Laba on loan? Not so fast. Argentine TRADED to Vancouver for nothing

Not your finest hour Tim...
 

Remember yesterday's article when the widely reported Matias Laba loan to Vancouver was reported? Remember the part where we said something along the lines of "well at least he wasn't traded for a bunch of balls"?

Yeah. Notsomuch.

Like vulgar thieves in the night, TFC dropped a big stinking turd this late evening announcing that Matias Laba has not been loaned out for future use but rather traded.

Oh well that's crap. Surely not to a rival?
Think again. Still Vancouver.

Oh.

Well surely we got some great value in return for a DP?

Give your head a shake... "future considerations".

 

Surely we're dreaming this, late on a Wednesday night?
Nope. It's Toronto FC, baby.

So there it is sports fans. After a winter of good deals... the body shot. The dispatching of the most talented player to wear the TFC Red in the past couple of years sent packing to a team we will meet in the Canadian Cup. Where he will score in the 93rd minute to eliminate us. For squat.

Yes "future considerations" is a very grey term but when have you ever heard "hey remember those future considerations? Here's something awesome. Cheers for that!" Never O'clock.

Maybe we're greedy after a number of successful deals this winter but this one will be marked by most - for now - as a big time failure. Yes he couldn't stay under MLS rules, no one is blind to that fact but this seems like the weakest outcome possible apart from releasing him outright.

On the same day when a local Toronto City Councillor was trumpeting BMO Field as the exciting new Argos stadium in the imminent future, this deal added to a strong whiff of #WTFC.



LETTERS FROM CAMP: LuluLaba - Reds' DP off to Vancouver Whitecaps on loan

"Me and this giant ball will take care of your boy"

Of all the options available in the Matias Laba 2014 exit strategy, a loan deal within the league wasn't too bad. The fact that it looks as if he is going to a national rival puts a wee bit of a sting into its tail.

According to The Province tonight, The Reds and The Caps have agreed to a loan deal under the new MLS intraleague loan rule that will see the midfield maestro spend the year at BC Place. Whether or not he would be allowed to play against TFC (especially in Canadian Championship matches) is so far unclear. In most parts of the world, a player on loan rarely faces his parent club... but this is MLS so who the eff knows?

Having Laba come back and bite TFC's asses in 2014 would suck. Seeing The Caps, who TFC have built a nice rivalry with, succeed with Laba would suck. Losing Laba permanently would have sucked so much harder.

Under a loan agreement, Laba will presumably return to TFC in 2015 and no longer fall under the DP category. In other words, a year of seasoning under a pretty good ex-defensive mid in the form of Caps' manager Carl Robinson then back as a part of a midfield that will feature a young core of Michael Bradley, Jonathan Osorio and himself.

It would have been a touch nicer if he could have been loaned to a Chivas or San Jose, deep in the west where we rarely see them, but it is what it is. Between the choice of Laba being sold back to South America, traded within MLS for some crappy draft and allocation stupidity or spending one year sleeping with our yoga pants-wearing neighbour - we'll take it.

See you in a year Matias... pretend you're injured when Vancouver play TFC please.



The Laba results are in... It’s positive. (NOW WITH 50% MORE OFFICIAL!)

The "$1.35 Million Dollar Man"?



UPDATED: Shockingly, between Argentinos Juniors announcing the deal yesterday and today, Matias Laba's plane wasn't diverted and his transfer didn't vanish somewhere over Brazil. Instead, your Toronto Eff Cee's officially announced the Argentine starlet's signing this morning.

Laba becomes the club's first "Young DP" but as per MLS blah, blah, blah there are no finances discussed. Sadly, Young DP has little to do with Young MC but with Laba's hefty (MLS hefty) transfer fee, he will be expected to bust many a move.

Yesterday's article below...

You know how the old saying goes: "when one Argentine door closes, another Argentine midfielder opens up". Then they say something in Spanish. Then they complain about The Falkland Islands for a bit. Then we tango.
　
Hot on the heels of Toronto FC withdrawing (or vice-versa) from a potential deal to bring Argentine striker Maximiliano Urruti to town, a full transfer for Argentino Juniors' midfielder Matias "Don't make us do that nickname" Laba seems to be done. At least according to this article from the Argentine club's website. Translate into English if you like... the exciting headline becomes "It approved the sale of Laba" - which makes it sound like some mythical decision-making beast runs their club.
　
Because we play in the secret financial society that is MLS we will likely never know the true value of the transfer fee but most are pegging it in the $1.35 Million range. In a league not known for splashing the cash on transfers this may very well be one of the riskier moves in TFC history. If Laba proves to be the dynamic playmaker TFC craves in the midfield then the club may have bought a 21-year-old on the verge of greatness. If he can't adjust to life in MLS... whooo boy - the criticism will not be pretty.
　
We await Toronto FC to officially brand this deal as "FIN" but you can't fault Reds supporters for holding their breath until he's holding up that maple leafy kit. Laba is apparently en route to Toronto in the next 24 hours but who knows what malarkey can occur in the air between here and Buenos Aires? As they say in Argentina "stay tuned!". Then they say "The Falklands are the Malvinas!" so take it with a pinch of salt.