Jul 23
FC Dallas Closing in on Argentine Star, Ariel Ortega
FC Dallas has finally decided they care about scoring goals. YS has learned that FC Dallas is very close to signing Ariel Ortega, a former Argentine International, and a current player at River Plate. Ortega, who is 34, is a veteran of three World Cups and has over 90 caps for Argentina.
John Ellinger, An assistant coach for FC Dallas had this to say.
“Our priority is to find a high-quality striker, who can play immediately and Ortega has these characteristics. We want to sign a player who can make an impact, and who is also experienced, so that he can be complemented by Kenny Cooper. Although we understand that an international superstar like Ortega, who is as popular as Diego Maradona in Argentina, is costly.”
Ortega is set to make roughly three times what he currently makes in Argentina, something that should seem very attractive. Ortega would be Dallas’s designated player and would earn approximately $1.5 million. Another thing that might attract Ortega to Dallas is the chance to gain serious playing time. Ortega has been languishing on the bench for River and is not happy about it.
John Ellinger made the long trip to Punta Del Este in Uraguay (River is having their pre-season there) to attempt to convince Ortega to join Dallas. Reports have said the talks were positive and a deal is in the works.
What do you think about Ortega coming to Dallas? Are you happy to see Dallas taking soccer seriously? Will Ortega be a good compliment to Kenny Cooper? Any thoughts go below.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
This will be great for FCD if Ortega comes. He is experienced and can help mould those younger players like Oduro and Cooper. I think the tandem of Cooper and Ortega will be top notch, if we can get the service to them. that is key. We need to have Toja have a better second half of the season. He looked pretty bad for most of first half, but showed some spark of his old self last game. We will see.
An interesting thought though, and I want to see what you think. What if the management is trying to pick up Ortega so that they can trade Cooper? I don’t think its a good idea, but you never know what they might do.
If they doing it just to strengthen the team, I am all for it. It’s about time we got serious and threw down some cash for a big name, and a big player.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
no they’re keeping cooper, at least with the current offers they have now. He’s too valuable and unless there’s a new improved offer from someone else, he’s staying at least till the end of the year. This is an attempt to strengthen, I know it’s amazing. One thing is Toja might be gone. Toja has garnered interest from Romania and he might be sold so the service might be worse, although Toja hasn’t been great. I think Ortega’s signing will be enough to get Dallas to the playoffs and who knows what will happen after that. This is a legitimate move to make this team competitive and hopefully it works. I’ve really come to like Dallas’ style and competitiveness but they need someone to complement Cooper and hopefully this is it.
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
With Toja possibly leaving, it actually could be really good. We have some really young, but talented midfielders that could fill the role. This will be a great move for Dallas. Ortega with Cooper will be a formidable coop.