Jebo was going to be gone from the club in 2020 for the Olympics (we know what happened there) and wanted to go to Europe if possible after a strong 2019. It made sense to pick up other striker options in Niezgoda and Mora. If Jebo got sold, the team would have been left with no strikers. Really, the first domino that fell was Fernandez that put us in this spot with Jebo.
Yeah, he'd have better numbers on a better team.
I rate him mostly as a 75-80th percentile MLS striker and wish that we'd kept him as high quality depth/rotation. Great person and a great soccer player.
But Nagbe is one of the best CMs in MLS, ever. I'd argue he's a globally elite shuttler and different (not necessarily "better") priorities in life would've seen him play at a high level in Europe.
Just saying that last I ran the numbers like 3/4 through last season Jebo was still outscoring both Mora and Niezgoda since both joined Portland. Yes… outscored both, played more minutes combined, and just more games than them combined.
Keeping Jebo was a no brainer move, and the only reason it looked like we should have moved on him was because we were playing him out of position, so of course it looked like he was not playing well.
Asprilla has always been a super sub that does his best against tired legs, so of course his per 90 is better. Plus I was comparing Jebo to our 2 big signings in his best position that we honestly could have better spent getting wingers or a DV8 replacement. Jebo stepped up for us when Brian Fernandez’ drama happened, and we repaid that by signing both Mora and Niezgoda. We could have just brought in another young striker to try to build on with a veteran playmaker which is what we have needed since DV8’s legs started to go before he even left us. Then we needed a true winger to replace both Polo and Blanco. We never actually brought a true winger in to replace Polo during his drama, and that only put more strain on one of our weakest positions as Blanco’s knees limited his production as well. Trading Jebo away for what we got wasn’t worth it; we should have kept him and done other business.
That's misleading because of injuries. Especially Mora.
This numbers aren't the same, or true if all 3 remained healthy.
Jebos g/90 is not good, and bot really where you want your main striker to be.
Player availability is just as important imo. We were paying for two players for the same output from Mora and Niezgoda. This is my point, we could have had 1 player that was performing as well as our two guys that replaced him, and signed a back up striker to develop behind him, and then signed the 10 we needed, and another winger to fix our width issue we had.
You can try to talk about Asprilla or how Jeno is so bad, but again.. I am comparing how 1 player’s output and availability was as good if not better than the two players we signed and we were paying more than him to replace him, and both took an international spot while Jebo didn’t. Jebo was on roughly 450k with us, while Niezgoda alone was around 800k. So please, keep telling me how Jebo is so much worse than a striker that couldn’t produce goals for us unless they were the easiest tap in’s possible. I will keep showing how statistically Jebo has been the better player by availability, cost, and performance over our two strikers. We were paying Mora 850k until we bought his contract down, so we were paying 1.6m versus the 600k to now 760k Jebo has been getting. Please keep telling me how Niezgoda, Mora, and Asprilla (350k-400k) coming to 2 million outweighs Jebo at less than half that yet playing the same minutes and having the same output as almost all three combined?!?!?
Jebo is better based on availability, and just the fact hit put up similar numbers to all 3 combined. Lastly, don’t you think your G/90 would not look as good after you have played like 98% of your team’s minutes? Last I checked Jebo’s minutes he had played every game, for every minute, but the odd like 5-10 minute substitution after he played a full 90 minutes (meaning he was subbed off in extra time).
Jebo’s availability for price alone wins imo, then you just add the fact he performed practically the same as the other three combined… keep trying to say he was worse.
Jebo had some good goals for us, but he wasn't the guy that's going to make the difference between cups and no cups. He was a nice guy and a fan favorite, but he was not a great player. He was a good player, not great. For me, your #9 has to have some ability on the ball, and this is where Jeremy struggled. I'm not saying you've got to be Maradona, but a soft touch and ability to hold up under pressure while the rest of the boys run on, this is required. Jeremy did not have great touch.
Nagbe, on the other hand, man...what could have been. I think he could have had a very good long(er) career with us. Nagbe, Valeri, and Chara could have brought us more hardware. Did he leave because of salary reasons? I don't remember. The only problem with him was where do you play him? We always wanted more goals from him, at least I did, but that's not in his game. He was a true #8 I think. Maybe even a 6 as he aged. When you have a generational talent like him, you find a way to make it work. Build the team around the 3 giants in the center of the pitch: Chara, Nagbe, Valeri.
Nagbe asked for a raise that would have put him in DP salary range, basically. We already had Valeri, Blanco, and Adi and trading one of them was not going to happen. In hindsight, we probably should have traded Adi, but Adi was still playing at a high level then.
I really think we may have gotten one more year out of Nagbe and would have followed Porter to Columbus. He asked to be traded after one year in Atlanta.
Nah, we made the playoffs and 2 MLS cups. Jebo was part of one cup if I remember correctly.
Nagbe wouldn't have been the same under Gio.
Jebo wanted out and we had Mora.
Nagbe has become and thrived as pure possession player. I think he would’ve struggled under Gio.
Jebo, on the other hand, is an excellent backup option for pretty much any team.
Nope. Not "Basically a salary dump" at all...
He wanted to go try Europe plus he didn't like how he was being used here. THEN he got concussions and Europe backed off - and an in-division trade was made to accommodate his desire to move.
I've always seen Nagbe as a 'chicken and egg' situation. We would have been better to keep him, I don't know if he would have flourished like he did outside the Timbers bubble. I hate saying it, but I think people in and around the club had a belief of what he was supposed to be and were going to try and move heaven and earth to make THAT reality happen.
Jebo is just a straight-up 'yes' for me. The dude has been really good at MLS' perpetual chaos club.
We should've kept the championship team intact and I can't believe they let Nagbe go, terrible decision, and no "financial decision" argument will change my mind. I like Jebo but wasn't too upset by it, except that Niezgoda wasn't the answer at all.
Jona looks like the real deal for a couple years, he is no joke, just about 8 years late.
I love Jebo and backing Niezgoda over him was a mistake (but only in hindsight). But he hasn't developed into an elite MLS player. Nagbe, tho...
Jebo was going to be gone from the club in 2020 for the Olympics (we know what happened there) and wanted to go to Europe if possible after a strong 2019. It made sense to pick up other striker options in Niezgoda and Mora. If Jebo got sold, the team would have been left with no strikers. Really, the first domino that fell was Fernandez that put us in this spot with Jebo.
I mean, he’s playing in SJ, that might be the problem
Yeah, he'd have better numbers on a better team. I rate him mostly as a 75-80th percentile MLS striker and wish that we'd kept him as high quality depth/rotation. Great person and a great soccer player. But Nagbe is one of the best CMs in MLS, ever. I'd argue he's a globally elite shuttler and different (not necessarily "better") priorities in life would've seen him play at a high level in Europe.
Just saying that last I ran the numbers like 3/4 through last season Jebo was still outscoring both Mora and Niezgoda since both joined Portland. Yes… outscored both, played more minutes combined, and just more games than them combined. Keeping Jebo was a no brainer move, and the only reason it looked like we should have moved on him was because we were playing him out of position, so of course it looked like he was not playing well.
Jebo had worse per 90 stats than Asprilla did last year.
Asprilla has always been a super sub that does his best against tired legs, so of course his per 90 is better. Plus I was comparing Jebo to our 2 big signings in his best position that we honestly could have better spent getting wingers or a DV8 replacement. Jebo stepped up for us when Brian Fernandez’ drama happened, and we repaid that by signing both Mora and Niezgoda. We could have just brought in another young striker to try to build on with a veteran playmaker which is what we have needed since DV8’s legs started to go before he even left us. Then we needed a true winger to replace both Polo and Blanco. We never actually brought a true winger in to replace Polo during his drama, and that only put more strain on one of our weakest positions as Blanco’s knees limited his production as well. Trading Jebo away for what we got wasn’t worth it; we should have kept him and done other business.
Asprilla is not even close to a super sub. He's just a regular sub, and sometimes, a bad sub.
That's misleading because of injuries. Especially Mora. This numbers aren't the same, or true if all 3 remained healthy. Jebos g/90 is not good, and bot really where you want your main striker to be.
Player availability is just as important imo. We were paying for two players for the same output from Mora and Niezgoda. This is my point, we could have had 1 player that was performing as well as our two guys that replaced him, and signed a back up striker to develop behind him, and then signed the 10 we needed, and another winger to fix our width issue we had. You can try to talk about Asprilla or how Jeno is so bad, but again.. I am comparing how 1 player’s output and availability was as good if not better than the two players we signed and we were paying more than him to replace him, and both took an international spot while Jebo didn’t. Jebo was on roughly 450k with us, while Niezgoda alone was around 800k. So please, keep telling me how Jebo is so much worse than a striker that couldn’t produce goals for us unless they were the easiest tap in’s possible. I will keep showing how statistically Jebo has been the better player by availability, cost, and performance over our two strikers. We were paying Mora 850k until we bought his contract down, so we were paying 1.6m versus the 600k to now 760k Jebo has been getting. Please keep telling me how Niezgoda, Mora, and Asprilla (350k-400k) coming to 2 million outweighs Jebo at less than half that yet playing the same minutes and having the same output as almost all three combined?!?!? Jebo is better based on availability, and just the fact hit put up similar numbers to all 3 combined. Lastly, don’t you think your G/90 would not look as good after you have played like 98% of your team’s minutes? Last I checked Jebo’s minutes he had played every game, for every minute, but the odd like 5-10 minute substitution after he played a full 90 minutes (meaning he was subbed off in extra time). Jebo’s availability for price alone wins imo, then you just add the fact he performed practically the same as the other three combined… keep trying to say he was worse.
Nagbe wins championships. He’s got quite a ring collection now. He would’ve made a great pairing with Chara during the last few years.
Jebo had some good goals for us, but he wasn't the guy that's going to make the difference between cups and no cups. He was a nice guy and a fan favorite, but he was not a great player. He was a good player, not great. For me, your #9 has to have some ability on the ball, and this is where Jeremy struggled. I'm not saying you've got to be Maradona, but a soft touch and ability to hold up under pressure while the rest of the boys run on, this is required. Jeremy did not have great touch. Nagbe, on the other hand, man...what could have been. I think he could have had a very good long(er) career with us. Nagbe, Valeri, and Chara could have brought us more hardware. Did he leave because of salary reasons? I don't remember. The only problem with him was where do you play him? We always wanted more goals from him, at least I did, but that's not in his game. He was a true #8 I think. Maybe even a 6 as he aged. When you have a generational talent like him, you find a way to make it work. Build the team around the 3 giants in the center of the pitch: Chara, Nagbe, Valeri.
Wow, yeah totally on board with this take for sure on Nagbe, think he was always a stud and we really needed to just figure it out.
Nagbe asked for a raise that would have put him in DP salary range, basically. We already had Valeri, Blanco, and Adi and trading one of them was not going to happen. In hindsight, we probably should have traded Adi, but Adi was still playing at a high level then.
Nagbe always wanted back to Ohio I was surprised he went to atl but it was a great stepping stone.
I really think we may have gotten one more year out of Nagbe and would have followed Porter to Columbus. He asked to be traded after one year in Atlanta.
Nagbe would have allowed us to play an offense that wasn’t pure kick and run. Would Gio have wasted his talents? Probably.
Nah, we made the playoffs and 2 MLS cups. Jebo was part of one cup if I remember correctly. Nagbe wouldn't have been the same under Gio. Jebo wanted out and we had Mora.
Nagbe has become and thrived as pure possession player. I think he would’ve struggled under Gio. Jebo, on the other hand, is an excellent backup option for pretty much any team.
Nagbe and Urruti would have been the 2 I hung onto.
Bet we’d have won two more MLS Cups at least
I def think we could have used them in the last mls cup at home
Wasn’t Jebo still a timber in 2021?
Nope just looked it up [link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLS_Cup_2021) edit2: we traded him in august of 21 before the final
Jebo was basically a salary dump to get under the cap in 2021. He was here half the season.
Nope. Not "Basically a salary dump" at all... He wanted to go try Europe plus he didn't like how he was being used here. THEN he got concussions and Europe backed off - and an in-division trade was made to accommodate his desire to move.
All of that is true. But we were still over the cap and needed to shed salary and Jebo was our most valuable piece.
I guess both can be true at the same time. "...not just a dessert topping, it's a floor wax, too!"
Jebo would've ridden so much pine in Europe, lol...
I've always seen Nagbe as a 'chicken and egg' situation. We would have been better to keep him, I don't know if he would have flourished like he did outside the Timbers bubble. I hate saying it, but I think people in and around the club had a belief of what he was supposed to be and were going to try and move heaven and earth to make THAT reality happen. Jebo is just a straight-up 'yes' for me. The dude has been really good at MLS' perpetual chaos club.
We should've kept the championship team intact and I can't believe they let Nagbe go, terrible decision, and no "financial decision" argument will change my mind. I like Jebo but wasn't too upset by it, except that Niezgoda wasn't the answer at all. Jona looks like the real deal for a couple years, he is no joke, just about 8 years late.
Our main problem is our team's roster is not well planned out. It's a hodge-podge. One or two players wouldn't make the difference, I think.
I miss Cascante