Transfer Target: Luis Miguel Escalada

By: Dave Martinez | January 30th, 2009

Rarely do I find out about an Argie player, with a serious scoring touch, and not know who the hell he is. Especially since he was put through the ringer at Boca. This is one such instance.

Meet Luis Miguel Escalada, forward, from Argentina, currently at Gimnasia. This guy tore up the Equadorian Serie A with 45 goals in 78 appearances. That is more goals than the Western Conference Champion New York Red Bulls scored last season (42).

Wow.

Now the obvious question in all of this is why do the Red Bulls need yet another forward? Recent headlines for the Red Bulls involve Osorio’s call for left sided players. He feels they are not done in that category. And recall Coach Osorios pension for experimenting with players outside of their position. After the headache that occured last year before the eventual signing of Macoumba Kandji, many people felt that he would naturally fit as the second striker to Angel. Instead, Kandji made more appearances on the right wing then at forward.

Dominic Oduro’s speed may be utilized on that left, leaving Escalada and Angel up top, with Kandji as the solid back up (especially for international competitions sake), and Richards on the right. Talk about speed and scoring!

By the way – Brian Lewis at the Post reports RSL and Columbus are also in the running for Escalada. But fret not; Director of Liga de Quito Esteban Paz quoted that Escalada would be playing in MLS, and the reporter on the story has it on good sources that the team will be Red Bull.

So what do you think? Is this success by excess? Not impressed? Let me know.

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luis Y

Don't forget that Liga de Quito also finished runner ups in the Fifa Club World Cup,losing 1-0 to Man.Untd. The Ecuadorian league isn't that much better than the MLS inmy opinion. I'm Ecuadorian so I've seen some of their games which are really low scoring so 45 goals is impressive.
martha in miami

Well, I always "Ditto" you!!! Of course, I am all Vamos Argentina, all the time...but still have a soft spot for VIVA COLOMBIA!!!! I gotta go with whatever JCO thinks is best, as he has a great soccer brain, in my opinion.
Dave Martinez

I still want Chris Innes. That would fill a leadership gap for sure. And he is a defender!
NoLayupRule

I think it should be clear to everyone that losing DVB was a huge blow to this teams IQ, maturity, leadership and creativity.

We may get lucky and we may replace his presence, though Id be surprised.

As far as defense goes its clearly not the top priority for Osario. at least not now. And Im not certain I disagree with his assessment.

Overall Id love to see us targeting some Arge or Italian young defensive types or looking through some of the Brazilian youth camps. But perhaps thats next week.
Dave Martinez

Maybe the average and the best arent that far off talent wise? Or am I starting to fall into Eurosnobbetry?

I trust Goldie in the middle. Boyens really stepped up as the season went along, so I wouldnt mind trying that as a starting pair. What worries me is the left and right side of that defense. And its hard to predict the future of the D when Jibe is also a question mark.

As far as replacing the pieces we lose, perhaps Osorios plan WILL cover that for us. Using your own comparison with DVB, I can tell you that his negatives were that he was molases slow on the left wing, would routinely sit on the ball instead of pushing forward, and his long range shots found the back of the net, but I can recall at least two that took lucky bounces along the way. Osorio is looking at Dane Richards for the left (snce he already plays there for Jamaica), which would put Kandji (of all people) on the right, and the aforementioned forward combo of Angel and Escalada, with a central Jorge Rojas. Might be worth the experimentation. Who knows.

Point being - there is a lot of risk and potential reward in all of this. Lets give Osorio a shot (since he did lead this "lucky" side to the final).

We shall see.
Eugene

Right, but to become a championship team, you're not trying to kill the *average* MLS defense, you're trying to kill the *best* MLS defenses.

There was a lot of luck in last year's MLS Cup run, but you can't build a team based on luck, you try to build a balanced squad. The current defense really didn't get us that close to the actual MLS Cup -- we didn't really compete in the championship game because we couldn't contain Barros Schelloto. Now while we could still possibly defeat Houston with the current side, because they haven't improved their D much, I'm not confident we could defeat Columbus with the current side.

Another point is that last year we had Van den Bergh, while we are currently missing all of the weapons that he brought -- a left wing, his tactical knowledge, his accuracy on set pieces, his ability to create for teammates, his long range shot. These are all things that make us weaker, despite the increase in speed from just two particular new players -- Oduro and Hall. All the other guys cited are guys that we had last year.
Dave Martinez

Liga de Quito won Libertadores. That speaks volumes.
Dave Martinez

Eugene - Good looks on Lewis.

I think NLR puts it into an excellent perspective. The fact is that after a year behind the wheel, Osorio realizes what MLS competition offers, and what it doesnt. So I tend to agree with your assesment; he thinks speed would kill the average MLS defense.

I also agree that a championship is built from the back forward. But, if your forward attack is formidable, and your current defense, depleted as it may be, carried you to the MLS Cup, well, maybe the experiment will work.

Great points all around.
NoLayupRule

how could talent be worse in Ecuador than the MLS?
Chris

I just looked it up ...this kid is only 22 as well. Thats pretty impressive to score that much at that age. How does the Equadorian league compare to the MLS?
NoLayupRule

I like what Wolly brings in terms of toughness and vet leadership. However we moved DVB already and we really seem to be moving towards speed, youth and firepower.

Wolly would be a less hash loss than DVB was, thats for sure. Perhaps less even than Magee
Eugene

BRIAN Lewis at the Post.

I don't see the need for another striker, but I guess if you have this opportunity it would be a shame not to take it. The question is, how much would he cost?

Bringing on Escalada would definitely mean cutting Echeverry, at least in my mind, but then what do you do to get your left wing and your outside defenders, particularly left back? Do you trade Woly?
NoLayupRule

I think that Osario is under the impression that the MLS is so thin on talent, and especially defenders of any worth, that the more firepower you have the more likely you are to score.

The more you score the more likely you are to win.

The more you score and win the more you win the more fans get excited.

My position is always that defense wins championships and that good teams start with defense and build outwards.

Thats clearly not happening and whats more Im not convinced that Im right in that with regards to the MLS anyway.

Our late season successes seemed to come from aggressiveness in the open field and our ability to pressure opposing defenses with skill, speed and versatility up top.

Im more than willing to follow Osorio's lead as he tries to create an offensive juggernaut in NY.

the man has done little wrong so far IMO.
Chris

That would be great but it seems were loading up on positions where we seem to be well off while other positions are still underwelming.

I didn't think our offense would have been that bad last year if we had someone other than DVB that was able to get the ball up front to angel.

We still have that problem. No one in center attack. Richards has to rely on speed off the dribble to get the ball up front rather than a cross. I'm assuming the same will go for oduro if he plays left midfield. Who's going to pass the ball to all these guys up front? Are they just gonna rely on 1 v 1 skills to make plays? That doesn't seem like a reliable strategy. I would maybe look to deal one of these guys for a play maker. But I guess we should wait and see how it all works out first tho.

By the way do you have any guess how much the transfer fee would be for this guy?