Zavarise signs, Winter wins battle of wills with Cann

Gianluca Zavarise in 2010. PHOTO: CANADA SOCCER

Toronto FC has officially announced the signing of Canadian’s national-team midfielder Gianluca Zavarise. TFC head coach and technical director Aron Winter said he believes that Zavarise, who was most recently with Greek side Iraklis FC, can fit well into the 4-3-3 set-up he champions.

“Gianluca has done well during his time with the team in preseason,” said Winter in a release issued by TFC on Friday. “He is a young player with skill and has a bright future. We feel he will fit well into the system that we want to play.”

Zavarise made his debut for the Canadian senior team last May 29, in a 1-1 draw with Venezuela.

As Zavarise signed the contract, reigning team MVP Adrian Cann made his way to Charleston, S.C. to rejoin the club ahead of its Carolina Challenge Cup finale Saturday against D.C. United.  Cann ended his holdout without a new deal in place.

Winter has pledged that he won’t comment about the Cann situation until after the D.C. United match. But Winter’s actions speak louder than his words. When Cann, unhappy with TFC’s offer of an improved contract, left camp — Winter didn’t say much other than that his central defender should honour his contract. But he did invite a new defender, Dicoy Williams, to camp.

Basically, through the very late addition of Williams, Winter let the Cann faction know that he was done with negotiating, and was beginning the process of replacing the defender.

Now, Williams was less than spectacular in the first game of his TFC audition. And Winter refused to speak about what he thought about the Jamaican.

From every indication, the John Carver-Chris Cummins-Preki trend of coaches who get themselves in real hot water with what they say publicly has come to an end with Winter. That’s bad for us in the media, but likely good for the club. But Cann got the message. Silence can sometimes speak volumes.