Swedish club Helsingborgs IF announced on their website that 20 year old american winger Ariel Lassiter is trialing with them. Here's also a video with Lassiter: The swedish speaking part of the video says that he will be there for a week and maybe play in a game. The narrator praises his speed, technique and shot. The director of sports comments that he is interested in the US market but that it is difficult to scout there because of the different system with college soccer and drafts etc.
He played in a friendly which Helsingborg won 8-0. Here's a video of postgame interviews: If you want to avoid the swedish-speaking parts, Lassiter shows up at 0:43, 2:20, 2:58 and 4:35. He seems to have done well as the U21 coach says that his play in the game confirms what they have seen in training during the week. The director of sports also comments that Lassiter has good flow in both his step and everything else he does as well as having "good football genes". He was also supposed to play in another friendly game last week but it got postponed after excessive raining. They are playing today instead, so remains to be seen if he will take part in that one.
Scheduled to be a 20-year-old ('94) soph at Cal Poly this fall. Before he enrolled, reports said he had considered turning pro out of high school. It seems possible he would leave college for a decent deal.
Man, ol' Roy is one of the most under-appreciated players ever. Out of deference to the boy I will keep this thread on-point!
Lassiter has played in two more friendly games since the last update. The manager said in an article today that he thought that Lassiter did well but also expressed doubts about whether or not he could break into the team in the short term perspective. He also compared him to the other young midfield trialists who they had with them and said that he was more of a finished player then Lassiter.
Helsingborg will not be signing Lassiter. The director of sports say that they were impressed by the american but that they have to prioritize other things (I'm guessing he means signings in other positions). Lassiter is however still in Sweden and is now trialing with Superettan club GAIS where a previous assistant manager from Helsingborg recently has taken over as the main manager.
So, reading between the lines here, "impressed" is better than "not good enough", "clueless" or "technically and tactically bereft". He seems to have been recommended and Superettan is not a bad level for a beginner. FWIW, his dad was no stranger to playing abroad, having spent 4 years in Costa Rica with the various clubs.
Superettan has been in it's midseason break so teams have been playing friendlies against lower division teams to get back into match shape and Lassiter scored in one of those games for GAIS. You can see the goal at 2:36 into the clip below. The real highlight of the video though is the missed penalty by the lower division team at 1:50. The assist for Lassiters goal by the way was provided by another american trialist named Sammy Adjei Jr. Apparantly he had also been trialing with danish club Horsens before coming to GAIS.
That's the worst penalty miss I think I've ever seen. The guy's movement towards the ball, his striking motion, everything about it screamed amateur. Poor guy.
Lassiter is now trialing with IK Sirius, another Superettan club. He will play in a game with their U21 team there today.
Well, his trialing did get a happy ending as GAIS just announced on their website that they have signed Lassiter for the rest of the 2014 season!
Google Translate (and let's just keep this on the DL from the Ticos Abroad forum): GAIS has acquired Ariel Lassiter born 94 and has dual citizenship .. (Costa Rica and the United States). Ariel come from university football in the United States and was born in Temecula, California, USA. Ariel is a fast and aggressive player, which have been sought, and he has impressed trainer peo Heather during sample workout in GAIS. The contract is written in the autumn of 2014, and includes a very good financial arrangement for GAIS. GAIS is now looking for work permits for Ariel and direct this is obtained (depends on the Immigration Service work situation), he is ready to play for GAIS.