TORONTO - Toronto FC says captain Dwayne De Rosario's weekend comments about deserving a better contract are disappointing and unacceptable.
The TFC star scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season Saturday in a 3-2 loss to visiting San Jose, and then pulled out an imaginary pen and chequebook and mimicked writing a cheque.
De Rosario, 32, is two years into a four-year contract that will pay him US$443,750 this season.
Julian de Guzman will make $1,717,546 while fellow designated player Mista is earning $987,337.50, although his salaray is pro-rated since he arrived mid-season.
"Definitely (my salary should be) up there," De Rosario said after the game. "It's too long now. Every year I've been showing my worth and it's about time they come to me with something. I know of other clubs who have gone to their star players and ripped up their contracts and I think it's only fair."
Tom Anselmi, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, said the team renegotiated De Rosario's contract when they acquired him from Houston. And he said he had already told De Rosario's agent that they would talk at the end of the season.
Anselmi said De Rosario's timing was poor.
"I think the message sucked," he told "Prime Time Sports" on Rogers Sportsnet and The Fan 590 on Monday. "Because that is putting personal interest above team and that's not what good teams do."
Anselmi called De Rosario "a good guy" whose behaviour was out of character.
"That's just not team behaviour and just unacceptable."
Added Anselmi: "We all do stupid things once in a while and hopefully that's what it's about. And Dwayne's happy to be part of this team and we're going to move on. That's what I'm assuming the situation is."
De Rosario posted an MLSnet.com story headlined "De Rosario: I deserve more" on his Twitter account.
