Home MLS Toronto FC Urruti traded away from TFC less than a week after Payne leaves the team

Urruti traded away from TFC less than a week after Payne leaves the team

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Boy, you get the feeling that the drawn out pursuit of Argentine forward Maximiliano Urruti was a Kevin Payne pet project, don’t you?

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment President Tim Leiweke has said that he likes to let the “smart guys in the media” try to speculate on the motivations for the decisions made at TFC. But the decision to trade Urruti to the Portland Timbers less than a week after Kevin Payne was relieve of his duties as TFC’s president and general manager certainly hints that the Argentine was far more a Payne guy than he was a Ryan Nelsen or Leiweke guy.

On Monday, TFC announced that it had traded Urruti to Portland in exchange for the the Timbers’ first-round pick in the 2015 draft and Nigerian forward Bright Dike, whose career has been slowed by knee problems. Dike has scored six times in 23 MLS games as a member of the Timbers. TFC also gets allocation money which will likely help mitigate the transfer costs of bringing Urruti to MLS. TFC also gets an international roster spot for the rest of its meaningless 2013 season.

But, when you think of the months and months Payne and TFC spent chasing Urruti, the back-and-forth between Newell’s Old Boys and TFC over Urruti’s status, the reports and false reports about Urruti being in Toronto, it just seems so darn sudden that, with just two sub appearances under his belt, he’s gone.

“We received an offer from Portland that we could simply not pass on.” Those are Nelsen’s words.

Maximiliano Urruti

Really? Let’s look at the return. A first-round pick may or may not pan out. Certainly, no player coming out of the NCAA would have had the cachet of a striker coming out of Argentina’s top flight. And Dike isn’t what we’d call Mr. Reliable when it comes to his health.

The only way that this is an offer TFC couldn’t refuse is because a) when Urruti showed up, they discovered he wasn’t the player they’d hoped to get; or b) He wasn’t a player that Nelsen or Leiweke really wanted that much in the first place.

Usually, when a GM is swept away, so are some of his pet picks. And you can’t ignore the timing of this deal. Less than a week after Payne goes, Urruti is gone. Payne pursued Urruti as if he wore a golden fleece. Now, Urruti is the emperor with no clothes.

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2 Comments

  1. possumville

    September 10, 2013 at 9:46 pm

    It’s all part of their plan to be Allocation Money Champion..

  2. footy

    September 10, 2013 at 5:17 am

    My guess is, Urruti is the cause for Payne’s departure. It still remains unbelievable though, the way things are being run down there in Toronto. Never a dull moment…

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