We've made no secret of it before: we love Dave van den Bergh. We rue the day the idiots in charge traded him away. We would love nothing more than to see him back in a New York uniform.

And now, there is an opportunity to do just that. Dallas, who was attempting to get a ransom for the out-of-contract van den Bergh, has supposedly released him outright. Meaning he will go into the waiver draft, meaning Metro will have a first crack at the Walking Dutchman by the virtue of finishing dead last right year (expansion Philly was placed at the bottom of the heap).

Hooray!

Hooray?

Oh, if only Erik Soler and Hans Backe saw it the same way we do. For right now, left midfield is not exactly the club's strongsuit. Joel Lindpere, brought in to play that position, has been moved to the middle. Second year man Jeremy Hall seemed destined to start at right back. Austin da Luz is a rookie. Daneligh Borman is a project. Hell, against Santos, Backe played Sinisa Ubiparipovic on the left... A position he's never played in MLS before. And with all respect to Sinisa, he is no van den Bergh.

So why not? Why not grab a player -- for free, a player who will instantly make your team better? A player who links up so well with Juan Pablo Angel? A player who has proven himself in MLS time and time again? A player who would love to play for your team?

At this point, we don't know what Soler and Backe are thinking. But we do know that they had a chance to take van den Bergh before, and passed. The price Dallas was asking was supposedly not high (a small allocation was a rumor), but whether that was the deterrent, or van den Bergh's potential salary, we don't know. Perhaps Soler and Backe's just don't see him as an option.

But we hope they do.

Dear Erik Soler and Hans Backe,

Bring back Dave van den Bergh. Please? Pretty please?