TORONTO – With his contract with Toronto FC set to expire at the end of the month, Welsh striker Robert Earnshaw told reporters on Friday that he is hoping to stay with TFC and to extend his time in Hogtown.
The 32-year-old currently leads Toronto in goals with five and has adjusted well to the Major League Soccer since joining the Reds just prior to the kickoff of their 2013 campaign. Now the question is whether he’ll stick around.
“I think there has been progress [on extending Earnshaw’s contract],” TFC head coach Ryan Nelsen told MLSsoccer.com. “We would have to talk to [director of team & player operations] Earl Cochrane to get more about that.”
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Nelsen also laughed off a report out of Brazil that TFC are after the sometimes mercurial Carlos Tévez and had made a $10 million offer for the Manchester City forward.
“Obviously, he is available for sale, and if you have close to $100 million, you can probably do the deal,” Nelsen said.
Nelsen is careful to emphasize that Toronto has to be realistic and intelligent managing the club’s salary cap while also lamenting the fact that when he arrived in Toronto the team’s salary situation was in disarray, leaving little room to maneuver with respect to player acquisitions.
The TFC gaffer also provided an update on defender Tal Ben Haim, who was acquired by Toronto on loan from Queens Park Rangers in the middle of May but has not yet joined the club.
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“I think that has moved on,” Nelsen said. “It was a tough one. The money was going to be really hard, and he has probably moved out of our reach now.”
While many of the players that Toronto acquired this season have arrived at the club on loans and short-term deals, Nelsen added that the club will likely be active during the summer transfer window.
“There will be another permanent signing in the summer transfer window,” he said. “Whenever we have done a short-term move, it has just been to help out in the short term. With any long-term move, there will be lots of due diligence done and it will be for the future and looking forward.”
