So does anyone have predictions on which young players are going to make an Impact in MLS this year? Villarreal seems to be poised to have a potential beak out season.
Villarreal is the best guess, particularly with Donovan on walkabout and Zardes injured. He's basically their primary forward off the bench for the first part of the season (If Magee and Keane start).
Arena probably thought that some starts against good quality opposition (especially potentially Mexico) were to Villarreal's benefit. So missing one or two sub appearances for the Galaxy are OK. If they need a forward off the bench this weekend, it will probably be McBean............so it's a win for youth watchers anyway. Other than Gil, I don't know how much playing time this group (93s and younger) are going to get this season. Barring injuries, you don't see many starts in the group that's for sure. And that's to be expected.
I think Trapp will get some time in Cbus because of the Bliss connection. Everything from him has said how high they are on him and getting to see and work with him on the U20's will have helped. Not sure he will get a ton of minutes but I think he will get some.
A little. I think a lot of these U20s will get a little time (Jonathan Top, Dillon Serna, Wil Trapp, DeAndre Yedlin, McBean, Mikey Lopez, Zimmerman, O'Neill, Marco Delgado, etc. etc.) Most of them will be reserve team regulars with some USOC/MLS sub minutes. But the only ones I see getting significant playing time are Gil and Villarreal. And I just don't know about Salgado. There's an absolute logjam at forward for the Whitecaps (Kenny Miller, Darren Mattocks, Erik Hurtado, Paulo Jr., Kekuta Manneh, Corey Hertzog, Tom Heinemann, Caleb Clarke, etc.) So from what I'm seeing we've got to hope that Salgado gets playing time as a left mid in the kind of position that Brek Shea played for FCD. We'll see.................
I generally agree with Clint's assessment. I think the group of guys like Top, Serna, Trapp etc will see some scattered playing time, and maybe even one of them breaks out and becomes a starter, but for the majority it's going to be Gil and Villareal playing. I'm also worried about Salgado.
I heard that Serna was really impressing up in Colorado. Impressing in the sense that he could be more involved with the First Team this year.
Serna was getting some run with the starters in preseason before he left for Puebla. I wouldn't be shocked if he worked himself in as a contributing sub and maybe even more depending on how Colorado's season goes, they don't look strong at all on paper.
Due to Martin Rivero's injury, right? The Rapids don't have many good options in that position now...................other than Serna. Harbottle is kind of a forward, but can be moved to that attacking CM role. And perhaps Dillon Powers, but I think of him more as a "holding mid."
I'll be interested to see what players are sent to a USL team. Their season doesn't start until late March/early April, so MLS teams should have an idea of who will be able to contribute and who needs more seasoning.
Gulley with the Fire is a must loan-out at this point. Still zero pro games for him with seemingly none on the horizon. I know he's had his injury problems, but he's not a 17 year old prospect at this point. Now or never....................... Davy Armstrong, Jimmy McLaughlin, Kevin Ellis, Cristhian Hernandez, etc.......................
McLaughlin impressed some Union observers when the team was in Florida. He's been playing RM and RB. He'd be behind Cruz at one position and Williams/Gaddis at the other. I wouldn't be shocked to see him get a few minutes at RM since Hackworth doesn't seem to want to play Michael Farfan at RM. Of course Le Toux can play RM but Seba seems more likely to play up front with Casey/McInerney. Hernandez was injured in preseason and we haven't seen him play recently. I wouldn't be surprised to see either player loaned.
This one kind of comes out of nowhere. A Crew fan will have to let us know what's going on. Perhaps the Crew were hoping to get either Matt Wiet or Justin Luthy. When they didn't get either, they simply decided to fill the spot with another kid.
A discussion of the next group of potential homegrown signings http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/coll...ll-be-the-next-mls-homegrown-signing_aid28514 F Brandon Allen, New York Red Bulls (Georgetown) F Brody Huitema, Vancouver Whitecaps FC MF Collin Martin, D.C. United (Wake Forest) MF/D Jordan Allen, Real Salt Lake F Paul Arriola, LA Galaxy MF Ricardo Perez, Colorado Rapids GK Zackary Steffen, FC Delco (Philadelphia Union) D Sebastien Ibeagha, Houston Dynamo (Duke) MF Cameron Lindley, Indiana United Fire D Michael Ambrose, FC Dallas (Maryland) F Rubio Rubin, Portland Timbers F Sean Okoli, Seattle Sounders FC (Wake Forest) Other candidates: F Benjamin Lopez (Real Salt Lake), MF Danny Garcia (North Carolina/FC Dallas), D Jalen Robinson (Wake Forest/D.C. United), D Andrew Souders (Akron/Columbus Crew), D Patrick Slogic (Cornell/Colorado Rapids), MF Bryan Ciesiulka (Marquette/Chicago Fire), MF David Leichty (Sporting KC), D Bryan Gallego (Akron/Portland Timbers) Are they missing anybody? I'll throw one out there. Kendall McIntosh of Santa Clara will probably become San Jose's first homegrown signing. We'll see.
Wasn't Arriola already signed? There seems to be much confusion there. Also seems like Ibeagha has been on that list for years....gotta wonder how much his growth may be stunted. And if I was McIntosh I wouldn't come out anytime soon....remember he somewhat struggled this year....and he would have Busch+Bingham (who was a high regarded goalie in college a few years ago) in front of him.
Arriola hasn't signed on yet, although I think most people expect it. I believe he's committed to UCLA, so we'll see..................... Keeper's a weird beast. I only mentioned McIntosh because San Jose is the one club in MLS that's never signed a homegrown player. And to be frank, McIntosh is the only one I see on the horizon. But you're right, he didn't start at Santa Clara this year. [And who's to criticize San Jose. They're the current Supporter's Shield Winners. If you don't have the talent to sign, don't sign a kid "just to do it."] Another guy I'd put on the list is Joey Calistri. He's from the Fire academy, and was a Freshman All-American this past season at Northwestern. Some other kids who had great freshman seasons were Marcus Salandy-Defour of DCU/Virginia, Grady Howe of UCLA/Galaxy, Ben McKendry of Mew Mexico/Whitecaps, etc.
Arriola hasn't officially signed but it seems to be a formality. Might be just waiting for when he's been with the Galaxy Academy for 6 months, which I believe will be sometime this month. I'd add Ahinga Selamani to potential HG signing with the Crew after the U17 WC.
Is it clear that a player from the Crew Wolves can sign directly as a homegrown the same way a Columbus-based academy player would? I wouldn't be surprised if this is true, I'm just not 100% sure. As for Arriola, I'm a little less confident than you are. If signing with the Galaxy were just a formality, I don't think he would've signed his UCLA LOI a few weeks ago.