Franco Ibarra shocked and unhappy with Toronto FC loan, leaves Atlanta saying ‘goodbye with a lot of pain and sadness’
There are many things that make Major League Soccer so different from other leagues around the world. Forced media appearances, playing on turf, mid-season trades and league admin initiatives are just a few of them. For 22-year-old midfielder Franco Ibarra, a mid-season loan away from a contending team he’s been a massive contributor to was the last thing he was expecting.
Two days after Atlanta United informed Ibarra he would be loaned to Toronto FC, so ATL could comply with MLS’s Under-22 initiative, which offers clubs salary cap flexibility but limits teams to just three players, the Argentine is still coming to grips with his new reality.
“I’m trying to accept all of this,” Ibarra told The Athletic. “I have thousands of questions. But there’s no point in dwelling on this. That’ll make it worse for me… If I’m highly valued then send me to a better team. Don’t send me to the worst team. I understand that this is a business, but send me to another team.”
A casualty of Atlanta’s roster mismanagement, Ibarra was the player forced to make way, despite playing an important role for head coach Gonzalo Pineda. Colombian winger Edwin Mosquera returned from his loan at Argentina’s Defensa y Justicia which is what put Atlanta United over the allowance with Mosquera, Ibarra, Santiago Sosa and Erik López all signed as U-22 initiative players.
Atlanta sporting director and former USMNT captain Carlos Bocanegra was the one to break the news to Ibarra on Wednesday evening. Ibarra refused to accept the situation.
“Carlos told me that he was going to close the deal that same night and that I had to go,” Ibarra said. “I told Carlos that he didn’t have to close that deal. That I wasn’t going to leave Atlanta. I’m not going to that team.
“I didn’t know when I had to leave for Toronto, where I’m going to live, what I’ll have to do with my visa. I was completely in the dark. I told Carlos that I understood that there are rules. I get it, but I’m not going to Toronto.”
Ibarra turned up at Atlanta’s training ground on Thursday morning for a normal day of work. He was not allowed to participate and told to go home.
“I was told that I didn’t need to change because I was already a Toronto player. That Atlanta had closed the deal,” Ibarra told The Athletic. “Carlos told me that he was really sorry. He said he needed to cut the roster down. I reiterated that I wouldn’t go to Toronto. It doesn’t benefit me at all from a football standpoint. It’s obvious where Toronto is at the moment versus Atlanta.”
As much as Toronto FC fans don’t want to hear that an incoming player is upset about joining the club, it is easy to understand why the 22-year-old feels that way. The Reds have been a disaster this season, with just three wins from 22 games, despite having the highest payroll in MLS and two of the most marquee names the league has ever had. Ibarra may grow to enjoy the club
“I’m hurt and it bothers me how you’ve done this and where you’re sending me,” Ibarra revealed about his conversation with Bocanegra. “You can’t call me out of the blue to tell me that I have to move to another country. If you tell me a week ago that there’s a problem and that I no longer have a U-22 slot, that’s different. But instead I found out last night that (Bocanegra) had to get rid of one of the four U-22 players.”
According to Felipe Cárdenas of The Athletic, Ibarra spoke with Toronto FC general manager Jason Hernandez who empathized with the player’s situation. Ibarra was told that Atlanta would work diligently to improve his chances for a European transfer upon the end of his TFC loan.
“I mean, are you serious? I still don’t know when I have to be in Toronto,” said Ibarra about his conversation with Bocanegra. “These are things that should be talked through. Is it good for me? Is it a bad move for me? But instead I showed up to train and they didn’t let me train. I had to turn around and go back home. Legally I have to go. I have to show up there. I’m a Toronto FC player now. Even if I wanted to try and stall the deal by saying that I didn’t want to go to Toronto, I couldn’t. The deal was already closed. It bothered me how they did this.”
Ibarra bid farewell to Atlanta fans with a heartfelt Instagram post on Friday admitting he was filled with “pain and sadness” and that he had “insisted on staying in Atlanta.”
He is a young midfielder that is not afraid to get stuck in and do the dirty work. Exactly what a TFC midfield without Michael Bradley needs and landing him at this point in the season with as many suitors as he likely had, is a real coup for the Reds.
“Players here think this type of thing is normal,” Ibarra said. “For the Latino players it’s more of a blow. The same happened with Josef. But Andrew Gutman was also sent to a last-placed team (Colorado) and he was like, ‘I have to go. Bye.’ It’s normal here. They just leave.”
“In the end it’s me who has to pick up the pieces for the club or for Carlos or whoever. I finally told him that if I had to go because of the U-22 rule, fine. I’ll do it, but let me go to a club that’ll benefit me. I told him I didn’t want to leave Atlanta. I’m good here and we have a chance to fight for the league championship. We’re a different team than last year.”
Toronto FC have yet to announce Ibarra’s loan. With a more positive atmosphere in camp, at least publicly, after the appointment of Terry Dunfield, Ibarra may settle in quickly and find there’s more quality in the team than TFC’s record would indicate. Or, maybe not.
Club. In. Crisis.
Just what we need, another player who already does not give a sh** except for himself, and who wants to criticise management, TFC and Canada. We have enough of them already, and some of them are DPs, Perhaps he should be made captain right away. I say we welcome him with a bold F*** Off.
This is the culture bill and bob built a culture that no player in their right mind what’s to play for… Bob sure did leave an impression. How did a Canadian club allow two incompetent Americans to completely ruin it.
This may be the first TFC player i boo.
You’re kidding? Don’t do us any favours. We don’t want players who don’t want to be here. Thanks but no thanks.
What an arrogant punk this Ibarra is ! Talks like Liverpool and Man City are in line to sign him, this clown is no second coming of Maradona , my advice to this youngster is shut up ,go to where you have bean traded, play well and maybe some mid table team in Spain will come calling, guy already has earned a bad reputation with his school girl crying “please please I don’t want to go please please” Another pampered South American nobody!! Just like Soltedo
Bradley name.. Manning entire ownership ..upper mgmt ownership group.. a farce.
Bingo Jack! He should STFU and play. How is TFC even considering going ahead with this?
Screw this guy.
Yeah, I get that he’s not happy about it, but you’re not some future star that teams are falling all over to sign. The entitlement on display here boggles the mind.
Toxic atmosphere…check
Losing mentality…check
Clueless management…check
Hey, let’s bring in a player who doesn’t want to be here! That’ll solve all our problems! 😐
Little bit of perspective from an Atlanta fan as you guys don’t seem to like Ibarra:
He does not have an ego. He was brought in in 2021, struggled to become a starter due to injuries and our other CDM u22 player being better, had an unexpected breakout year this year and has been a consistent starter. He gets along well with his teammates, coach, and everyone he has interacted with, and loves the city here. Then he gets the rug pulled out from under him, the Technical Director basically lies to him, his coach and teammates are sad he has to go, he gets forced out with bridges burned (not the first time our TD has done this to players in ugly style), and the only reason we have to loan him in the first place is because our TD signed 4 U22s, and the other 3 are so bad and so overpriced atm that we can’t get anyone to take them for free because their salaries are so high. Now, one of them (Mosquera) we could buy down with around 400k GAM, which we have. But instead, we decided to lose a starter and screw him over to avoid losing GAM due to our TD’d incompetence.
He is not mad at Toronto, he is not mad at Atlanta as a whole, he is mad at Carlos Bocanegra (Our TD) for screwing him over. And it’s objectively true that Atlanta is a better team, and better place for him to develop, and he earned a spot here after years of hard work and being on the bench. So that is 100% fair for him to have asked to go anywhere else. And frankly this is the millionth thing our TD has screwed up while working here and the fans are suck of him and want him gone. Plus he has been interviewing elsewhere so it seems he and Lagerway (our new President) don’t plan on him being here much longer.
Thanks for the perspective. He’s making $600k playing a game.
He (and whoever his agent advising him is) need to have the maturity/understanding that you have to put a positive spin on things for the new team and city you’re playing for.
Something like “It was shocking and disappointing to leave a club and city I’d grown to love, but I look forward to falling in love with a new city and country and continuing to grow as a player and person with TFC. I know they’ve had a tough season so far, but they have a lot of talent, and hopefully I whatever I can provide as a player and teammate can help turn things around.”
Sure, but he’s also being forced to move countries away from his family and friends as a 22yo after finally feeling at home.
And if I’m being honest, if a team is knowingly signing a player without so much as talking to them about it, and putting them through that, there is a significant chance the player is going to be very unhappy about it and might not just shut up and go quietly. Why buy someone who hates the idea of playing for you?
“Why buy someone who hates the idea of playing for you?”
Good question. We have a rookie GM who clearly has no idea what he’s doing if this is his first move.
I appreciate that perspective, but Ibarra didn’t do himself any favours by coming out immediately to complain.
First impressions are massive. This one was…poor.
Don’t they have choice where they’re traded too? Like what if he said no? I didn’t know they were in indentured servitude lol
Jason Hernandez is off to a great start btw. Sign someone on loan who doesn’t even want to be here, sign someone on a short loan deal when there’s nothing to play for, sign someone on loan to help another team in the MLS make their roster compliant with the rules.
Ibarra comes in and immediately takes away any chance of first team soccer from Pearlman & Cimermanic and maybe even Coello.
Any of the deadwood leave yet? No? Great stuff.
Let’s hope he says no and doesn’t bother coming. I’d rather give one of our academy boys a chance than someone who disrespects our club, city and country and will be gone in a year anyway. What a craptacular signing.
Don’t get all patriotic and make this about city and country. Do you think he would have a problem being loaned to a good/decent club anywhere in Canada? He has issues with TFC, period. The way he went about expressing his concerns was unprofessional; he should have been much more diplomatic about it, but how many starters in MLS would be thrilled to come to Toronto right now? The main problem with the club is not necessarily the current situation, but the feeling that there is no way out of it in the short term (or even in the long term if Manning and company are not replaced).
Maybe Ibarra disrespected the club… Then again, MLSE and the club have been disrespecting the fans for years. If you want to get angry, get angry at MLSE and the club. Ibarra didn’t do himself any favours with his comments, but let the club get a taste of its own medicine. Let them feel “disrespected” for once; let them know that players have a low opinion of the club and that they do not want to play here.
Again, this is about TFC, not the city, the fans, or the country.
He’s right about his concerns. Our club is absolute shit right now. I totally get him not being happy about how ATL handled this as well. But it’s a massive dick move to shit on your new club and fans right out of the gate. Two things can be true at once.
He signed a contract which pays him generously. Part of that contract is that he has to go where Atlanta tells him. This is nothing new in soccer contracts. If he chooses to denigrate everybody, every country and every club, so be it. But I have to say that I hope he never gets another contract in MLS. Sit him on the bench, in Atlanta, until it runs out, then send him back to Argentina and see what happens to him. As for ever playing for TFC, I say again, F*** Off to him. I don’t want to see him ever put on a TFC shirt. Perhaps CBS (Border Services) can find a good reason to refuse entry.
That’s not how it seems to work. TFC wanted to get rid of Altidore but he didn’t want to leave because he was making more money on his DP contract here than he would have playing for a different team. They eventually had to buy him out because he wouldn’t leave.
If Toronto could have sent him anywhere without his approval then why didn’t they?
MLS owns the players contracts. This looks like the MLS went to teams that have Ibarra’a particular roster slot open and told them, one of you guys has to take this player and TFC was stupid enough to say yes.
Either that or Jason Hernandez is an idiot. Pick your poison here.
Nobody was prepared to pay anything for Altidore. That’s why TFC had to buy him out. Not surprising either since he didn’t exactly set New England on fire (nor Tijuana for that matter), with a goals scored record about on par for his career in England, 2 goals in over 80 matches. For a striker, that’s not quite good enough.
When you sign a contract for $$$, you are giving your soccer playing rights in exchange for a guaranteed amount of compensation. The team that own’s your right has the right to loan you out to whoever they want as long as you are still being paid as stipulated by the contract.
If a player does not want to be moved, then they should negotiate a no movement clause into their contract. Obviously, the player and his agent did not do this.
At the end of the day, if a player does not want to give up his rights and freedoms, then he has the right not to sign any contract or have those freedoms negotiated within the contract.
If you can move a player to any other MLS team against their will then why didn’t TFC do that with Altidore??? Oh wait they didn’t. They had to buy him out.
Exactly. Proves my point.
“If you can move a player to any other MLS team against their will then why didn’t TFC do that with Altidore???”
There is just the small detail of needing another team to take the player…small detail but an important one.
I can live with the reaction he immediately came out with, from his emotions. But to not walk it back speaks volumes.
This is his opportunity to say F You Bocanegra. He chose to pout. He knows how it works in MLS.
So, let’s just hope this can lead to him being flipped elsewhere, for someone who wants to play and wants to create and appreciate an opportunity.
Give the guy a break. He’s young and has big dreams, and this is a difficult change for him. Let him settle in before judging too harshly. These guys’ careers can be undone with one bad transfer (from their point of view)at the wrong point in their development.