In the wake of the firing of Peter Nowak, the Union continued to clean house by letting go Diego Gutierrez, who was the head scout and sporting director and youth technical director, Alecko Eskandarian. Diego and Nowak were teammates at Chicago and Alecko played for Peter at DC. The front office seemingly is trying to cut all ties from the former coach.
Was this the right move? Diego and Alecko were not total failures. Alecko seemed to have built up a strong contingent of young players and Diego was a strong influence on bringing in South and Central American players to Philly. Also the timing plays a big role. Why now? Why not at the end of the season or two weeks ago when Nowak was fired?
Diego landed the new stud defender Soumare. Soumare has been quoted as saying Gutierrez was a big part of his decision to come to Philly. If the Union axed him earlier they might not have landed Soumare. The two have played together and remained friends over the years. On the other hand it does not make sense to fire the head scout just after the transfer window opens.
He is Colombian and he brought a wealth of Colombians to Philly. Apart from Colombians he brought other Hispanics to the U. Let us take a look at them all: Eduardo Coudet (ARG), Fred (BRA), Migs (BRA), Mondragon (COL), Juan Diego Gonzalez (COL), Roger Torres (COL), Pajoy (COL), Valdes (COL), Perlaza (COL), Carlos Ruiz (GUA), David Myrie (CR), Lopez (CR), Martinez (CR), Arrieta (PR), Gomez (PAN) and Alejandro Moreno (VEN).
Only a handful of those players were bust and given that Myrie only lasted a few games it is hard to place the blame on Diego. Players like Arrieta and Ruiz seemed to perform well but just did not fit in. Coudet and Fred played well but were let go due to their age. The only noticeable bust was the overpaid seldom seen Juan Diego Gonzalez.
It is harder to monitor Eskandarian’s job for he works with the youth but from what I saw he was doing a good job. Eskandarian had got players such as Crishian Hernandez and Jimmy McLaughlin getting signed, who were home grown talents. From the surface it seemed that Alecko was doing a good job. It makes no sense to fire him right now mid-season.
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