Transfer needs for all 30 MLS teams

Yes, the Neymar thing is real

Uncorked a couple of 3000-word columns this week as MLS preseason began – simple overviews of each team’s roster moves thus far, and their biggest need in the current transfer window.

• Eastern Conference transfer needs

• Western Conference transfer needs

You know the drill with these: just team-by-team with a few paragraphs on what I think is most important. At this point in the year (nobody’s even kicking a ball; we’re just getting beep test results) we’re not going to get much more of a breakdown than that.

There are, however, two things I wanted to address that didn’t make it into the columns, or made it in and were wrong:

- The Neymar/Chicago Fire links, as first reported overseas but eventually confirmed first by Jeff Carlisle and then by Tommy Scoops, are true. Which, honestly, I find to be shocking, as my bullshit detector was absolutely BLARING as soon as I saw these reports.

My initial take, which I first put on BlueSky (see, microblogging can still be useful!), is that this is bit of savvy fake-negotiations-as-marketing for the Fire. As in, the Fire are smart to sit down at a table with Neymar and his reps (his dad) and act serious about negotiations, because doing so 1) sends a message to fans that the team is serious about adding legit talent this offseason, and 2) sends a message to agents around the world that the next time a Luis Suarez or an Antoine Griezmann – i.e., world class players who actually play – comes available, the Fire are are a side worth calling.

With that done, the Fire can then turn around and put that money towards buying a 26-year-old who’ll be healthy for more than one game every nine months. Sorry, man. I loved prime Neymar as much as the next guy, but the last time he played more than 2000 minutes in a league season was 2016/17 with Barcelona! He’s played fewer than 500 total minutes over the past two years.

His current team, Al-Hillal, basically have 10(ish) DP-level players, so they can afford one of their guys – even their best guy – to be permanently crocked. The Fire still only get three. Can’t take such a big risk on one who, at best, would only be available 50% of the time (though, ok, that did kind of work out for Miami with Messi last year. I’m calling that the exception that proves the rule).

So the short version is I think it was smart to get involved in the discussions for the good pub, but long-term, the Jonathan Bamba links are much more exciting to me, and just a smarter way to build a team.

- The Myrto Uzuni-to-Austin deal is done. Uzuni is more of a forward who can play some on the wing than a pure winger, so I’d assumed that adding him to a roster that already included Brandon Vazquez – whose best year, remember, came in a front two rather than a front three – meant that Austin’s going to be in something that looks most like a 3-4-1-2 (or even a 3-4-2-1) rather than a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1.

According to my own sources in Austin as well as what I’ve heard second hand, that assumption was wrong. Uzuni’s penciled in for left wing in Nico Estevez’s 4-3-3, with Osman Bukari on the other side and the midfield still under construction.

They spent $12m on Uzuni, which is a lot for someone who’s on the verge of 30 and is currently in Spain’s second tier. Of course, he’s currently ripping it up there – as, it should be noted, a second forward in a front two.

So even if the intention is to start in a 4-3-3 (or even a 4-2-3-1), I’m putting Austin on 3-5-2 watch already.