MLS Rumors: Wilman Conde To D.C. United?

That’s what killed us this year – when Pontius went down, we had nobody who could step into his slot and provide anything close to the same level of play. Same for Jakovic at CB (White was incredibly good for a rookie who came in rather raw, but he’s still not quite the finished product – once he is, he could be great; just not yet.). Conde would be something better than just depth, though – he’d be competition for a starting role.

The issue with him is whether he can adapt to the MLS style of play; anyone who can be first-choice with the Santos of recent years is certainly talented enough to do well here. He should do well in MLS, but will he?

Conde, on the other hand, has proven he can succeed in MLS, and has at least some handle on English (an issue that caused problems the last time we had starting center backs from a non-English-speaking country).

Both have an issue. Lacerda is unproven here, but Conde is older. If we were to sign either player, I’d really hope we do our homework.

I’d rather see the money spent up top, but as I’m a “build from the back kind of guy”, I can live with it. It’s a fair point that Conde comes with some risk if Atlas is cutting him loose, but rolling the dice is part of most any acquisition. To make myself feel better about it, I think of it in salary terms as Ngwenya for Conde plus roughly $50k. I’d take that hypothetical swap. The emphasis is on “hypothetical”.

They could be in some financial trouble of their own – I’ve seen reports discussing players’ discontent with the club’s inability to pay them their wages in any kind of timely manner. They might just be in a situation where they’re cutting to the bone, and players coming back from injury aren’t going to get a chance to find their form.

Obviously that doesn’t mean Conde would be a slam dunk here, but we don’t know that a “failed recovery” is the reason he won’t be returning to Atlas. In the same vein, Chris Pontius failed to recover from leg injuries each of the last couple years, but nobody was calling for Pontius to be cut loose after last season or this one, even though he missed (or was ineffective) for nearly all of 2010.

Unless he’s truly physically broken, Conde would not have much of a problem taking Jakovic’s starting job. Let’s not kid ourselves: Jakovic is a respectable center back, but he’s not a candidate to make an MLS Best XI. Conde, meanwhile, did exactly that in 2009 and then went on to a stronger league. Based on all previous evidence, Conde would be our best center back, and Jakovic would be our overpriced #3.

That said, a lot can happen in 2 years, and there is this injury to worry about with Conde.

P.S. AMT is correct, Atlas is broke. They also pride themselves as a team that relies on their youth system, so a veteran like Conde would be more expensive and older than they’d probably want (especially if they have some youngster ready to step up to the next level).

They must also get more points than Tecos next season or be relegated (in Mexico, the relegation standings are determined by points per game over 3 seasons; the PPG factors in for teams without 3 seasons at the top). It could be that Atlas doesn’t have the money to re-stock and fight relegation, and are instead preparing themselves to attempt to bounce back after going down. That would mean wage cuts and an emphasis on younger players who can succeed in the 2nd division while also developing into 1st division talents.