Julio Cesar, THE Julio Cesar, has signed for Toronto FC. No, not the Julio Cesar whom Toronto signed in the offseason last year before mysteriously vanishing without appearing in a single match Julio Cesar. This time Toronto got it right – this Julio Cesar is a goalkeeper, and he has a little something in his trophy cabinet too!
The tale of Julio Cesar’s arrival in Toronto is one which appeared out of nowhere and stunned many a supporter. Some transfers are speculated upon for months before fruition, Max Urruti case in point. Julio Cesar’s fit the pattern of the Michael Bradley acquisition for Toronto FC – a mere rumour exploding into a flurry of confirmation from credible sources within days if not hours.
As an AS Roma fan, Julio Cesar was at the helm of the ship which consistently sunk the hopes of the Capitoline Wolves year after year during Inter’s reign of dominance from 2005-2010 (counting the Scudetto won through Juventus’ involvement in the match-fixing scandal of 2005). Roma came second on three occasions during those five years due to a stellar Inter defence and an attack led by superstars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mario Balotelli, Diego Milito and Samuel Eto’o. Roberto Mancini and Jose Mourinho, the Special One himself, coached these teams to their titles before departing to other leagues for big money. The keeper all the while throughout these glorious years for the Nerazzurri? Julio Cesar.
A seemingly impenetrable goalkeeper at times, individually he has won the Serie A goalkeeper of the year twice and was crowned top keeper in Europe for his efforts during the 2009-10 season. As a member of Inter Milan he owns four Supercoppa Italiana and three Coppa Italia titles in addition to the five Scudetti. Oh, and a little title known as the UEFA Champions League to boot followed by the FIFA Club World Cup. Internationally, he’s won a Copa America and two Confederations Cups, earning the Golden Glove for the 2013 edition of the tournament in the process. Not too shabby for the good-natured Brazilian from Duque de Caxias. The one little trophy he is missing happens to be the grandest of all, and the reason why he made the transfer to Toronto – the FIFA World Cup, but more on that later.
The end of his Italian tenure lay in the hands of club officials who in the summer of 2012 decided that the then Udinese keeper and Slovenian international Samir Handanovic would be a better fit for the club which Julio had served for seven years. It was a highly unfortunate situation for Julio Cesar, someone who had performed admirably for his Club and Country when called upon – Inter had almost broken their club record for goals conceded in a season. Handanovic was coming off of the season of his career; it was easy to see why they desired his services at the expense of Julio Cesar.
So Julio accepted an offer to head to London, turning away from a potential deal at the Emirates for the Blue of Loftus Road who recently had been promoted from the Championship the year prior. He was a part of QPR’s major investment for Premier League along with the signings of Park Ji-Sung , Jose Bosingwa, Junior Hoilett and current Toronto FC manager Ryan Nelsen. Unfortunately the plan backfired and QPR were relegated, Cesar receiving praise for his play despite the relegation.
In a scenario which seemed very similar to a plot which played out on the other side of the pond for Toronto FC, Julio Cesar, the established, consensus number one was benched in favour of Robert Green, who as of this moment is in the midst of a career season. Green so far has 14 clean sheets in 24 matches in the Championship, bringing him back into possible England talks while also happening to be considerably cheaper than Cesar. Stefan Frei, the Toronto FC incumbent was usurped by the also cost-efficient Joe Bendik who Nelsen, like QPR manager Harry Redknapp with Green, would rather start due to their consistent positive efforts – no sense in switching steeds’ mid-battle if the one you’re riding is performing well.
In order for the transfer to take place, Toronto needed to offload one of its ten international players as to not go over the league limit. Therefore Jonas Elmer and Toronto FC officially parted ways on mutual terms several days prior to the transfer taking place. Elmer was a player who never settled into the Toronto FC squad, brought in from the Swiss second division and was used sparingly in the latter half of the season as depth at left back. That Logan Emory had more playing time than him is enough cause for concern, and of Toronto’s international contingent it is fitting that he of all players would depart.
Thus, Julio Cesar finds himself alongside Michael Bradley and Jermain Defoe as former European stars clothed in the colours of Toronto FC to start the 2014 season. If the rumours are accurate, it will be a loan for a period of three months, then off to the World Cup for him and a return to QPR at its conclusion. I can only imagine how excited Joe Bendik, Chris Konopka and Quillan Roberts must feel; working with a veteran as classy as Julio Cesar for any length of time would be an immense honour. With their youth it will serve them well to be learning on a daily basis from someone who is not only an experienced goalkeeper serving their club, but one who will be leading the host country of the 2014 World Cup in goal, someone who also happens to possess almost every trophy possible for a Serie A based goalkeeper.
According to Julio, Luiz Felipe Scolari approves of his decision to come to MLS and assured him that he will be in the World Cup squad despite MLS’s international reputation as a lesser league – the key aspect of this transaction is that he will be guaranteed playing time. The World Cup is the only achievement he has failed to conquer – it garners the reputation for being the most difficult to attain for a reason.
Part of his decision to venture forth to the New World was helped in hand by Ryan Nelsen, the Great Kiwi himself. I think no one can argue that Ryan has perfected his English loan system by now. His initial loans were shaky in Bostock and Ephraim, but he hit gold with Caldwell and hopefully Bradley Orr and Julio Cesar now too. He’ll be here for three months; my how I hope these three months will be productive – it’ll be nice seeing yet another TFC player suit up for that little tournament taking place this June down in Brazil.Truly a tremendous coup for Toronto FC and Major League Soccer, here’s to more signings like this one in the near future!
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