JONATHAN HAYWARD
So much for the outdated notion of a captain going down with his ship.
With choppy waters ahead for the good ship Toronto FC, courtesy of a rebuilding year under new head coach Aron Winter, club skipper Dwayne De Rosario has been traded to a contender for two young players and a first-round pick in the 2012 Major League Soccer draft.
Instead of spending his Saturdays plugging away at BMO Field with a youthful outfit trying to get to grips with the basics, let alone the finer points, of Winter's possession-based 4-3-3 system, De Rosario will now get to play out many a soccer player's fantasy in New York, sharing the stage with two of the biggest stars to ever grace MLS.
Former France captain Thierry Henry and his Mexico counterpart Rafael Marquez, the designated players for the Red Bulls, inevitably capture most of the headlines, but the club's brain trust has assembled a talented squad that is among the favourites to lift the MLS Cup at season's end.
For a player with four championships already on his résumé, De Rosario now gets a chance to add to his trophy cabinet, and New York gets the central midfielder it had been searching for.
But Toronto isn't being left empty-handed. In addition to freeing up $443,750 (U.S.) of salary-cap space, the club has liberated itself of a disgruntled employee who had spent much of the past year griping about his contract. And Winter gets more youthful talent he can mould to effectively fit into his system.
Cameroon midfielder Tony Tchani, the second overall selection from the 2010 draft, is a solid box-to-box player who should slot in alongside designated player Julian de Guzman to form a solid shield in front of the back four. The 21-year-old is also a Generation adidas player, meaning his salary doesn't count toward the salary cap. He will be joined in Toronto by defender Danleigh Borman, a 26-year-old native of South Africa who will provide valuable depth.
Winter is confident the additions will help in both the short and long term.
"We have acquired two very strong players that I believe will have an immediate and long-term impact at our club," Winter said in a statement. "I'd like to thank Dwayne for all his contributions to Toronto FC and wish him well with his new club in New York. It is unfortunate to have to trade our captain, but this deal is part of our rebuild process and helps to open cap room for our club."
The move also allows TFC to remove the elephant from the dressing room, and given Winter's uncompromising style, taking over a club whose best player and captain was clearly at odds with management was not the ideal situation, and De Rosario's departure will give the rest of the squad room to grow.
De Guzman, likely one of the favourites to succeed De Rosario as captain, seemed ready to turn the page Friday.
"It's part of the game," de Guzman said. "We're all professionals and it comes with the territory of being professional and this is something that you just have to accept and move on and just focus on what matters most and what matters most is tomorrow's game and getting three points against Chivas."