Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy Just to summarize the article, he has offers from 4 Italian clubs - I have no idea as to which level but I assume they are Serie A. Appears to have ancestry from Argentina but his father played for the U.S. U-20's in the 80's. Ironically, there is a star player for Boca Juniors right now with his exact same name. http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/sections/youth2.php?article_id=23402 HE'S GOING PLACES Nicholas Gaitan to captain U-15 NT in Argentina, plans to play in Italy By Michael Lewis BigAppleSoccer.com Editor Albertson S.C. midfielder Nicholas Gaitan will captain the U.S. Under-15 National Team for its trip to Argentina next month. But Gaitan's next international trip could make more of an impact on his life. He's mulling over offers to play for Italian professional soccer clubs. His father, Adrian Gaitan, said Nicholas has narrowed the possibilities to three or four clubs. A decision could be made as early as Thursday night. "He's going," Adrian said. "He's going for sure. One hundred percent. "I'm leaving the decision up to him, to let him go where he wants to go.".........
Re: Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy there's 3,000 Gaitans in Argentina according to his pops. Cap them all?
Re: Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy Nice catch. Looks like Gaitan is a '95 who has been in the U15 pool before. Here's a little info on dad: http://liacademysoccer.com/Web/gaitan.html
Re: Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy A 15-year old is capable of making huge life decisions? I'm sure dad has SOME say.
Re: Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy would suck if he got there and the club was like "oooh...yeah...our bad, we wanted the one from Boca. We'll give you this Toblerone from the airport gift shop before we send you back to America."
Re: Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy Well I'm sure they would take both seeing how the one from Boca is like 22 and the US youth player is only like 15
Re: Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy yes but they seem to be almost synonymous with airport gift shops and since I couldn't think of what the Italian equivalent would be, I went with Toblerone.
Re: Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy LOL...they just announced over the weekend that Nicholas Gaitan from Boca Juniors is headed to Europe also - Benfica. Hopefully they both don't end up in Serie A one day. The confusion would be too much.
Re: Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy Anyone hear anything? As of a summer YNT callup, he was still listed as based in the U.S.
Re: Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy Why don't you email his coach/father? He's the head coach for Albertson SC in the DA.
Re: Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy Man, I remember watching Adrian Gaitan playing for the Washington Stars in the old APSL in the late 80's. They played at WT Woodson HS (alma mater of Clarence Goodson and Abe Thompson) and were coachd by John Kerr, Sr. Other names on that team included Bruce Murray, David Nahkid, and Kerr, Jr. His teammates on the US U20 team at the 87 WC included MLS veterans Tony Meola, Tommy Reasoner, Jeff Agos, Mark Santel, Henry Guteirrez, Marcelo Balboa, Danny Pena and Kasey Keller. Man, I'm old.
Re: Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy Isn't Pena the guy who once turned down a U.S. call-up under Sampson?
Re: Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy Nicholas signed with Argentinos Juniors. http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/sections/youth2.php?article_id=25342
Things are happening quickly for Nicholas Gaitan, a 16-year-old central midfielder from Long Island. Nine months after arriving in Buenos Aires to join the Argentinos Juniors youth system, he was called into the reserve squad last week. And now his father, Adrian, is getting word that Boca Juniors has taken interest and might be trying to acquire him. __________________________ He has a one-year deal but is not considered a professional, which allows him to maintain amateur status in case he decides to return for college. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs.../14/gIQABQoTFI_blog.html?wprss=soccer-insider
It's crazy how many really young attacking players the US is seeing pop up in Pro teams (Hyndman-Fulham, Pfeffer-Union, Fagundez- N.E.R, Gaitan-Argentinos juniors, and the ones from tigres...wow)
I was barely looking for him on Argentinos Jrs website yesterday. Hopefully he does go to Boca. There is another kid with the surname Maradona there.
Re: Nicholas Gaitan U-15 to Italy Actually the Gaitan at Benfica spells his name without the "h" (Nicolás). Although now that our young Yank could be headed to Boca Juniors it could really cause some some confusion for their fans. I suspect they'd get around it by giving him a nickname; something they're very keen on in Argentina. Anyway, it's certainly an interesting development, but you have to wonder -- as his father seems to be doing -- whether it would be the best move for him at the moment. Especially since he's just been promoted to the reserves with Argentinos Juniors.
All 4 of those kids are eligible for the 2015 U-20 WC, though Fagundez still needs his citizenship to play for the U.S.
We need it. The CONCACAF region is getting harder and harder to qualify from. Right now, the youth teams from Mexico, Honduras and Costa Rica in particular are getting stronger and stronger - not to mention the teams from the other countries. It's get better or get left behind.