TORONTO – It’s taken a long time but it appears Toronto FC is close to finally getting its man.
TFC announced Tuesday that forward Maximiliano Urruti is in town and will train with the team this week, and the MLS club is confident it will be able to sign the Argentine prospect to a deal.
“We have been involved in a lengthy process for Maximiliano Urruti to join Toronto FC and Major League Soccer, and we hope that it will conclude by the end of the week,” a club statement said.
Urruti, a 22-year-old native of Rosario (the same hometown of Lionel Messi), has been a transfer target of TFC ever since Kevin Payne took over as team president and general manager late last year.
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Earlier this season, TFC management had been working for several weeks to lure Urruti from Argentine club Newell’s Old Boys, with coach Ryan Nelsen even publicly stating a few times that a deal was “virtually done.”
But things hit a snag after former Newell’s Old Boys manager Gerardo Martino, recently named FC Barcelona’s new coach, put his foot down and made it known to the club’s owners that he did not want to release Urruti.
TFC slowly lost patience, and the deal was quashed. But Urruti seemingly become available recently after he walked out on Newell’s Old Boys over unpaid wages.
“He has now severed ties with Newell’s. There’s a possibility he could end being a player in MLS and in Toronto,” Payne told reporters on Aug. 2.
“We’ve chased him a long time. We watched him many, many times. (TFC chief scout) Pat Onstad has seen him live on a number of occasions. Our opinion of him has never wavered. We think he’ll be an outstanding player in our league. We’re pursing that diligently.”
Newell’s Old Boys felt differently, and posted a message on its official website saying that Urruti was still under contract and that any team interested in his services would still have to negotiate with them.
When last Thursday’s MLS transfer deadline passed, it looked as though TFC might lose out on signing the Argentine. When Payne was asked last week to clarify Urruti’s contract situation with Newell’s and the chances of him coming to Toronto, all he said was, “We’re monitoring the situation, I’ll put it that way. Anything is possible.”
Now it appears as though Urruti will become the newest member of TFC and the second Argentine on the roster, joining midfielder and designated player Matias Laba, who transferred from Buenos Aires-based club Argentinos Juniors to Toronto earlier this season.
It’s hardly a surprise that Toronto is looking for some attacking reinforcements.
The Reds have scored 21 goals in 23 games this season, the third-worst offensive record among the 19 teams in MLS. A 2-1 win over Columbus on July 27 halted one of Toronto’s longest goal droughts in club history at 423 consecutive minutes.
Payne believes Urruti is the answer to the team’s scoring woes.
“We really think that Urutti’s a player that will be one of the absolute top forwards in (MLS),” Payne recently told reporters. “We think he will bang in goals.”
