MALIGNANT RUMOUR: Gilberto To Sign With Vasco da Gama?

 

Is it time for Gil to shine?

Is the wolf truly gone?

We all know that it’s just a matter of when, not if, Gilberto is traded away from Toronto FC.  Dispense with any thoughts that TFC will pay down his salary with some of their sweet, sweet allocation moneyz; as foolish as this team often is with its money, they’re not that foolish. So unless the MLS rule gods decide to bestow a fourth DP spot upon the teams then he is gone; off to slay wolves for another team and most likely in another country.

That other country currently happens to be Brazil, and the club du jour – or club do dia, in my poorly translated Portuguese – is Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro.  Apparently it’s soon to be a pirate’s life for Gil?

Vasco da gama

How can you not love that badge?  I’d almost be OK with losing Gil – sorry, the Dread Pirate Gil – just to make pirate jokes.  And yes I know it’s not a pirate ship, it’s for the explorer – but Explorer Gil just doesn’t have the same ring to it – just photoshop in a skull and crossbones! Geez you guys are so fussy.

Anyway, he’s currently training with Vasco – who play in Brazil’s top league and are one of the more popular teams in Rio – as part of gaining fitness for the upcoming season and was reportedly told by TFC to not show up for camp while they decide his fate.  Of course then come the obligatory rumours (lots of smoke, wait for the fire), that his training stint is an all but a done deal with the paperwork expected to be signed any day.

On the day it happens I’ll write something more properly outraged/upset/sad at how it all played out – I’ll try to be more restrained here but no promises.   I understand that there are some folk that feel Gil did not live up to his DP tag last season and that we shouldn’t be upset to see him go.  Those people are wrong – in my opinion at least.   If you know me, you know that I am a big fan of his and maintain that his all around game should offset the complaints about his scoring last season. Gilberto had a decent year (7 goals, 5 assists) in twenty-eight games with Toronto – DP worthy?  No, not yet.  But (and again, I shouldn’t be getting into this yet!) this would have been a breakout year for him – and things would have all come together for Gil, really! – but I will stop digressing.

Where will Gil end up?  Anywhere but here.  Sadly.  As TFC go through their latest rebuilding (but we’re not really rebuilding/except we are) year, another player that they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) give that extra bit of time to leaves to likely do quite well if history decides to repeat for the; well we’ve lost count of how many times that has happened.  As always until we see the picture of him holding up the kit nothing is set in stone; but start saying your good-byes if you haven’t already.  Are there wolves in Brazil?

 

Author: Kristin Knowles

Raised on basketball and baseball, Kristin soon saw the error of her ways when enrolled in a local football league as a child. Geography dictated she choose TFC as her team and ten years later she's still yet to flee the city. Cynically optimistic, she now channels her inner hooligan by singing random pop songs and making poor puns in the stands. May contain adult content. Find me on the internet machine @kzknowles

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8 Comments

  1. holding up the kit, we’ve seen him wearing the kit. that’s plata and then some, earl cochrane couldn’t deny this one.
    obrigado gil. we didn’t deserve you. unless you wanted to go and so we’re letting you, in which case that’s nicer and maybe we did deserve you. either way. sigh.

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    • BTW where is all that allocation money the club seems to accrue every second day, going? Has anyone tracked where this money ends up.

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      • well, when you’ve got 3 dps, caldwell on 300k or so, perquis probably on something similar, 200k on findlay and etc etc you need all the help you can get, so I’d imagine most of it goes to paying down salaries to get under the cap.
        has anyone tracked it? I doubt even the league tracks it, just makes it up as and when they deem it necessary. impossible for anyone else.

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    • I looked for that picture and couldn’t find it! Given how long they’re taking to announce it they must be negotiating the fee stuff pretty hard.

      Yeah – heavy on the sigh. I’ll be lamenting this one for quite some time I fear.

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      • I was this close to getting a Gilberto shirt last year. Not happy.

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        • I keep hoping that just once – just once! – they’ll stick with a player for longer than five seconds. It’s frustrating but for some reason we’re still here.

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          • yep. never ever get a name on a jersey is the number one tfc fan rule.

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        • Agreed. Was going to use that “free kit when renewed with specific sponsor credit card” and get Gilberto #9 on the back. Tragedy.

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