Toronto FC wraps up Caldwell, makes deal for Thomas

Kevin Payne PHOTO: TORONTO FC

As the July window opens and the long weekend ends, Toronto FC’s front office was busy.

On Tuesday morning, the Reds announced they had successfully managed to secure the services of veteran defender Steven Caldwell until the end of the 2015 season, and made a deal with Sporting Kansas City to acquire depth midfielder Michael Thomas.

Caldwell’s loan deal with the Reds expired at the beginning of July. But he’s made the deal to remain in Toronto, to try and help rebuild a backline that still remains one of the more suspect groups in MLS.

“Steven has done a great job in anchoring our defense since arriving on loan, and he’s been a terrific influence in the locker room,” said Toronto FC President and General Manager Kevin Payne in a release issued by the club. “We’re very pleased that he’ll be with us for this and the next two seasons.”

Caldwell, who has 12 Scottish national-team caps and was on loan from Birmingham City, will turn 33 in September. But TFC obviously loves that he brings experience from years of English Championship and Premiership play to the side, which will help shepherd young prospects like Doneil Henry and Gale Agbossoumonde.

The Reds also pleased all hyphenated Arsenal-TFC fans with the signing of Thomas. Of course, the former SKC man’s namesake scored one of the most famous goals in the history of the English game, winning the title for Arsenal at Anfield with a 1989 final-game stoppage-time goal (“It’s up for grabs nowwwwwwww, THOMAS!” is one of the most famous calls in the game).

But this Michael Thomas was drafted in 2010 out of Notre Dame by San Jose. But, like so many North American prospects, he went to Scandinavia to further his career (and earn more money than an MLS entry contract would pay). He had stints at Halmstads and Ljungskile, but returned to MLS in 2012. Thomas has played in just nine U.S. Open Cup or MLS matches for SKC.. All seven of Thomas’s MLS appearances came in the 2012 season.

SKC gets TFC’s second-round pick in the 2015 SuperDraft. On Canada Day, TFC acquired Chivas’s first-round pick in 2015 as part of a deal for the Reds’ top allocation spot, which the Goats needed to secure the services of U.S. national-team defender Carlos Bocanegra.