Chasing Carlos Costly, The Right Guy or a Desperate Move

Rumors are swirling that the Houston Dynamo are working to secure the services of Honduran striker Carlos Costly ahead of the closing of MLS's summer transfer window on August 15th. With Will Bruin on the shelf for at least a month and Calen Carr still recovering from a concussion, it certainly makes sense for Houston to be looking to add a forward, but is this the type of player they need or a desperate attempt to just get someone signed this summer?

Costly is a good player, a tall target forward with decent agility and the ability to hold the ball up. That's certainly not a bad thing but is it what the offense needs? Brian Ching plays a similar style and would having the two of them on the field together really work? What the Dynamo need is speed and Costly doesn't really bring that. Without Danny Cruz available for the next 4 to 6 weeks with a quad injury, there is a serious lack of any real attacking speed that Kinnear seems willing to play. 

Therein lies my concern. Costly likely wouldn't hurt the Dynamo's attempts to make the playoffs but it just doesn't seem to really solve any of the core issues facing this roster right now.

If anything, it feels a lot more like a desperate move by the front office to make sure they get someone signed before the transfer window closes and why not a guy whose fans help fill up Robertson back in May for a friendly between Honduras and El Salvador. Maybe I'm over thinking this, but a big target forward really doesn't seem like the type of player the Dynamo needs right now.

Another factor to consider is the financial side of a potential deal. Whether Costly would join the Dynamo as a designated player or not is up in the air, but either way he'll be a significant hit on the salary cap. There should be some allocation money to pay down the impact, but I don't see Costly coming cheap...It's taking all my willpower to avoid a variety of puns here.

You could argue that this team needs depth up front and bringing in a player with the track record of Costly is a good move no matter what the bigger needs are...and you'd be right. In fact, there may not be a legitimate speedy forward/central midfielder out there willing to come to MLS and/or Houston.

What say you Dynamo fans? Is Costly the right guy or another signing with ulterior motives connected to trying to sell more tickets?