The first two rounds of the 2017 MLS SuperDraft took place on Friday afternoon. There was a total of 44 selections made in the opening rounds. Toronto FC went into the day holding the 21st overall pick in the first round. In addition, they held the rights to the 4th and 5th picks in the second round. The SuperDraft was the finale of a week-long soccer showcase in Los Angeles, that included the 2017 MLS Player Combine.
Pick 21 in the first round
The Reds selected defender Brandon Aubrey with the 21st pick. The 21-year-old spent the last four seasons at the University of Notre Dame. He appeared in 76 matches for the Fighting Irish, registering 15 goals and four assists. Aubrey was named to the NSCAA Third Team All-America and was a First Team All-ACC selection in 2016. Other collegiate honours for Aubrey included being named to the NSCAA First Team All-South Region (2016), NSCAA Academic All-America (2016) and Academic All-ACC (2015). You can read more about the newest Red here.
"He was a player that was highly touted," said General Manager Tim Bezbatchenko, "He is good with his head, he is a good passer and he obviously has some height to him as well." Aubrey's passing ability may come from the time he spent as a forward, prior to making the switch to the backline midway through his freshmen year.
"I'm really happy to be with Toronto," said Aubrey, "they are an outstanding club, I've heard nothing but good things about them." Aubrey will now head home to prepare ahead of his first ever MLS training camp.
Pick 4 and 5 in the second round
The Reds then traded away both of their 2nd round selections for $75K worth of target allocation money (TAM). "We felt like we have a number of players in our USL setup and in our Academy that we now have the luxury to use some of our picks as assets." added Bezbatchenko, "We felt like this was the best thing for our club."
The Reds can now utilise this additional TAM as a way to help upgrade the first team roster. Allocation Money may be used to sign new or re-sign existing players. Unlike general Allocation Money (GAM), however, Targeted Allocation Money can only be used for players earning more than the maximum salary budget charge. In other words, TAM can be used to pay down a player's salary to below the Designated Player threshold. The amount of TAM or GAM that the Red's currently have is not public information, however, it was announced that each club would receive $100K of TAM each season for the next 5 years, so at minimum, they have $175K worth of TAM.
"Yes we do," said team President Bill Manning when asked if his team knows where they want to spend the additional TAM, "We are looking at an attacking midfielder or adding to our centre back depth...we are going to use our TAM."
You can see what all of the Toronto FC brass had to say following the SuperDraft at the links below:
Bill Manning
Tim Bezbatchenko
Greg Vanney
The 2017 SuperDraft will resume on Tuesday, with rounds three and four being conducted via conference call. The time is TBD. The Reds currently hold picks 8 (52) and 21 (65) in the third round and picks 17 (83) and 21 (87) in the fourth. Make sure to follow us on twitter to stay up to date with all of the SuperDraft news.
