‘Ride’ with Reds may be running out of road
It was a bittersweet return to the BMO Training Ground for Jozy Altidore this week.
The good news is that the 29-year-old American striker is raring to get back on the field, little more than 11 weeks after he was shut down by season-ending surgery to remove a bone fragment from his right ankle.
The bad news is that he has just one year left on his contract with Toronto FC, and no extension in sight.
“I’ve never had this situation,” Altidore said Tuesday. “It’s bittersweet in a way because you don’t know what the future holds, but it doesn’t change anything for me — my relationship with the fans.
“It doesn’t make me want to play any less, with any less emotion. I still can’t wait to play at BMO and to score goals and jump into the south end and enjoy it with them, because this has been a fantastic ride, so I’m looking forward to it continuing.”
Altidore and fellow designated players Sebastian Giovinco and Michael Brad- ley, both 31, are all signed through 2019. They earned a combined $18.6 million (U.S.) last year, when TFC missed the MLS playoffs.
They also stand out in a league where teams are getting away from rosters dominated by highly paid designated
players, and questions about their future promise to dominate the discussion for as long as the issue remains unsettled.
Toronto FC could be entering a rebuild in the near future, and if there is one takeaway from the club’s willingness to part ways with 31-year-old midfielder Victor Vazquez — whose move to a club in Qatar was announced Tuesday — it is that the Reds might not be in the business of locking up players approaching, or over, age 30.
For Altidore and Giovinco, who both hope to play for another handful of years, there is nowhere they would rather be than TFC come this time next year.
Bradley wasn’t at the training ground on Tuesday, still on international duty with the United States national team.
“I’ve made my intentions clear,” Altidore said. “I hope the fans know, and all the people know, this is where I want to be, so all I can do is keep reiterating that and hopefully the rest takes care of itself.”
Giovinco said he had heard rumours about “serious talks” that would land him in a new home, but the club said there had been no offers for the Italian striker.
“I hear something already this season about somebody wanting to offer me to another team,” he said. “I’ll try to honour my contract, then we’ll see. Honestly, I’ll try to enjoy this year. It can be my last or not.”
Both players added that they don’t expect the contract-year distractions to affect the team’s performance on the field.
Coach Greg Vanney said it’s normal for players to look at alternatives in the final year of a contract, but added that he hopes the players’ agents handle the business side and let Bradley, Altidore and Giovinco focus on what they do best.
“I think these guys are professional in that way, and I don’t think it will be a distraction in terms of their playing,” Vanney said. “Hopefully we can come to a resolution and keep these guys here and continue to move forward.
“That would be the simple solution, and we could just keep going, but all of that is a work in progress and obviously there’s multiple parties involved in that kind of decision.”