I'm guessing Yomcat's point is there is a difference between picking up players who have been released by a club because they are no longer wanted and picking up players who are out of contract but are still wanted by their current club i.e we make a better offer than their current club or players we pick up by paying a transfer fee.
The acid test for me on new signings is;
1) Would they be good enough to secure or seriously compete for regular starts at Adelaide, Melbourne or the Roar (these are the teams we will have to compete with to be title contenders).
2) If not would they make the squad at those clubs and
3) Are they better than the player they are replacing in the Nix squad.
If the answer to 1 and/or 2 is yes then the answer to 3 will almost always be yes but not necessarily so (think Smeltz & Moss).
The answers, for me, with resepct to Diego are yes so, as long as we can get / keep him fit, he is a good addition.
Good criteria there Whitby and I think a very sound basis to make decisions. Some things are a bit speculative because there will always be differences of opinions on what we feel about certain footballers but lets use our 3 major free agents as an example.
Kwasnik Christie Dodd
1: Unlikely No Unlikely
2: Yes Unlikely Yes
3: Yes Yes Yes
Based on that, maybe if I was the gaffer, I'd look at re-signing Kwasnik and Dodd and maybe leave Christie alone. Then again he is a Kiwi and a very versatile player so there is merit to re-signing him. I don't think Kwasnik wants to stay and Dodd wont get better game time at those other 3 clubs than he does here currently.
Agent 472009-01-29 21:43:34