Toronto FC head coach Ryan Nelsen says he is prepared to deal with short-term pain in order to get things at the club to an acceptable standard.
The Canadian club were beaten 4-0 by Portland Timbers on the weekend which compounded a tough week following the sacking of general manager Kevin Payne.
Nelsen has confirmed that he has a number of top quality players who would join TFC on big-money deals but insists he will not operate in that manner so the club can prosper in the future.
"I don't want to knee-jerk. I don't want to sign silly contracts and put people on massive guaranteed money for knee-jerk, short-term potential. And trust me, I know a lot of players that would come over," he told the Toronto Sun.
"I'll take the short-term pain of getting the salary cap and contracts right and balanced and be able to lay our foundation and bring in players in certain positions that are going to help this team for two, three or four years.
"Again, I'll take all the criticism and all the short-term pain to do that. As long as we know we're in a nice foundation where we can move forward with the club instead of being hamstrung by knee-jerk signings and bad contracts."
TFC currently sits second bottom on the Eastern Conference table with just 22 points from 27 matches.
