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TORONTO — In an effort to improve its goal scoring, Toronto FC will begin negotiations today with Paul Dickov and Darren Huckerby, who have played in the English Premier League.
Dickov, 35, trained Thursday with Toronto FC while Huckerby, 32, travelled to have a look at things with the San Jose Earthquakes, who also are interested in signing him.
Toronto FC has first rights in Major League Soccer for both free agents.
Negotiations continue with the Chicago Fire to work out a deal for forward Brian McBride, who wants to return from England to play for his hometown team. TFC owns the rights for him. Look for something to be worked out by July 15 when the MLS transfer period opens. It stands to reason the Fire would not want to give up a player now when McBride cannot play for them until the second half of the month. Also, Toronto and Chicago play on July 12.
Dickov and Huckerby both attended TFC's 1-0 loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps in a Canadian championship round-robin match on Tuesday and came away impressed with the atmosphere and the facilities at BMO Field.
TFC general manager Mo Johnston said Thursday that Huckerby has some "slight concern" about the FieldTurf considering his injury history, but did not indicate it would be a serious barrier.
Huckerby has not had a chance to train on BMO Field's surface.
Dickov played last season with Manchester City and also was on loan to Blackpool for a while. Huckerby has been with Norwich City.
TFC captain Jim Brennan has played with Huckerby and against Dickov in England and said both are a handful to cover for defenders.
Dickov, like Johnston, is from Scotland.
"He wanted to come in and train," Johnston said. "We have a serious interest in him. He's a young 35-year-old as you can see the way he's running about here and he's loved the city, he's loved everything that we've shown him so far."
TFC and Huckerby have been linked since the winter, when the club put in a discovery for him, which gave it first MLS rights to him.
"We had Darren here for two or three days and he loved it as well," Johnston said. "He's shown a major interest in coming here."
If Huckerby did decide that he would prefer to play for San Jose, then that club would have to deal with Toronto.
Johnston said nothing has been decided yet as negotiations begin with both players. "We'll take it from there," Johnston said. "It's not a done deal, it's not a gimme that [Huckerby] will go to San Jose and it's not 100 per cent that he will come here. But we're interested in both players."
TFC will play Pachuca, from Mexico, in an exhibition game at BMO Field on Saturday.
