Sargent arrives, the Fire break ground & more

Note: This is the usual Thursday round-up. I really intend for this to only be 200-300 words, then a bunch of links to stuff I've read and appearances I've made, but as usual I went too long. Gonna have to work on that.

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You probably saw the announcement already, but just in case you missed it: Toronto FC signed – bought, to be clear, for a lot of freaking money – Josh Sargent, and unveiled him this week.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, Sargent is in his prime at 26-year-old, and has been very productive (but not game-breakingly so) in a good league for the past four years. He's also got the physical tools that make me think he'll be able to handle MLS. Plus, being from the US (even if the entirety of his professional career to this point has been in Europe), the travel aspect of playing here should be less daunting. Same with the week-to-week climate adjustments.

My guess is he will be very good, and will acclimate quickly. These are last year's numbers, from FotMob:

This year's numbers are less impressive, but I'm not overly bothered by that. Norwich have been a mess all year, and Sargent himself had one foot out the door.

If things hit perfectly, could he be Petar Musa? I think so. It's a narrow path to get there, but I do see a way. There is a narrow way through.

Even so, it's a lot of money: $22 million, which could climb to $27 million if incentives are hit. And that's where the mixed feelings come in:

1. Emmanuel Latte Lath is roughly the same age, has similarly impressive physical tools and had better numbers in the same league. And he's been a spectacular flop in MLS.
   
   “Josh Sargent, you’re going to love,” Keith Pelley, president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, told gathered press at the unveiling. “He’s a special guy. He’s a special player, special skills, but what he really is, is a man that is going to fit the culture. He’s going to make us better overnight."
   
   Man, I hope he's right. I'm just not sure he's right, and if I spent that much money, I'd want certainty.
2. The game as a whole has entered territory over the past half-decade where goals come less often from special moments of genius and more often from ruthless execution of repeatable patterns. And that means guys who've trudged up the ranks from USL or Next Pro, like Brian White or Tani Oluwaseyi or Danny Musovski or Preston Judd or young Julian Hall, can often be as effective as the eight-figure would-be superstar 9* brought in to, oh, I don't know, let's say "make a team better overnight."
   
   (*) I noodled around with this idea on BlueSky, and intend to write much more on it at a later date.
   
   And I have not yet seen those patterns from Toronto. They have struggled badly progressing into the final third, and once they're there... 26th in xG through two games. Too early to panic, but not too early to put your finger on some things that aren't working, or – maybe more accurately – aren't happening.

Like I said above, I think Sargent will be good, and I hope this proves to be money well-spent. Gonna be an interesting five years of finding out.

Good Reads:

• Championship playoffs will expand to six teams after approval from EFL clubs lmao they want to be us so bad.
• NYCFC CSO Todd Dunivant is saying that the club's going to use their new stadium as a recruiting tool, which... are the Pigeons gonna start being more like LAFC in their roster build?
• Through a year and change Anders Dreyer has been one of the best signings in league history
• The Revs were more organized – but still not very dangerous – in their week 2 loss at RBNY
• Atlanta got a much-needed midfield reinforcement
• Arsène Wenger's proposed change to the offside law is an abomination (hard agree)
• And finally, the Fire broke ground on on their new, privately funded stadium at The 78 (which I'm led to believe is just about the best possible location for a new stadium in Chicago).

I will never, ever take the opening of a new stadium in this league of ours for granted. Can't wait for Chicago, can't wait for NYCFC, can't wait for the Revs, keeping all fingers and toes crossed for the 'Caps.

I made my weekly appearance on Inside American Soccer, where Tab and I listed our most underrated USMNT players of the past 40 years.

In the number one spot for me? Tony Sanneh. The Big Cat started as a forward, then gradually moved back – right midfield, right back, d-mid in the Bundesliga. He was extremely high-level at each of those last three spots.

If he came around today, though? He'd be a $50 million center back that all the biggest teams in the world were fighting for. Unreal combination of size, fluid athleticism, soccer skill and IQ.

And, of course, there was the Monday morning Soccerwise with Wiebe & Gass, wrapping up the MLS weekend:

Plus a Tuesday AMA over on /r/MLS!

And finally, a month ago I wrote about how, for so many journalists, your job disappears and then it's nothing but the abyss staring back. This is what that looks like:

If you have a favorite journalist or outlet, find a couple extra bucks to support them (obviously that includes me, if you can) before "news" is a thing entirely of the past.