Lots of news:
- Atlanta signed 22 year old Argentine attacking midfielder Yamil Asad on loan from Vélez Sarsfield. He doesn't look as high profile as their other South American attackers like Almiron and Villalba, so perhaps a depth guy? It's hard to tell with the expansion teams since they have more roster building to do.
- Meanwhile, the long-rumored acquisition of Brad Guzan is on hold. Atlanta wanted to use TAM to buy down Guzan's contract to sub-DP levels. (The previous sentence was made possible by MLS...) However, this was contingent on getting him on a free transfer. If they have to pay a fee, it will screw up how they calculate his salary cap hit and make the math impossible.
- Minnesota signed Vadim Demidov, a Latvian/Norwegian center back. He's 30 and last played at Brann in Norway, but he had a stint at Real Sociedad in La Liga a few years back.
- NYCFC has loaned center back Jefferson Mena to Barcelona for the season.....that's Barcelona SC, the Ecuadorian one.
- NYCFC brought in 23 y.o. Panamanian attacking midfielder Miguel Camargo on loan from Chorrillo. He has solid looking numbers from his 2016 season, when he was on loan in Venezuela, but it's tough to gauge how that translates since it's Venezuela. Camargo looks like depth in an interesting-looking NYCFC attack. They badly need to sign a good DM, though.
- Portland signed a trio of players from their USL affiliate to MLS contracts. Goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh, a 22 y.o. who was once on U17 and U20 NTs. He'll be the #3. Also 21 year old Jamaican center back Rennico Clarke and 20 year old Colombian winger Victor Arboleda. They also brought in last year's on-loan winger Jack Barmby on a permanent deal from Leicester.
- Toronto signed a homegrown player, midfielder Sergio Camargo. A four-year college player from Syracuse (by way of Coastal Carolina).
- KC has signed journeyman goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra, who was edged out of a backup role in DC last season by Travis Worra. Tim Melia has consolidated his grip on the starting job there, so he'll compete for the #2 job with Adrian Zendejas, a younger GK they signed from their USL team earlier in the offseason.
- KC also signed Cameron Iwasa, a forward/winger type who was near the top of the USL scoring chart for Sacramento last season. He was an unsigned draft pick in 2015 and now that he's paid his dues for two years he's getting a shot in MLS. Christian Volesky, the forward KC signed last week, has a similar profile. It's a crowded situation behind Dom Dwyer right now.
- The Chargers plan to play at the StubHub Center for the next two years. It's weird to see professional football teams moving in with MLS teams after so many years of the reverse. Toronto and now LA. I'm glad it's a short-term move because football teams don't take long to ruin the playing surface