Orange Legionnaire

Dutch Lion former winger Bas Ent, 7 assists and 3 goals with the Dutch Lions in 2010, is officially on trial with Toronto F.C. again, this time in Antayla, Turkey (Ent is pictured above, far right).

Bas is one of eight players, including two other Dutch forwards, looking to win a contract on this preseason trip to Turkey.

Dutch Lion defender Evan Schwartz was expected to make the trip as well, but Toronto F.C. doctors wanted Evan to work and build up his right quad a little more, and were worried he may pick up an injury in Turkey. Schwartz was surprised by the decision, as he was in perfect health training with the Colorado Rapids prior to going to Toronto. The Toronto F.C. doctors put Schwartz on a workout plan in Florida and invited him to rejoin TFC again on February 13th when the club returns from Turkey. Evan therefore can either rejoin Toronto F.C. when they return from Turkey, or can go with preseason options to continue his training with the Colorado Rapids (where GM Paul Bravo was very impressed with Evan in training) or the Chicago Fire (where Evan counts as a homegrown player).

Ent will thus solely represent the Dutch Lions in this Toronto F.C. preseason camp. This camp will be quite an opportunity for Bas, as he will get a chance to pull on the Toronto top against the likes of Partizan Belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb. Bas will add the two international fixtures to his international friendly accolades with Toronto F.C.; as Bas has already sprinted down the line for TFC against English Premier League side, Bolton Wanderers.

Despite being an exceptional opportunity, Bas may be a little disappointed to have to go through a trial again with TFC, seeing that Ent already successfully trialed for Toronto F.C. this past Summer. Ent and his agent also thought they already had a deal with Toronto F.C. in place and were slightly frustrated to hear that Ent would have to go through the process again for new manager Aron Winter. But, Ent decided to put this behind him and still take on such a great opportunity.

The Orange Legionnaire was aware of Bas's contract issue with TFC but decided not to divulge the information as contract talks were delicate. Ent and TFC have put that behind them, and Ent has only one focus- impressing Winter in this camp.

The11 explains the Bas stituation in detail:

Ent's status as a trialist has to lead to the conclusion that the three-year deal is off the table, for now at least. The club announced Saturday that Ent is one of five more trialists to join the team for its camp in Turkey. Ent, former Ajax Academy prospect Javier Martina, Ghanian midfielder King Osei Gyan, who had a spell in the Fulham side but never got into a game, Uruguayan forward Santiago Gonzalez Areco and 23-year-old Dutch striker Nick Soolsma join the three Canadian trialists named on Friday.

It’s hard to blame new TFC technical director Aron Winter for deciding to put Ent through the paces again rather than honouring the promise of a contract made by a previous regime. Ent had trialled for the Preki-Mo Johnston brain trust and was promised the contract by interim GM Earl Cochrane. Like the Dwayne De Rosario contract saga, Winter inherited a series of promises made by people before him.

Ent looks unlikely to let it all affect him, focusing on the football he looks good in camp in this video on TorontoFC.ca (making a run at the 1:54 mark, Ent is assigned the number 22 jersey in this camp):


Here's Day 1 as well:


Ent's games with Toronto F.C. are on February 2nd, 6th, and the 10th. If there is a video feed for these games I'll post that information on here.

Best of luck to Ent! Proost!