Photo: Earl Gardner
The Philadelphia Union confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that Sebastien Le Toux has been traded to Vancouver Whitecaps.
In return, the club receives an undisclosed amount of allocation money.
Union head coach Peter Nowak said in the announcement, “While this decision wasn’t easy, we are confident that the allocation money we receive will provide the flexibility for us to compile the best possible roster for 2012 and beyond.”
Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz added, “We feel that in the best interest of our club these decisions need to be made for our short and long-term benefit. Although we achieved great success making it to the semifinals of the playoffs last year we are not in any way content with that. We operate in a highly competitive and demanding marketplace and believe the moves we have made and continue to make improve our roster and give us a better chance to advance past the semifinals.”
Le Toux is in the last year of a four-year contract with MLS. Nowak said on the ExtraTime Radio podcast on Monday, “Players are contracts are up, players contracts are expired, with the new CBA right now it’s, we gotta make sure we’re not gonna be with zero money on the side and have 14-15 guys who can contribute. We gotta be smart with the decisions and keep the club intact and when the necessary changes need to be made, we gotta make it just to make sure we’re gonna progress as a group and that’s the most important thing of any thing is to grow as a club, as a franchise and give the youngsters an opportunity to grow.”
A report in the Daily News links the release of Faryd Mondragon and the Le Toux trade to the Union’s efforts to permanently secure the rights to Roger Torres from America de Cali.
In a statement on the Whitecaps website, head coach Martin Rennie said of Le Toux, “Sebastien is a proven goalscorer and playmaker in Major League Soccer. He is a durable, fit, and speedy attacker, who is capable of playing either up front or wide in midfield. We’re delighted to bring Sebastien back to the Pacific Northwest and add another quality player to our squad.”
Le Toux said in the statement, “I am very familiar with Vancouver from my time with the Sounders and it is a great city and with a terrific soccer history. I look forward to meeting my new teammates, staff, and fans, and helping Whitecaps FC win.”
The Union play Vancouver at PPL Park on March 31.
3/31/12 Union vs Vancouver at PPL
The march Toux revenge.
I will Doop if he scores against us…and I will Toooouuuux when his name is announced. That being said…I am a Union fan foremost and will support the TEAM above all else.
+1
Yep.
I don’t care how much we got.. We let go of the hardest working man in the mls, the face of our franchise, and a fan favorite.
This had better work out for us.
That’s my new least favorite picture, ever. Who’d a thunk those two players wouldn’t see the field for the Union in 2012 and onward …
When they sold Harvey they used the money to get Adu. Since LeToux is better, can we hope this money is used on a player who might actually see the pitch at some point?
Who’s looking good in the 2013 SuperDraft?
Maybe we can use the Le Toux money so we can get Thorne Holder and Juan Diego Garcia. That would make this more awesome.
Most of the Vancouver reaction I have read is complaining about the logjam this creates at their forward position. I like this trade because that’s exactly what it removes for us.
I look forward to seeing our exceptionally young and talented players get their minutes now (with all the growing pains they encounter!).
I don’t mean to be blunt – but I feel like I need to be a little pointed since I know my opinion is probably 1 out of 100 among Union fans – but Le Toux, skill wise, was very limited. I am sure plenty of league average strikers would get net his goals if they were allowed to play 90 minutes no matter what. I’m also sure they would net his assists if the offense often resorted to “Punt the ball really hard, have Le Toux chase it down, then follow behind the play.”
Martinez, Mwanga and JackMac all bring different soccer skills to the table and I look forward to the possibility of a more attractive, possession oriented game as a result.
How does that explain all of his assists?
On the occasions where the punting worked, he would collect the ball hold it for a bit and pass it to players following up the play.
Look, I’m not trying to say his stats are fake or that he wasn’t great for us. There will be a drop off at first and there are questions now.
I just think, in the long run, our forward position is more solidified by having this young talent who don’t fall into the Bradley Ball forward archetype. I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of the season was are playing some attractive soccer thanks to our 2 forwards being able to contribute to more parts of the game.
You wouldn’t be suprised? Will you be suprised when the offense is even more anemic than it was last year? Because that’s what we’re going to have.
That’s what we’re going to have if we continue to play long ball without Le Toux/a forward who makes it work, sure. But I am going to be optimistic and assume Nowak is aiming to evolve the offense one more step and take advantage of all the skill on the ball we now have.
http://www.philadelphiaunion.com/news/2012/01/union-complete-transfer-midfielder-torres
Good, good news.
So the other shoe drops…let’s hope that’s not the only one.
Still surprised people are throwing themselves off bridges over Le Toux. Stats wise he seemed important to our offense but watching every game told a different story. He could disappear for games at a time, and our overall offensive strategy most of the time was ugly Bradley Ball that bypassed our midfield and other striker just to get to ball to Le Toux.
Taking a quick glance at the MLS stats page, Le Toux had 11 goals in 3060 minutes (every game all season). That’s 1 goal every 278 minutes or 3 games. Also, keep in mind 4 of his goals were PKs.
That doesn’t strike me as “end of the world” impressive considering we needed to tailor our offense every game to get him the ball, and if it wasn’t working our whole offense suffered.
Montero has the same amount of goals in 700 less minutes, and no PKs.
I hate to break the guy down, I am just disappointed in this “the Union are now the worst team in the league” attitude when I think there are plenty of objective things to look at regarding Le Toux and his contributions to this team.
He also had the most assists on our team two years in a row. And he played winger for half the season because Piotr can’t settle on a lineup when it was so clear that Le Toux was better up top with anyone other than Ruiz. The way the team treated Le Toux disappoints me so much as a fan and has legitimately hampered my excitement for the season. Read this article and tell me how you can disagree that to treat the franchise like this is disgraceful: http://www.timesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20120131%2FSPORTS03%2F120139878&fb_ref=.Tyit8d6szdA.like&fb_source=home_oneline
Breaking News: Union secure US Visa for Keon Daniels, immediately trade him to DC United for Allocation Money and a 4th Round pick in the 2015 Supplemental Draft
I get the move money wise but, don’t like it for other reasons Le Toux showed heart every game and that what the fans love to see he didn’t quit even when the Union were down he kept making his runs and would run back to help out on “D”. We have Danny C. which to me should have held the Capt’s band. the Capt. should be choosen by the players not the Manager. Look at the great teams around the world They have the player that is the Capt.. They have the player that is the Heart of the Team and the players make up the soul or spirt of the club. Danny C. could be the Capt. Williams, the twins, Zack the soul but who has the heart of Le Toux to the fan tell me that to the player show me which one of you will become the Heart that drives the soul of OUR “UNION”