July 24, 2007

Desperation sets in (aka Chicago to sign Wanchope)

This might have been a good signing about 5 or 6 years ago, but not now. Costa Rican legend Paolo Wanchope is "99.9%" sure to happen, according to MLS Underground.

Wanchope's knees are pretty much destroyed at this point. Signing him at this point means that you understand that the guy is too banged up most of the time to even practice. You just have to hope that he can summon up the performances on the field to match the money you have to pay for his name. Obviously he won't be a DP in Chicago, but he would more than likely command a nice check for himself.

He's most recently been with FC Tokyo in the J-League, scoring 3 goals in 11 games. He featured for Rosario Central during the Argentine Apertura in the fall of '06. He scored 5 goals in 14 games there. He's one of the best finishers in CONCACAF history, but how much does he really have left?

If he can stay healthy, the Wanchope/Cuau combo could shake things up in the second half of the season. The Magic 8 Ball says "Not likely" though.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chicago's current healthy starting forward tandem of Barrett and Carr have 5 goals in a combined 30 games this season (0 against the USL). This move is a veteran band-aid for an attempted playoff push. Sign him through the end of the season, not much risk involved if he never makes it on the field put him on the IR. Even on one leg he should get some opportunities with some great service from Blanco. Pretty sure Blanco was thoroughly unimpressed with the finishing he saw from his club on Sunday and he probably let it be known to someone.

Longshoe said...

It's definitely a band-aid, but I worry that it's an already used band-aid that doesn't stick.

I had hopes for Barrett, but he hasn't progressed as quickly as I would've liked. Carr has great speed and quickness, but that's about it. Oh yeah, he has pretty hair too...

I think Osorio might've had this one in mind before Sunday, I'm pretty sure he's worked with Wanchope before.