The DeRo Saga: New Moon

Toronto FC continued their preseason proceedings today with their annual media day, a chance for the local newsies to familiarize themselves with the players and the new coaching staff.

As is usual with these types of things, clichés and non-answers ruled the day, with tried and true platitudes like "give 110%" and "we're looking for the right people" being thrown about willy-nilly.

Then Dwayne De Rosario stepped up to the mic.

[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

TFC is nothing if not very self-aware, and the PR side of the club has a knack for the dramatic. Thus, De Rosario was scheduled to be the last to address the assembled scribes, creating a mini-crescendo of anticipation as so many obvious questions needed answers.

To DeRo's credit, he began by side-stepping many of the surprisingly direct questions thrown at him, clearly looking to continue the established protocol of the day and be as non-controversial (and really, non-interesting) as those who preceded him.

It was working for a while, until an unidentified reporter (rumoured to be Paul Attfield from The Globe & Mail) pushed the Celtic loan saga again, eliciting a rather snide response from the TFC captain.

"If (the) New York Times asked you to write for their paper," he snapped at the reporter, "would you go?"

De Rosario continued on with the presser as if everything was normal, but it was obvious that he had grown tired of people questioning his off-season exploits; his body language and tone for the remainder of the gathering saying much more than his words were.

Not that it mattered much, as he didn't wait long to reveal what was really on his mind.

In the scrum following the scheduled conference, De Rosario hinted at sitting out if he couldn't negotiate a new contract with the club, stating that there was "too much risk" in playing out his option years.

To De Rosario, it's an issue of both more money, and increased security should he become injured.

“It’s not what I want, it’s what I think I deserve,” he told reporters, referring to a designated player contract.

Ok, then.

Just when you thought it was safe to wade back into the waters of pre-season excitement, the DeRo Saga rears its ugly head at literally the first possible opportunity.

Last month, I wrote a piece on why it was time for De Rosario and TFC to part ways. Since then, his Celtic trial - and it was a trial, despite what you may hear otherwise - has come and gone without much being said by either the player or club (other than DeRo making sure everyone knew that it was Toronto FC that had denied a loan to the Scottish giant).

We'd heard reports that new Toronto second-in-command Paul Mariner was mending fences with the estranged star, which - when coupled with all the exciting developments coming down the pipeline with the new regime - brought about a renewed sense of optimism that perhaps I was being too hasty in suggesting that the relationship between DeRo and TFC was beyond repair.

And while I may still be proven to have been too hasty in that regard, it's become crystal clear that all is still not well in TFC Land when it comes to their captain.

Tomorrow, the entire team gets on an airplane destined for the heavenly environs of Antalya, Turkey, where they will train in exclusivity for two weeks. Seems like a perfect environment for the new bosses and their extremely talented, yet increasingly disgruntled, captain to hash things out, doesn't it?

If they return to North America with this issue still hanging over their heads, it could be a very long season for TFC and its supporters.

Again.

Full Dwayne De Rosario press conference:

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The DeRo Saga: New Moon

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