Mukwelle Akale is headed to Spain to sign a precontract with Villarreal on Monday, multiple sources told TopDrawerSoccer.com on Friday. The precontract with the La Liga side is necessary, as Akale does not turn 18 until January 18. The U.S. U18 Men’s National Team midfielder is one of the most skilled prospects in the youth national team structure. With sublime ball control, excellent field vision, and a knack for scooting around larger opponents, Akale has become a focal point of the offense while playing as the attacking midfielder with the youth national team. Link Seems like a great fit given his size and skill set.
Nice. Spain is a good place for diminutive, technical playmakers. This one comes to mind right away (who also played for Villarreal, in fact): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Ibagaza
So under the Cotonou Agreement, a Cameroonian passport would keep him from being counted as a foreign player in the Spanish league, right?
5'2" that's more worrying than Emerson Hyndman... someone contact Messi's doctors and get this kid some HGH.
Heck he could be an NBA star, see [name of some outlier from which no conclusions should be drawn]. He may be fine at 5'2", or he may be not fine, who knows. BUT his odds would be far better if he was 5'6-8" (I'll spare you the list of soccer stars in that range)...
I don't think the ussoccer listing is up to date (shocker) he is supposedly 5'4 now. Still a little guy obviously but seems he is still growing at least.
He turns 18 next January. And if he's now up to 5'4" then he's already taller than one La Liga player I can think of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Buonanotte
Why do people keep doing this "one" thing? "I was going to take a basic statistics course and learn about sample sizes, outliers, etc. but I decided to drop out of college instead because BILL GATES."
He's already 5'4", and he could grow some more. Plus, if he has enough skill on the ball, it won't matter how tall he is. Why are you so fixated on his height? This is NOT the NBA, height doesn't play as big a role in this game as it does there.
I know he's hardly the average height for a pro, but the point still stands that the Spanish league has always had its share of small, skillful attackers. And as it's been pointed out, Akale only turned 17 a few months ago. But anyway, if you want to keep wringing your hands over it then by all means go ahead. In fact, maybe there's still time for you to contact the Villarreal scouts and point out his height, thus saving them from making a huge mistake.
Yes it's certainly not the NBA, where 17% of all American males above 7' have NBA careers and a player who is 7' tall or above gets paid 20% more than one who is just 6'11"... we're talking about 5'2" (or 4" maybe) vs 5'6-8"... what percentage of say the top 25 players ever for the US national team have been under that range? And maybe he'll get there given his age and if he's really 5'4" and not 5'2", but naming a few individuals who had success at that height is irrelevant (hence my comparison to dropping out of college because Bill Gates did it)... If there was a 6'7" youth forward I'd be just as worried, even if others were sure his height wouldn't work against him because Peter Crouch happens to exist. If there was a young player who was incredibly slow, the fact that Blanco was still playing professionally as a low old man would hardly be consolation.
This isn't even a question, if you're observant...5'4" is a problem. But he might be a late bloomer. I was about his height when I started my senior year of high school (maybe I was even 5'3"). I'm 5'10" now. Every inch will help. There's no cutoff point..."oh, he's too short." It's just really hard when you're 5'4", a little less hard when you're 5'5", a bit of a problem when you're 5'6", etc.
Shrug. Call me in two years when he's 19-20 regarding the height issue. He's a recently-turned 17 year old prospect. He's still got growing to do in terms of his height and his build. He's not going to develop into the next Luca Toni. I'm pretty confident of that. But let's give it a while before we fret about his height. We can all come up with a list of short forwards that excelled in this sport that were 5'8" or shorter. Antonio Di Natale and on and on. He was presumably smaller than many of the players he competed against at these recent youth tournaments, and yet he was named "Player of the Tournament" at a recent competition that both Spain and Argentina were at....................................
I think I am more concerned about some Villarreal clown throwing a banana his way than his lack of height. It's probably an isolated incident and Villarreal has taken immediate action to identify and ban the supporter who chucked a banana at Dani Alves but I'd think hard and long if I were of African decent looking to sign with Villarreal.
Only a few years ago the tables were turned and it was Barcelona fans who were dishing out racist abuse: Kameni suffers racism at Camp Nou And a few years before that Kameni was receiving it from fans of his own team, as well as Atletico Madrid supporters. Basically, it's a league problem that extends much farther than just Villarreal.
David Campayo Lleo is apparently the guy who threw the banana at Dani Alves. A Villarreal youth coach. pic.twitter.com/BJQPLn9PoS— Outside of the Boot (@OOTB_football) May 1, 2014
http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/27072014-villarreal-u18s-2-0-saints-u18s-report-1785210.aspx Scored a goal for Villrrreal's U-18's against Southampton's U-18's.