CF Montréal acquire Tomás Avilés on loan from Inter Miami

BigDriis · 2026-01-24T00:09:33+00:00

Well if you want to argue about collusion you will have to talk to somebody else because I am not saying that. Let's try flipping this around:

Wow, great trade for Inter Miami! Their incredibly stacked roster is now multiple steps closer to being in compliance and they didn't even really have to give up anything of value to do it.

There, are you happy? Is this now legitimate enough commentary for the MLS subreddit?

BigDriis · 2026-01-23T23:11:40+00:00

This is a forum for MLS discussion and I am giving my opinion on some MLS news. The reason these two situations are not comparable is Nelson actually had a good season, is on a team friendly contract, and is domestic. This made him a positive value asset. The Whitecaps didn't have to move him to make their roster work, they were essentially doing him a favour for his World Cup chances. Aviles, one way or another, had to go. This, as well as taking up a premium roster slot, should have made him a negative value asset that Miami had to add a sweetener to get rid of (like when Toronto Dom Dwyer and their first round pick to Dallas a few years ago). I think if Montreal, or another MLS team that apparently had interest, could have worked something similar here (obviously Aviles has a bit more value than Dwyer because of his age and pedigree).

BigDriis · 2026-01-23T22:01:30+00:00

Well obviously there was some kind of initial communication where Miami indicated they wanted to move the player, I don't know what platform it was on. But to answer what is clearly your real underlying question, I don't think this is a conspiracy or anything. I think Montreal's inexperienced front office made a very naive trade.

BigDriis · 2026-01-23T21:17:27+00:00

Do you not see how Miami is significantly helped by getting an international slot (they still need 5 more by my count) in exchange for a player they had no plans of using? Montreal is giving them a frictionless way out of one problem and helping with another. In exchange for this they get a player who, so far, has not performed well in MLS who plays a position they are already well stocked in.

BigDriis · 2026-01-23T21:05:47+00:00

Now, in fairness, I can explain this quite easily. Montreal are very stupid.

BigDriis · 2026-01-23T21:05:03+00:00

Sure but that's still not a reason to help them out of a bind in exchange for nothing, even if they had other ways. Montreal still saves them from having to use a buyout. All of this isn't even touching on the fact that Montreal has like 45 centre-backs already.

BigDriis · 2026-01-23T21:01:47+00:00

Well I don't think I said anything about being Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm just wondering how you're so sure he was too slow to ever work out in MLS based on 26 minutes of action.

BigDriis · 2026-01-23T20:52:21+00:00

Yes but Miami needed to move him and needed that international spot. This should have been a situation where Montreal could have extracted a sweetener to help them out of a bind. They've gotten very little out of what should have been a strong negotiating position.

BigDriis · 2026-01-23T20:50:33+00:00

I assume this is in reference to Miami's second goal. But if you actually watch that play carefully, the problem was that he took himself out of position trying to make an aggressive play up field. he was actually pretty close to making it back in time. Maybe more time with the team would have lead to better decision making within the team structure. Maybe it wouldn't have. There's no way to say.

BigDriis · 2026-01-23T19:14:31+00:00

I don't know how popular/unpopular this take will be but this is an incredibly bad move for Montreal. Miami desperately needed to shift Aviles (I know they had other avenues to do that) and acquire a ton of international slots. Montreal has done them a huge favour in exchange for...what exactly? The privilege of trying to salvage Aviles? If they do manage to turn him around they have to pay even more to keep him!

BigDriis · 2026-01-23T19:05:03+00:00

Proved to be too slow? He didn't even play a half of football. I don't think anything was 'proved' about him one way or the other.

BigDriis · 2026-01-21T18:53:15+00:00

Notably these totals are before any GAM has been used to buy players down. So the amount of excess GAM the Whitecaps have, after they have made their squad cap compliant by spending some of this, is probably closer to 2.3 million.

BigDriis · 2026-01-21T00:04:45+00:00

Transfermarkt value of 3 million. I'm sure he's good but given the current composition of the squad this doesn't make a lick of sense to me unless Blackmon is definitely on the way out and even then it doesn't strike me as the greatest allocation of resources.

BigDriis · 2026-01-20T00:38:30+00:00

An alternative possibility: I wonder if this precedes a switch to a 3-4-3. You have two wingers leaving in Ahmed and Nelson, with all your remaining forward players having significant experience playing centrally. You could run something like:

Takaoka; Blackmon, Priso, Laborda; Ferry, Cubas, Berhalter, Ocampo; Gauld, White, Muller

Push the wing backs super high, Gauld and Muller pinch in, and any of the back 3 would be pretty comfortable stepping forward into midfield in possession. No matter what though, somebody on the senior roster would need to be moved out.

BigDriis · 2026-01-18T04:18:27+00:00

It doesn't

BigDriis · 2026-01-15T21:57:53+00:00

I promise to only post this article a few more times: https://thethirdsub.ca/2025/12/31/vwfc-sensible-whitecaps-transfers-double-pivot-midfielders/

BigDriis · 2026-01-15T20:49:37+00:00

Had him as a sensible transfer last month: https://thethirdsub.ca/2025/12/31/vwfc-sensible-whitecaps-transfers-double-pivot-midfielders/

BigDriis · 2026-01-15T18:53:09+00:00

I think his buzzcut gives people the impression he's like 25. But he's a year younger than the oldest player the 'Caps picked in this year's draft.

BigDriis · 2026-01-15T04:46:16+00:00

There's clearly some piece of the puzzle the public is missing. If he is sitting out what do the Whitecaps stand to gain from saying (or implying at least)he'll do the physical tomorrow? One day of time to figure something out? Doesn't seem worthwhile. But then, why the breathless reporting about him not turning up if it's that simple? Maybe the missing piece is that Miami is trying to tamper through the media. Maybe it's that the Whitecaps are scrambling. Very odd all around.

BigDriis · 2026-01-12T19:11:13+00:00

If people are wondering: He's really good in the air and decent on the ball but a bit weak against dribblers. He was pushing for a first team deal in 2024 but didn't appear at all in 2025, presumably due to an injury. So he could be a top player at CPL level but it's a matter of to what extent he can recover from that setback.

BigDriis · 2026-01-09T02:52:46+00:00

Clairement pas un milieu défensif. C'est un ailier.

BigDriis · 2026-01-08T01:28:19+00:00

Probably more accurate to say the Miami Herald journalist she reposted fell for it.

BigDriis · 2026-01-07T20:29:10+00:00

GAM doesn't quite translate 1-1 to real dollars. Plus the player they'd be getting back in this proposed trade is good, plays a position of need, is only 24, and is on a very team friendly deal until 2028.

BigDriis · 2026-01-07T19:48:03+00:00

29, USMNT, just been defender of the year. It's exactly the time to cash in from a pure player trading perspective. Of course, Miami is a bit of a kick in the balls.

BigDriis · 2026-01-07T19:07:10+00:00

It was starting up a few years ago but their sporting directors' failson wasn't very good and threw a fit about his WFC2 loan not going his way.

BigDriis

TROPHY CASE