TFC Notebook: Nottingham Forest loanee Richie Laryea discusses his future with Toronto FC

Happy Friday Toronto FC fans, and you know what that means? It’s time for another TFC Notebook!
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A new notebook will be released every Friday throughout the course of the 2023 Toronto FC season, featuring news and updates from training during the week, exclusive interviews, tidbits and more. It's supported by BET99 Sportsbook so if you're interested in responsible gaming, please check out their special welcome offer.
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Without further ado, let’s dive in.

Toronto FC are close to signing Alonso Coello to a first-team contract

As far as first impressions go, Alonso Coello certainly left a lasting one after making his Major League Soccer debut last weekend.

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With Jonathan Osorio and Mark-Anthony Kaye on international duty with Canada and the Reds shorthanded in the midfield, the 23-year-old Toronto FC II captain played the full 90 minutes in a 0-0 draw against the San Jose Earthquakes.

The former Atlético Madrid youth academy midfielder did not look out of place. Aside from Michael Bradley, no one completed more passes than Alonso, who managed to do so at a high clip of 91 per cent.

After the match, his performance earned him some praise from Bob Bradley, as well as a spot in Toronto FC’s squad via another short-term loan agreement on Saturday against Charlotte.

“Alonso is a solid player,” the TFC Head Coach and Sporting Director said. “He played with us throughout preseason. He’s smart, and you know when you have good football around him, he understands how to play with good players, how to keep it simple, so I thought he did a good job.”

As Bob Bradley mentioned, Alonso has been training with the first team throughout this year, as well as stretches last season.

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In 2022, Toronto were shorthanded numerous times and were forced to call up players from TFC II, and Alonso would have earned a few minutes for the first team had it not been for a rule that prevented him from being eligible.

Alonso, who left Florida Atlantic University (FAU) early to sign an MLS NEXT Pro contract with TFC II last season, was not eligible for the MLS SuperDraft, and in order to join the first team, he would’ve had to clear waivers. TFC did not want to risk losing Alonso on waivers last season by calling him up, so they clearly value the player.

In 2023, Alonso became eligible to play for the first team. MLS rules state that after one year of leaving college, a player is now considered discoverable (he has been added to TFC’s Discovery list), thus allowing the team to call him up via a short-term loan agreement.

So that paves the way for Toronto to now sign him to a first-team contract, right? Essentially, but it will come at a cost as Toronto FCwill have to use their last remaining international roster slot on the Spaniard.

TFC currently has seven international slots (six plus one additional given to Canadian teams for players who have spent one full calendar year with a Canadian side). They are occupied by Federico Bernardeschi, Lorenzo Insigne, Adama Diomande, Sigurd Rosted, Raoul Petretta, and Victor Vázquez, who is eligible for the additional slot.

If Toronto FC want to sign another international in the summer transfer window, my understanding is that the club would have to acquire another international roster spot via trade, however, the team doesn’t have a ton of allocation money or other expendable assets to offer to other teams in the league.

Alonso is fifth on TFC’s midfield depth chart — behind Michael Bradley, Jonathan Osorio, Brandon Servania, and Mark-Anthony Kaye — so his ability to keep possession and make progressive passes has clearly left a lasting impact on Bob Bradley and co. Look for youngster to sign a first-team deal in the coming days.

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For what it’s worth, Alonso has completed his undergrad in Economics at FAU, and is two months away from finishing his Masters in Economics. He was great to chat with this week and seems like a young man with a good head on his shoulders. He’ll be one to keep an eye on as this season progresses and in the future.

Could Akinola’s Canada cameo spark a return to form? 

It’s been a long time coming for Ayo Akinola.

Tuesday night at BMO Field was his first appearance on home soil for the Canadian men’s national team as he came on as a substitute in Canada’s 4-1 win over Honduras.

“Finally. Finally,” Akinola said zealously after the match.

It wasn’t that long ago that the now-23-year-old striker was one of Concacaf’s most coveted commodities — the subject of a well-publicized recruitment battle between Canada and the United States. As we know now, the Michigan-born Brampton, Ont., native ultimately chose to represent Canada in June of 2021, filing a one-time change of national associations.

But Akinola only made just two Gold Cup appearances (a combined 37 minutes) before a torn ACL cost him the remainder of Canada’s World Cup Qualifying cycle — and a realistic shot at competing for a place on John Herdman’s roster in Qatar.

“Gold Cup, when I tore my ACL, there were opportunities in World Cup Qualifying that I missed out on. But finally, I got to represent Canada at a home stage; that’s basically all I wanted when I decided to switch from the U.S. to Canada, so definitely a memorable night for me,” said Akinola.

The evening was made even more special when Akinola assisted fellow TFC teammate Jonathan Osorio for Canada’s fourth goal of the night.

“I saw him out of the corner of my eye as soon as Alistair [Johnston] passed me the ball. I saw him literally as soon as the ball was travelling, I saw Oso making the run, so [I hit him] with kind of like a blindside first-time pass.”

Asked if it was a TFC connection, Akinola said: “Yeah, for sure. If you saw the post me and Oso did yesterday on our Instagram stories, you’ll see how the picture of him and I came into fruition.” 

The hope is now that his positive experience with Canada translates into more success with Toronto FC. Akinola has scored just four goals in 33 appearances for the Reds in all competitions since returning from his ACL injury. Those types of injuries often take longer than a year for players to feel even 90 per cent back to normal, though he says he’s in a much better place now than he was last season.

“[The knee feels] better now. Still some stiffness, usually in the mornings, afternoons, sometimes night, but other than that, it’s much stronger and much more stable,” Akinola told reporters earlier this month. “Last season was a lot of discomfort. The discomfort level was definitely worse last year than it is now.”

It’s no secret that Bob Bradley needs more production out of his No. 9s, including Akinola.

Toronto FC’s strikers (Akinola, recently traded Jesús Jiménez, Adama Diomande, Jordan Perruzza, Hugo Mbongue, and Deandre Kerr) have combined to score just three goals since Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi made their debuts – a span of 19 matches dating back to last July.

“I think going away with the national team, having a good assist, those things work. [Akinola] came back seemingly in a good way,” said Bob Bradley on Friday. “It would be really important if we could push him and get him going and contributing in all ways: with balls, with abilities to help us press in different moments, with hard running in the box, things that make a difference in teams.”

Bradley added: “When a 9 is running hard in the box, when a 9 is helping press underneath, when a 9 is a guy in different moments is threatening in behind or can hold balls and bring guys into the game, all those things make a big difference, so hopefully he’s going in a good direction.”

He hasn’t quite found his stride under Bradley yet, but the hope is that he can return to his 2020 form when he scored nine goals in 15 matches – and maybe a cameo with the national team is that spark that gets him going.

No decision on his future yet, says Richie Laryea

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Richie Laryea’s loan deal from Nottingham Forest expires at the end of June, and the 28-year-old Canadian international says no decision has been made on his future yet.

“I’m just taking it day by day right now,” Laryea said, in a one-on-one interview with Room 4-4-2. “As of right now, I’m just focused on club football with TFC, winning as many games as possible and being a top team in this league, and then same with the national team. Obviously, that time [end of June] will near and decisions will have to be made, and I’ll start gearing towards that when the time comes.”

Asked whether it’s tough to take it day by day with the uncertainty looming that he may have to uproot his life and move back overseas in a couple of months, Laryea responded candidly.

“The way that I try to look at stuff like that, five years ago around this time, I was dead in the water,” he said. “No one knew who I was, I was struggling, I was on trial here with this club, so the fact that I’ve got to this point that I’m at now is a blessing and I have to take it for that.

“I’m a competitor. Yes, obviously it’s difficult because I have a family, I want to be situated and all of those things, but it’s a good problem to have. I’m tied to a Premier League club and I’m on loan to a massive club in MLS. People would die to be in the position that I’m in right now. I try to look at it that way instead of being like ‘f*ck, this is tough.’

“You know why I say I take it day by day? It’s because it helps me think more clearly when I’m thinking about stuff like that. I don’t think I’m in a terrible position. I’ve worked really hard to get to this point, so I’m just going to continue to enjoy it and like I said, take it day by day and have fun with it, and then when that time comes, we’ll see what happens.”

Laryea’s wife Melanie and his four-year-old son Elijah have followed him in every step of his professional journey, including his time in England – a place he says his family enjoyed. He’s a family-oriented person and having the unwavering support of his wife and son has helped ease some of the anxiety that comes with the uncertainty.

Last season, Laryea struggled to earn playing time under Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper after joining the then-English Football League Championship side in a million dollar move. He logged a total of just 117 minutes across the span of five matches before re-joining Toronto on loan on the final day of the MLS Secondary Transfer Window.

With Forest chasing a historic promotion to the Premier League, it’s safe to say that he didn’t get a fair shot under Cooper. Forest are now in England’s top-flight and minutes likely would have been fewer and farther between, so a move back to Toronto – ahead of the World Cup – made sense. But naturally, Laryea still feels that part of his career hasn’t been explored fully.

“It was a short stay, and then coming back here on a loan made a lot of sense, so yeah of course, I have the qualities and the things necessary to play there. But I’m also here now, and I’m enjoying playing with the team, getting new guys playing together, and there’s a new sense of belief and blood in this group. There’s obviously things to weigh out, but it’s been great over here,” said Laryea.

He added: “People that know me well know I’m a competitor and I’m a big believer in myself, even though many people probably don’t. I’ve had the experience and definitely think I could still fulfill my dream over there and be the player that I think I can be over there for sure.”

With the way he has been playing with Toronto and with the Canadian men’s national team, one would imagine that if it’s not Forest, other clubs in England would be very interested in adding the pacey fullback.

But, I wouldn’t rule a permanent move to TFC out of the equation, either.

Speaking to media on Friday, Bob Bradley said that there are still things to work through in regard to making the Toronto native’s deal permanent, but the team is ‘hopeful’ that a deal can be worked out.

Laryea, for what it’s worth, isn’t opposed to a permanent move with his hometown club as well.

“This is a place that has helped me grow as a player and obviously know a lot of guys on the team, guys within the front office, and all of that. It’s a top place to play,” said Laryea. “It was tough for me to leave in the beginning to go to Nottingham just because of how much I cared about the club and the people that have helped me along the way, so I’m definitely not against [staying].”

It was just a few weeks ago that teammate Jonathan Osorio called Laryea “the best right-back in the league,” so to lose such a valuable part of the team in the middle of the season would be a massive, massive blow for Bradley’s side.

Let’s hope that something can be worked out, but if not, should the club lose Laryea, the silver lining would be that it may free up enough salary budget space to add a third designated player, though it won’t be an easy task to find better value on a limited budget than what the Forest defender provides.

Added Time: News and Notes

—    Toronto FC (1-3-1) are favourites (+110) at home against Charlotte FC (1-1-3) on Saturday. TFC are 2-0-0 against last year’s expansion side, including that memorable 4-0 victory on July 23 – the debuts of Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi.

—    Saturday’s match vs. Charlotte FC is on TSN and is available for free on AppleTV

—    Speaking of Lorenzo Insigne, the Italian is making progress in return from a groin injury. Insigne (groin), Adama Diomande (lower-body), and Cristián Gutiérrez (non-covid illness), have been ruled out of Saturday’s match, while Raoul Petretta (lower-body) is questionable. Petretta re-joined the team on Thursday and was a participant in training and Bob Bradley believes the Italian will be available.

—    Cristián Gutiérrez’s non-covid illness is more problematic than the club initially feared. The defender, claimed via waivers from Vancouver, has yet to train with the club as the team does its best to help the 26-year-old fullback get to the bottom of his issue and feeling better so that he can get back on the pitch with the club.

—    Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty became the fourth TFC player to be named to the MLS Team of the Matchday, joining Sean Johnson (Week 2), Richie Laryea and Federico Bernardeschi (Week 3). I imagine he’ll get minutes in some capacity on Saturday.

—    Ghanaians Alhassan Benny and Hafiz Ibrahim, who were on trial with TFC during preseason, have made their way to Canada and trained with Toronto FC’s first team this week. The duo, who will likely get reps with TFC II this year, were waiting on their visas to be sorted.

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—  Toronto FC II dropped their season opener to FC Cincinnati 2 (4-2) with 2022 MLS SuperDraft pick Reshaun Walkes and forward Alec Díaz finding the scoresheet for the Young Reds. TFC II started 17-year-old Adam Pearlman and a pair of 16-year-old academy products and Canadian youth internationals, Lazar Stefanovic and Theo Rigopolous in their backline. In total, five players from the Toronto FC Academy featured in the match.

—    Toronto FC II’s season-opening starting XI featured nine Canadians (Luka Gavran, Theo Rigopoulos, Adam Pearlman, Lazar Stefanovic, Rohan Goulbourne, Ethan Kang, Lucas Olguin, Markus Cimermancic and Reshaun Walkes) with a further three appearing as substitutes (Julian Altobelli, Matthew Catavolo and Marko Stojadinovic).

—    The Generation Adidas Cup kicks off this weekend. It’s an exciting chance to watch Toronto FC’s up-and-coming crop of academy talent, with 20 matches across the tournament broadcasted on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass. The U-15 TFC team are in a group with Real Salt Lake, FC Cincinnati, and France’s Toulouse FC, while the U-17 team are joined by Sporting KC, Charlotte FC, and Liga MX’s Atlas FC.

—    Former TFC Academy product Jacen Russell-Rowe scored his first career MLS goal last weekend for the Columbus Crew. The 20-year-old striker was named the MLS NEXT pro MVP last season. TFC traded his rights to Columbus in exchange for $50,000 in GAM and will receive further allocation money if certain metrics are met. The team also retained a sell-on percentage.

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