Toronto Signs Smith

Toronto FC announced the signing of free agent forward Johann Smith today. Toronto acquired the former Bolton Wanderers striker after acquiring the No. 2 allocation ranking from the New England Revolution in exchange for allocation money and Toronto’s 13th allocation ranking. This swap in allocation allowed Toronto FC to sign Smith.

The 21-year old spent most of his time with Bolton in their academy in England. He made his team debut in the Premiership in Bolton’s Carling Cup defeat at Charlton Athletic in October of 2006 when he came on as a second half substitute. Smith was loaned out to League Two side Darlington in mid-October and followed that up with a loan spell at Stockport County.

Smith was apart of US U-20 World Cup squad that competed in Toronto last summer but a pre-tournament injury forced him to out of the competition. In five appearances for the U-20′s he has scored four goals.

I don’t know a whole lot about Smith but he’s young and apartently what Mo Johnston was looking for since they traded up to sign him. Its not a move many were talking about either. Most of us were waiting to see if Toronto would sign Paul Dickov after some on and off discussions. I would assume that this signing means the Dickov deal is dead again.

I’m not sure if this means Smith is the answer to the attacking problems that has troubled Toronto for some time but I do like the young core of strikers that they are building around. You take Abdus Ibrahim, Chad Barrett and now Smith along with a veteran like Danny Dichio and this could be a very underrated attack. Then again it could also be a very bad attack because of that youth. We will see.

Also, from a New England standpoint, I would assume that since they lost out on Benny Feilhaber earlier in the day they decided to trade away their allocation spot to get some cash. Smart move really on their part since it would have been a wasted spot for them.

Does this kid mean the answer to Toronto’s attacking needs?