YNT-eligible ('93 and later) players in U.S. lower divisions

Jon Top loaned to USL...

http://m.fcdallas.com/news/2014/04/fc-dallas-loans-jonathan-top-usl-pro-side-arizona-united

Many teams are starting to loan players to lower division teams will be interesting how much of a benefit it will be to the improvement of those players

 

With the standard of USL Pro still as low as it is, it's important for MLSers not to lower their games to it. Even so, Mendiola, McBean and Sorto (technically not loanees, I know) are at a stage of development where they can learn a lot of lessons at this level. Provided that they don't stay for too long, there can be little doubt that it will help.

In addition, the impact in the opposite direction is worth following. That is to say, let's see how much MLS loanees help to make USL Pro a better league. From what I've observed so far, they make a big difference. For example, someone like Michael Fucito may be an afterthought in MLS, but in USL Pro he helps his team in two ways. First, he's a standout performer, and second, he plays for free, allowing Sacramento to spend more money on the rest of its squad.

 

http://m.lagalaxy.com/news/2014/04/...y-ii-midfielder-raul-mendiola’s-road-maturity

Article on Mendiola referred to as Mex-American. Anyone know about his recent eligibility status?

 

They can even give you a nice new jersey to pose in for the press.

Con mucho amor,
Camilo

 

The good news is that he's signed with LA so he'll be in the US for the next few years. There is not a lot of information about his situation out there. A lot of rumors a few years ago that he was undocumented and didn't have a green card. It's dangerous to speculate, but if that's the case then he could end up as an Andy Najar case. It could be a long road to US Citizenship, which if he progresses as we would hope, might push him out of the league like Najar.

 

Mendiola has a Green Card, but wouldn't be surprised if he only got it within the past year. It might've been a reason that the Galaxy didn't sign him until this season, so that he wouldn't count as a foreign player.

 

In which case we would be looking at four or five years, and no U20s or U23s.

 

It should be noted that Arizona's coach is a former FCD player. Michael Dellorusso didn't get into many games, but he was there from 2006 to 2009. A well respected guy.

FCD is still reportedly looking to loan out one more player. Could be any number of guys. Walker Zimmerman, Daniel Garcia, and others could use a string of starting matches. I believe, however, that its one of the keepers that'll go out.

 

One of the players AZ has added is Charles Renken, whom I believe is still YNT-eligible.

http://arizonaunited.com/news.php

Landing in USL pro means he really IS the next Freddy Adu!

 

Arizona is assembling a surprisingly interesting roster by USL Pro standards. A Charles Renken sighting, Jonathan Top on loan, a bunch of former MLS HGPs (Woodberry, Baladez, Kassel), and Antunez who played in Finland and had cameos in MLS and Liga MX.

Dellorusso is going after his connections with Dallas (Woodberry, Baladez, Top) and Maryland (Saint Cyr, Kassel).

Also, didn't Dellorusso used to spell his name Dello-Russo?

 

I think he and fellow Terp A.J. DeLaGarza are having a contest to see who can change their name spelling the most.

http://www.umterps.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=29700&ATCLID=207385889
http://www.lagalaxy.com/players/aj-delagarza

 

I know that Maryland's program has earned a lot of respect, but even so, I don't see how you sign a guy who was buried as deep on their bench as Widner St Cyr was. And it's not just about Dellorusso, either. He managed to win an extended tryout with NYRB in pre-season.

 

Your assessment of St Cyr may well be correct, but I can see how it would happen when you are tasked with throwing together a roster in about three weeks with what's almost certainly a very small budget. Ultimately, Dello-Russo is going to lean on connection perhaps more than he'd like to because there's not much time to do anything else.

 

Yup. In fact if he had more time we may have been able to acquire those guys like Bryan Leyva that ended up signing with that Dallas NPSL team.

Where is Ruben Luna, for instance? He's not listed on the Atlanta Silverbacks roster...........................

 

The MLS reserves from DC United are doing very well for Richmond, often dominating the play. Richmond made the USL final last year, in large part due to the play of DC United loaned players who would not have played at the MLS level.

My hope is that we get in the habit of loaning players who have graduated from USL to NASL, which is definitely a level above USL, once a player has shown that he no longer benefits from playing at the USL level. Conor Shanosky is a very good player at the USL level, a solid player at the NASL level, and not quite good enough for MLS. I would prefer that he get another NASL loan this year so he can push himself to become a better player. I doubt that he will ever be good enough to get consistent playing time with DC United or any MLS team, but if they are going to keep him on the books, they might as well push him to be the best player that he is capable of. Otherwise they are just throwing money out the window by keeping him around.

Every player on the books needs to be pushed to be the best he is capable of or you are undermining the culture of your franchise.