Toronto FC's new signing Alejandro Pozuelo poses for a photo following a news conference in Toronto on Monday, March 25, 2019.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
When it comes to replacing the sublime midfielder Victor Vazquez, Toronto FC is counting on a certain recommendation for Alejandro Pozuelo, who comes with the same pedigree and much the same soccer résumé.
“Victor Vazquez said to us he is a young Victor Vazquez,” TFC president Bill Manning said Monday at the press conference to introduce Pozuelo. “That’s about as good a compliment as you can get.”
Naturally, Manning, general manager Ali Curtis and head coach Greg Vanney hope their next Spanish midfielder will prove as successful as their previous Spanish midfielder, but it’s about the style, not the country.
“We didn’t necessarily look at Alejandro as Spanish or even Victor or Ager [Aketxe],” Manning said. “What we all knew when we lost Victor, we wanted someone who could pull the strings.
“[Pozuelo] is a guy who can pull the strings, someone who can manage the game, make the special plays that make goals. Whether he was Spanish or not didn’t come in the thought process.”
Pozuelo, 27, is now one of TFC’s three designated players, taking departed striker Sebastian Giovinco’s place in that category. But his job is to be as effective as an attacking midfielder as Vazquez, who was lost in a transfer over money in the off-season.
Vazquez was not a designated player but proved to be just as important as Giovinco and the other designated players, Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley, in leading TFC to the treble in 2017: the Major League Soccer regular-season title, the Canadian championship and the MLS Cup.
However, the Reds’ recruitment of European players in the last year has not gone smoothly. Aketxe, another Spanish midfielder, and Dutch international Gregory van der Wiel both joined TFC last year with great expectations. But neither fit in with the Reds on the field nor in the locker room, and both are gone before the start of this season.
When it came to Pozuelo, who is set to make his TFC and MLS debut Friday night at BMO Field against New York City FC, Manning and Curtis were careful to do their homework. They consulted people who knew both Pozuelo and the Reds, including Vazquez, to make sure he would be a good fit.
“In one of first meetings I had with [Pozuelo], I asked what he felt his strengths were as a player,” Curtis said. “He said in a very humble way he didn’t want to get into special strengths. But he said one of his most valuable attributes is he is there for the team. I think that’s really important.”
TFC had been watching Pozuelo for about a year and when the player decided he needed a change from Genk, more patience was needed. The Belgian club disagreed with TFC on the release date in Pozuelo’s contract but after negotiating through February, an agreement was reached to allow him to join TFC for its third game of the season.
On the field, there is no question Pozuelo has the résumé TFC needs. Both he and Vazquez came up through the youth system in Spain and both became stars in the Belgium league. In four years with the Belgian side Genk, Pozuelo scored 25 goals and added 60 assists in 175 appearances in all competitions.
Vanney said Pozuelo and Vazquez are similar players in that both are playmakers but Pozuelo is inclined to score a little more than Vazquez. But his job will be to get the ball to Altidore, and one key advantage for Pozuelo is he can dish it equally well with either foot.
“He’s an attacking player first and foremost. We want to use him in that role,” Vanney said. “He’ll play close to [Altidore] and we’ll use him a lot in setting up our attacks.
“He’s outstanding at understanding how to move around, manipulate numbers on the field, play between lines. [He has] the vision for the final pass and the ability to spring some of our guys as runners. But it’s also his ability to finish plays off in different ways. For us it’s the engine through that final phase of our attack.”
Pozuelo, whose English is still a work in progress, did not want to talk about his reasons for leaving Genk in detail other than to say he wanted a change. He had the choice between TFC and a team in Dubai, and said he decided Toronto and MLS was the place for him after talking to Vazquez and other MLS players he knew.
“They speak about Toronto, the city, the group, [as] very amazing,” he said. “I think this is very important for my family. That is why I’m here.”
Pozuelo said after speaking to both Curtis and Vanney he knows “I have same philosophy. I want to have the football, to play. When I speak with the coach, we have the same philosophy, to play, to win.”