Rapids Head Coach Gary Smith spoke to MLSNet.com's Owen Perkins with his thoughts on the club's trade that sent Ugo Ihemelu to Dallas in exchange for Drew Moor and a SuperDraft pick and allocation money.
Some excerpts of Smith's comments below:
"In Drew Moor we're getting an experienced defender in a slightly different mold to Ugo," Rapids Head Coach Gary Smith said Monday.
"In Ugo you've got a pristine athlete with lots of pace, and a terrific kid at that as well. But I think with Drew you've got maybe a little bit more of a cultured defender. A little bit more capable on the ball. And hopefully as versatile at right back and at center back.
"Throw into the equation the fact that we're getting a considerable amount of allocation money and a pick, and what it gives us are some other assets as well that we can use within the market before the window closes on [Sept.] 15th to possibly strengthen a group that has suffered quite badly during the game on the weekend.
"After the Chicago game we all looked at what happened and we were a bit disappointed with not just [Ugo's] display but with a couple of others as well. The performance there for me was very, very disappointing. That's not to say that the move that was made with Ugo was solely based on that, but it did play a part in it, and I do also think that given the deal was such a good one for us, we can now flex our muscles a little bit and get somebody else in.
"Ugo's somebody that Dallas has been keen on for some time. They've expressed their feelings on the player on a number of occasions. I have to be honest, there was a long period of time that I had no intention of sending Ugo to a Western rival. But circumstances for us have changed over the last two or three weeks. He is and was an asset for us, and we've been able to replace him with what I feel is a very talented and potentially gifted defender in Drew Moor. We have to strengthen and we have to keep moving forward, and if we don't we're probably going to suffer.
"We all liked Ugo a [heck] of a lot," Smith added. "He's an absolutely terrific professional, but it's business. I think in Drew we bring someone in who's going to give us a bit more stability. Coupled with the tradeable assets that we've got, I think it's a really good deal for us.
"Drew Moor is experienced enough in this league to come in and pick up what we're after pretty quickly. He's more than capable of achieving what we're asking. He's athletically, physically in a good position to achieve that. He'll be here middle part of the week, and hopefully he into his new surroundings quickly. I would think he'll be needed straight away."
Read this entire article online on MLSNet.com by clicking here.
No comments:
Post a Comment