MALIGNANT RUMOUR: Damien Perquis to Toronto FC

So intense, so brooding. So Perquis.

So intense, so brooding. So Perquis.

Finally. After what are traditionally the only 2 quiet weeks in the entire MLS calendar (great time to launch a new website eh? we’re geniuses!) and only a couple of TFC stories to follow, the genuinely happy news of Doneil Henry’s transfer to West Ham, and the bitter but necessary following of just where Jermain Defoe’s going to end up (Come on, Sven in China!), we get the first juicy rumour of someone coming in to Toronto.

First up the link, here in the original Spanish, and here’s the google translate of it.  Damien Perquis, a centre back currently with Real Betis. I’ve no idea of the reliability of this site, but for the sake of the article let’s assume there’s some truth to it, that an offer has at least been made. Would it make sense for TFC?

Centre Back? check, we need at least one of those. 30 years old suggests he’s got a few years left in him, so that’s good. He’s played in France’s Ligue 1, over 100 appearances for Sochaux, and also in La Liga with Real Betis, as well as with the Polish national team (he’s French, but with a Polish grandparent that qualified him), all of which sounds promising. What little you can make out via youtube videos (highlight reels for defender’s are never good, but here’s a bunch of videos, and check out the goal he scores below. woof!) or from what people who’ve seen him play have said about him suggests his game is a fairly physical one, so the transition to MLS shouldn’t be too hard for him. The fact that he’s only made 24 appearances with Betis since joining them in 2012, mainly due to injuries, is a bit of a worrying sign, though a broken jaw isn’t really something you’d expect to continually happen.

The next question to weigh against it is of course the financial one. the article says he took a pay cut before this season after Betis got relegated, but the internet says his salary is still 720,000 euros. That salary cut came with a contract extension as well so there’d probably be a transfer fee involved, with his transfer value estimated at 1.2m euros as of August 4th here.  The salary certainly seems a bit rich, if he’s looking for a similar amount then that’d take him into the DP category and as much as the defence does need to be shored up, this guy as a DP replacement for Defoe would be underwhelming to say the least.  His website mentions his bog goal is to play for Poland in Euro 2016, so he may well be willing to take a pay cut for a guarantee of first team football. If he can be had for a cheaper amount, say something similar to what Steven Caldwell’s making, it could be worth a shot as TFC will presumably be absolutely swimming in allocation money available to pay a transfer fee and bring down a salary this year.  The two of them together would certainly be one of the more expensive centre back partnerships, and one of the oldest and potentially slowest as well, strength, organisation, experience and footballing sense would hopefully make up for that.

By the time that allocation runs out Caldwell will have been shuffled off to the glue factory and Perquis could take his place as the experienced and expensive centre back to guide Nick Hagglund or whatever other younger cheaper players we might have to partner him in defence.  Also, the new CBA (say, what’s going on with that anyway? Anything? Nothing?) might radically change how we’ve been looking at salaries anyway so who knows really.

All in all, as with most rumours we’ll come across this transfer season, we don’t really know much. It might happen, it might not. If it does, it might work, it might not. So why bother with these hundreds of words, especially when there’s actual news (Stuart Neely) and more concrete rumours (Robin Fraser) that also happened today to write about?  Well, that would be for the one glorious thing we’ll definitely get out of him, the chance to look at his personal website. Click on that link now, the home page is bewilderingly magnificent.

Human. Faithful. Loyal. A good fit at TFC? That barely even matters any more.

 

 

Author: Duncan Fletcher

Blogging journeyman formerly of Cruel Geography and Waking the Red, also briefly with Sportsnet and every now and then with the Guardian. As a supporter of Darlington, TFC, England and Canada, football's been unfair and poking fun at Duncan for decades now, so it's only fair he does the same right back at it. Follow him on twitter @duncandfletcher

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4 Comments

    • In the Perquis of awesome?

      Post a Reply
    • Truly Madly Perquis?

      It may also describe his mindset to join the shit show that is TFC.

      Post a Reply

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  1. MALIGNANT RUMOUR: Robin Fraser to be Toronto FC assistant coach? | Vocal Minority - […] sign of things improving, though not something that will have an immediate impact. There was also rumours of the…
  2. Toronto FC officially sign Damien Perquis | Vocal Minority - […] I didn’t know much about Perquis when I wrote about him when his name was first linked to TFC,…

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