Maicon Santos Is In Camp With D.C. United
by Martin Shatzer on Jan 18, 2012 9:01 AM EST
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D.C. United added some depth to the roster yesterday with the 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft. The team may have also added someone capable of competing for a starting role too with the news from the Washington Post that Brazilian forward Maicon Santos is training with the team and appears likely to receive an offer.
Santos started his MLS career in 2009 with Chivas USA, and went on to score five goals in 2010 and eight in 2011. If signed by United though, Santos will be appearing on his fourth team in three years. That’s a red flag. But he does have the skills and resumes to be a major contributor for a team that is currently incredibly thin at the forward position.
Santos made $126,000 in 2011 but after passing through both rounds of the Re-Entry Draft without being selected, he would be expected to earn less this year. He’s a player that we already identified as an option for United this offseason, and now this looks to be close to reality. At age 27, Santos is a younger and cheaper option than Joseph Ngwenya was for us last year. He’s also a better finisher (couldn’t possibly be worse than 0 goals, right?). My only concern is that Santos might fall behind Ngwenya in terms of work ethic off the ball.
Santos has had some attitude issues in years past. He’s no saint. But after being traded by Toronto FC and then benched and cut by FC Dallas, perhaps he’ll come to D.C. with a bit more humility. He’ll have to fight to make the team, and then he’ll have to fight for playing time. Entering camp with an endorsement from Dwayne De Rosario certainly won’t hurt his case.
In fact, United might be the perfect spot for Santos. On his previous teams, Santos was asked to do a lot. Too much. He’s not the type of player who can create his own chances from scratch. With DeRo or Josh Wolff setting things up behind him, with Chris Pontius beating his opponent on the left wing and Andy Najar sending crosses in from the right, Santos will just need to get in position and finish. And if he gets out of line, I’d expect Ben Olsen to put him in his place.
Every year, one MLS striker emerges from mediocrity and takes a big step forward. In 2010 it was Chris Wondolowski. In 2011 it was Dominic Oduro. Who will it be in 2012?
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Signed!
dcunited.com just announced that he’s been signed
Woohoo! Now we can actually field a full team!
Managing Editor for BlackAndRedUnited.com. Weekly Columnist for SB Nation D.C..
by Martin Shatzer on Jan 18, 2012 11:02 AM EST reply actions
It's official
We’ve acquired him. I like the signing, especially because DeRo talks so glowingly of their understanding and partnership. That can only help.
meh
I sure hope the team isn’t settled on him as the proven forward they need. Please be depth.
yikes:
"When he is on his game he is probably one of the top strikers in the league," said De Rosario. "It’s nice to have him here."
That's actually an accurate statement from De Ro
The key word, though, is “When.”
Santos had some spectacular games for TFC and for Chivas, but also had some games where it wasn’t happening for him. When he’s off, he tends to get a bit discouraged, and most of the time that means he fades out of the game.
It could just be that he’s an emotional guy that needs to feel right – remember Luciano Emilio? – on and off the field to be consistent. Hopefully we can provide that environment.
You’re right, though, in looking at Santos as a player who should be depth (first guy off the bench, maybe 10 starts plus Open Cup play) rather than the answer to our starting striker problem.
Look at it like this: If he’s replacing Ngwenya, we did well. If he’s replacing Davies, we did poorly.
Writer on SBN's DC United blog Black and Red United | @ChestRockwell14 | KEEP UNITED IN DC
by ChestRockwell on Jan 18, 2012 4:32 PM EST up reply actions
No excuses
A target forward receiving service from DeRo, Pontius, Najar, and Boskovic shouldn’t have much to complain about. If he can finish, this guy should be in for a breakout year.
Somehow I’m still drawn to the allure of bringing in an unknown foreign prospect to fill that role, but Santos may well be the missing piece. Chemistry is huge, and if he already gets on with DeRo, that’s a great start.
Now for a left back…
our left back
is Woolard… don’t see any new signing coming in and taking over for him at this point. Would I like to see better? Sure but also don’t want to see any Erpen or los Gonzalos disasters. I’d want to see any foreign signing beat Woolard out on the field. Meanwhile, starting to get stoked about our offense. As long as Santos can break say 7 goals, we should be sitting pretty (even better if he can match Davies 11— or am I dreaming?)
11 isn't out of the question
If Santos lives up to the potential that he’s shown at times, especially early in 2011 in Toronto, he could fill the Davies role. Actually, if we remove the PKs, then maybe eight would be an optimistic goal.
I’d prefer Santos to be just a slight step above the dubious "depth" label. He shouldn’t start a majority of our games in 2012. He should be in a rotation at forward with Wolff and Blakebrett, depending on what style we want to play and who we are facing.
Managing Editor for BlackAndRedUnited.com. Weekly Columnist for SB Nation D.C..
by Martin Shatzer on Jan 18, 2012 2:57 PM EST up reply actions
I like this move
Simply because I don’t think we succeeded in landing whatever forward/s Benny and the FO had on their list. Now, we have a big, moderately skilled target forward who has scored in the league. Maybe the chips on Santos and De Ro’s shoulders can find some chemistry. At the very least, we should win against Toronto.
Let's hope the "Revenge Theory" to scoring holds true
And Santos should have big days against Chivas, Toronto, and Dallas.
by Brendanukkah on Jan 18, 2012 2:31 PM EST up reply actions
A good move in the right context
My reply to itwasi sums up where Santos should be on our depth chart: He’ll get frequent minutes, but he shouldn’t be our top striker.
The goal expectations for Santos shouldn’t be sky-high, because that’s not his best asset. He’s an inconsistent finisher, so the goals aren’t going to flow from him. What he should be able to provide consistently is strong target play, which is a very important thing for us. When you have the goalscoring ability of De Ro on your side, you don’t need a guy that also competes for the Golden Boot; you need a guy that will help De Ro be De Ro.
When he plays, Santos is supposed to be a compliment to our other players. De Ro is as likely as anyone to win the Golden Boot, Pontius is second only to Brek Shea in terms of scoring goals from the left wing, Najar scores fairly regularly, and Boskovic had a reputation for scoring his share of goals in Europe. For Santos, the job will be to facilitate that while chipping in his fair share as well.
As for what Santos will look like for us, he’s a good player with the ball at his feet (good enough that TFC used him as the attacking midfielder in their 433 for a spell) and usually makes smart runs. When he’s comfortable and happy, he usually works hard enough. He has a powerful shot from long distance, giving us a bunch of guys capable of that now (De Ro obviously, Boskovic has a great shot from distance, and both Pontius and Najar have shown the ability to score with power from long range).
For other teams, he wasn’t an ideal fit. Dallas, for example, asked him to play the target role but gave him no central support. Santos wants to combine with others, and it’s hard to combine when the only people streaking forward are your wingers (who are often 30+ yards away). For us, in the 442 Olsen prefers, he should be better off.
Writer on SBN's DC United blog Black and Red United | @ChestRockwell14 | KEEP UNITED IN DC
I like this signing
Maicon Santos can help the team, and hopefully, he will. I know he’s inconsistent, but he has the skill to be a quality striker in MLS. Wouldn’t it be great if he decides to work his butt off this year and prove his quality? We sure could use a break like that, and who knows? Maybe a pay cut is good incentive for such things. In reality, he may not be a starter for us, but he’d be a better depth option than Ngwenya. I won’t cringe when Maicon comes off the bench.
Anyone think this is as good as it’s going to get for signing a striker or is something better in the works? If we don’t sign anybody else, it’s a contest between Wolff and Santos for the starting job along side DeRo. Not too exciting unless Santos is such a good fit with DeRo that some magic happens.
who else?
I feel like this is a good signing. Grabbing someone from within the MLS is safer and if you compare him to other available MLS forwards like Cooper, he seems like a better fit. Foreign signs have been scary lately so I’m pretty content with this.
by MrBaker on Jan 19, 2012 4:09 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
Safe, yes
Safe doesn’t get you very far. It doesn’t get you a Fredy Montero or Juninho, or Lindpere.
Santos is a good signing — if the team doesn’t grossly overpay the way they did for Ngwenya. The thing is, it ain’t enough. The team has got to aim higher — and to do that, it takes some risks.
Yes, DC hasn’t done well in the international market over the last four years.— I wrote all about that. That doesn’t mean you stay out of that market — it means you have to put more resources effort into it and do better.
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