I wonder if we could get Andrew Lloyd Weber to write a musical with everyone signing "Veron, Veron, Veron" waiting for Juan to appear on a balcony?

...and then the female part of the chorus would sing "La Brujita" as a coutnerpoint...

...and if we could get him to do that, would it still be overrated kitsch? (Yes.)

Regardless, the first major US media report that Veron has been signed is out from Sports Illustrated:

Juan Sebastian Veron and D.C. United have agreed to a $3-4 million a year deal that will be signed and officially announced next week, SI.com has learned.

Goff counters this report with "no, nothing is certain yet," and I am inclined to believe Goff on this. While many of the details in the SI.COM report match the rumors that we've seen publicly and have been emailed to us, and the salary details seem about right (in fact, exactly what we predicted), my (informed) guess is that an agreement exists in principle between United and Veron, including a timetable on final decisions and scheduling, but the deal is not yet fully consummated.

(UPDATE: Yes, reports like this or this, saying Veron is not coming, are pretty much treated the same way as reports like the ones that say he is coming. It is not yet confirmed one way or the other. I maintain that an agreement in principle was in fact reached, but until everything is final, it can go anywhere.)

Now, over on the Hello/Goodbye list on the right, I'm only putting in the confirmed news. Right now both Josh and Troy are still with the team, and I will hold off until there's an official announcement before updating the board. Still, looking at the key personnel changes, the big picture including probable (though perhaps not highly probable) moves is like this:

OUT: Boswell, Carroll, Gomez, Gros, Perkins

IN: Veron, Wells, 1 Attacker from Argentina (Lopez?), 1 defender, 1 more player?

Five starters out, five starters in... Yeah, perhaps 2007 was a rebuilding year, it just happened to be December when the rebuilding happened.