I think people are overrating Di Chiara's offensive ability, given that 4 of his 5 goals in this league were from the penalty spot. The other was a header off a corner kick. He's only ever scored in League1 Ontario, but never in any of the professional clubs he's played at. Cavalry outpossessed their opponents in 80% of their games in 2020, and by crazy margins in a few of them (71% against Edmonton, 62% against Ottawa), so I don't see how his possession stats really improve what was already a pretty good trait of the team.
Perhaps he gives Cavalry the ability to play through the middle that they were desperately lacking during the tournament with Camargo's absence. I've never really seen that from him when I've watched York. Aparicio was York's free kick taker and he scored some absolute bangers during the tournament, so not sure about that aspect of his game.
Simmons is training in Sweden right now with a club who want to sign him, and Adekugbe was training in Norway at his brother's club last year, so if one or both of those two leave, this signing really makes sense. Outside of that, we have three similar players in di Chiara, Simmons and Adekugbe with Ledgerwood in a reduced role to finish off his career. And there's Zebie too, but maybe he's the odd man out.
IMO, this is just a signing that at best is a small upgrade on players Cavalry already have. It does nothing to address what is really lacking at the club, which is depth in attack and creating chances through the middle of the pitch. That said, I think I am the only person who doesn't rate this signing so there's that.
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