You tell me in the comments section.