Apparently Nottingham Forest are desperate for help at the back. How else could you explain the famed club giving slow, ole' Andy Iro a look.
After all it's not often you see a player from the worst defensive team in MLS on trial for a Championship side. The movement is usually the other way around. Unless Iro was hiding something last season for TFC, it seems unlikely that he'll stick in England. The Championship can be played at a frantic pace and Iro is about 50 steps too slow to keep up.
However, the news he's in England a week before TFC camp is set to open, combined with earlier reports that he was going to be released, seems to suggest the player has kicked his last ball in anger for TFC. Most fans will not shed many tears as Iro became a lightning rod for abuse last season.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]There is no doubt he didn't play well. About the only thing a supporter of Iro could point to is that maybe he was hiding an injury that slowed him down. If he wasn't, it would seem that his career is nearing an end.
Getting rid of Iro would free up about $70,000 in salary for TFC -- vital money for a club tight against the cap. Combined with today’s news that Mikael Yourassowsky was released – thus freeing up an additional $80,000 in cap space – gives the Reds a chance to add a desperately needed defender from the international market. Without cutting some of the fat it was unlikely they could. And if they don't it will be another long season at BMO Field.
For weeks now it’s been rumoured that the defender Toronto is bringing in is Chilean Miguel Aceval. It’s unclear whether he’s the answer, but a South American with some pedigree (played for Colo-Colo and has one cap for Chile, obtained last year) is promising. Many critics of TFC during the Mo Johnston years felt that the Reds ignored the South American market, where great value can be found – often players from the Latin American countries can be brought in at half the cost that European players of similar talent can.
You still have to find good players though and on that front Toronto has a lot to prove. Whether it’s been Johnston or Winter there have been far more international busts than booms in TFC’s short in-transfer history.