WIWFC Update - Ho, Ho, Ho!

Now, nothing is official yet. Nobody has held up a shirt in front of the cameras and microphones, but the signs are rosy for a trifecta of South American acquisitions for United, one of whom may even be sporting a green card, according to Goff. If true, the DC front office is putting those elves to work and delivering all of those gifts I was wishing for in my WIWFC (What I Want For Christmas) posts. If you'll recall, what I was really looking forward to finding under my tree were . . .

• A true winger with pace
• A stud center back
• A second/third striking option
• A challenger for Wells
• A replacement engine (wide mid/defender Gros clone)

So if everybody signs on the dotted line, that means we'll get . . .

• Franco Niell - A wee midget of a forward, but a forward nonetheless, who has managed a few goals in limited minutes in the Argentine league, and who possesses--gasp--speed! Now, assuming Moreno is going to return, that answers the plea for a second/third striking option with the two of them in rotation. Of course, I might be greedy and demand more depth, but (1) this is MLS, and (2) whoever (Walker, Monteiro, Kpene, Addlery) survives the training camp forward showdown is about as good as you're going to get for a fourth forward in this league.
• Gonzalo Martínez - A hugely experienced defender who is still strong and fast, despite having probably lost a step from his prime, when he played in Italy and for the Columbian national team. Oh sweet Jesus, don't let this one go all Veron on us! Martínez is just about everything I asked for (and thought we couldn't afford) in a stud center back.
• José Carvallo - Competition for Wells in goal, and he apparently has a green card. Carvallo's still young at 22, and if (and I'm completely out on a very insubstantial limb here, so forgive the speculation) he can work his way up through the youth system and make it to the senior squad of one of Peru's top clubs, then he'll probably have enough to send Nolly packing.
  

It's just a matter of waiting and hoping now. Martínez has told Columbian media that he'll be presented as a United player on the 20th (and Wikipedia says he's already ours . . . so there's that), and the Niell discussions seem to be fairly advanced, with all indications being that he'll be cheap and on loan (similar to Toja's situation last year in Dallas?). Carvallo is still a bit more in the rumor mill than in the land of reality and press conferences, but if true . . . if true . . . that's a really nice assortment of presents the front office is putting under the tree.

If all goes according to plan, that gives us 3 out of 5 on my wish list being ticked off already, but it's all up the middle of the team, where we're already reasonably strong, assuming everybody returns. So if there's a caveat to all of this, it's that we still haven't done squat with the wings yet. Of course, an all-hustle wide midfielder/defender who doesn't need to possess vast quantities of skill is the type of player we could reasonably hope to pick up in the draft, so we may actually be at 4/5 of the way to happiness by the end of the week. Now, where did I leave that winger? I know he's hiding around here somewhere.