Oooo, it’s getting juicy! The Washington Post’s Steven Goff in his article says:
Meantime, United has expressed interest in Boca Juniors star forward Martin Palermo and is moving closer to signing a right-side midfielder from Brazil, two sources said.
Let me be the first one on this bandwagon (and by now possibly the only one since the article is dated from Saturday) to say BRING IN PALERMO. He is exactly what this team needs. He is a clinical finisher, and a presence in the box on set pieces. He isn’t the most skilfull, but man does he have a nose for goal. Line him up next to Jaime Moreno and letting him take some pressure off will make Jaime a better player. Palermo can hold the ball up and be the target that Jaime has been the last two years.
This move if it goes thru not only brings a goal-scorer to DC, but probably also extends Jaime’s MLS career. Also, a good move for the upcoming international competition this spring. A triangle of Palermo, Moreno and Gomito will bring back fond memories of the original “Magic Triangle” (Etcheverry, Diaz Arce, and Moreno).
The right-sided midfielder is still a big ??? but the rumor mill has him coming from Atletico Miniero (or nearby) since Kasper and Nowak recently were there on a scouting mission.
Now regarding the Prideaux trade, I think its a good move all around. He wanted to go somewhere closer to home, where he can play more (fair enough), and DC got another large ($75k/yr) salary off the books plus a pair of draft picks.
After the Freddy + Rimando trade and now with Prideaux thats somewhere between $500-600k a year that has been cleared up. DC is poised to move bigtime folks…
EDIT————-
Just finished reading up on the rumor mongering over at BigSoccer (beware its at 9 pages and growing), and found the following juicy nugget from El Mono Mario:
Just in Miguel Angel Russo, excellent coach of Velez Sarsfield has been named Boca’s new coach. Why does this have DC implications? He CUT Palermo when he coached Estudiantes de la Plata.
With the Argentine economy still in shambles, and new coaches always wanting to get rid of ties to past leadership it seems almost assured that Palermo will be moving on. The only question is can DC United afford him?
“Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is a goal-scoring striker from Argentina who likes to frost his hair, and a Brazilian right-winger with great speed and crossing ability”