Parks and recreation in Lisbon: Keaton at NYCFC (on loan from Benfica)

The only comparison I've seen is Dempsey and even that is just a sort of like him comparison.

 

If Adams was from Dallas maybe he would jump ahead of Acosta but since he's not from the central midfield factory of the US he can't compare.

Guess that means Pomykal will soon vault ahead of his valuation.

 

Yeah, I made that comparison when i first started watching him. Prefaced by the fact keaton is more of a natural central midfielder and they come from similar backgrounds. I guess Messi and Dempsey are in the same class to this guy.

 

Obviously Parks is going to displace some hard working industrious patriotic American who stayed in MLS.
And that makes new fans salty.
Or.....
Fess up "newbie fan"..
Whose buddy are you?Pomykal?Trapp?Who?

 

Doyle did a 'likes and dislikes' of the roster, and his first dislike was no Keaton. Has some nice things to say about him as well.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018...-three-things-i-one-i-dont-about-usmnt-roster

 

Keaton went 85' in a 1-2 loss to Gil Vicente:

#SLBenficaB | 1-2 | 🔄 85' Substituição: sai Keaton Parks, entra Anthony Carter. pic.twitter.com/FJr2aaUexa

— SL Benfica (@SLBenfica) March 18, 2018

 

Someone posted a new-ish highlight video of Keaton. Nothing that hasn’t been posted here but a good introduction.

 

Nothing doing in this short highlights video from Sunday, although you could certainly argue that Keaton is ball-watching on Gil's first goal (I'm not a great dissector of play, but he's not marking anyone, and he just watches his teammate get skinned...)

🎥 Os golos da receção do #SLBenficaB ao Gil Vicente. pic.twitter.com/4pGbA2E778

— SL Benfica (@SLBenfica) March 19, 2018

 

Also, Salvio was injured during national team duty... I doubt this opens up room for Keaton in the next match, but he has been the go-to youngster to cover for injured players. It doesn't hurt that Keaton will be training in Lisbon during the break.

Lastly, Doyle's article made the news in Portugal.

 

It’s pretty amazing what Parks has accomplished in the last 2 years. In March 2015 he was a high schooler playing non DA soccer. By March 2016 he had been signed by Varzim and begun to play in a totally unfamiliar environment. By March 2017 he had locked in a starting spot, been pursued by top teams, and was fighting a protracted legal battle; again, all in a foreign country. Since then he signed for Benfica B directly, and has fought his way from being a sub to a locked in starter, a first team rotation player, and the most valuable player in Liga Pro. Where’s he going to be in March 2019?

All this talk of expectations is absurd. Benfica didn’t sign him to be a star, they signed him directly to the second team and found something special. He’s overcome more adversity by 21 than lots of Yanks Abroad ever do. He’s raised his game to meet and then exceed the level of play at every single stop along the way. I don’t think any of us can claim to know his ceiling.

I think that Kevin de Bruyne is one of the best players out there, and while I won’t say Keaton will ever get to that level I see a lot of the same DNA in his game. The vision, the touch, and the attacking mentality are genuinely unique in the American pool. Yes there’s tons to work on but I’m never going to count this kid out.

 

The kid COULD become a very good professional soccer player. I would caution going all Old Faithful on him just yet!

 

how did he get a work permit to play in Portugal? one of his parents has an EU passport?

 

i dont think u need a permit to play in portugal that's more the case in good ol UK.

 

You're joking, right? Please tell me you're joking.

Lie to me, if you have to.

 

Lol same here. I’m pretty sure you need a work permit but the restrictions are likely far more lax.

 

I'm an expert on Italy and Scandinavia, not Portugal

 

Nor Google, right?

 

I refuse to succumb to them. I'm still waiting on Ask Jeeves to make a comeback

 

I'm as big of a Keaton homer as they come, but I do think there are issues in his game which could prevent him from succeeding at the next level. For as tall as he is, he's not particularly strong (or maybe sturdy is a better word), and he can pretty easily be bodied off the ball. He also tends to 'switch off' on defense... I mean, he's clearly thinking one, two, or three steps ahead on offense, but really narrows in on his mark on defense and fails to help when a teammate has been beaten (the clip I posted from the last B-team match had "it's not my man so it's not my responsibility" all over it).

The good thing is that he's really gotten better about his defensive positioning and tackling since he started training with the first team. He's clearly willing to work on his deficiencies, which is a great sign. But until he starts getting more minutes with the first team, the most we can say about him is that he doesn't look out of place at that level... we don't know if he can thrive.

BUT, fwiw, I do think he deserves a US call up soon. No offense to Novakovich, but I can't imagine the Dutch 2nd division and the Portuguese 2nd division are all that different in terms of quality. There's 2 caveats here: 1. we are much deeper in the midfield than we are at forward and, 2. It's hard to evaluate a central midfielder without watching their matches... with forwards, you can pretty much assume that a player is succeeding by looking at their goal / assist tally. Still, I'd like to think that if someone a USSF is watching a few of Keaton's matches they'd notice that he appears to offer a skillset you don't see in the other young central midfield players.

 

Well written post. I would like to add that his skillset is better than any mid, young or old. To my eyes, he is that much better.

 

Try DuckDuckGo

 

You can be sure that Keaton is on USSF radar. IF his progression continues apace, he'll get a call-up sooner rather than later.

You just can't predict how young player development will pan out. There are many many more flash in the pan 18-21 year old forgotten soccer athletes than guys who built lasting careers. YA is a graveyard of prospects that have shone brightly only to fizzle into what might have been.

It's still early days for Parks. The next year...or two will tell more.

 

You should probably have your eyes checked. If that was the case he would be in the starting XI of Benfica.

This level of over the top hype is bizarre. Parks has not yet shown the skillset of McKennie, Pulisic, Williams, Gonzalez or even Adams, Mixx, Corona, Morales, not to mention players like Jones, Bradley, and Holden.

 

Wtf, is this a serious post or sarcasm?