But Werder had a really down season as a whole in terms of scoring. Only netted 37 on the campaign The previous one they did it 61 times. Their leading scorers in league alone had 15, 11, and 8. I think he's going to get close to double-digits. I really do. You gotta keep in mind that from reports if not for the age restriction he'd have already have been playing for Werder's 1st team. And he chose their outfit over other sexier ones. So he should get more rope to hang himself than the average player. I think they'll treat him at least as favorably as Weston McKennie. Plus, I think this is just a special boy in terms of his knack for getting shots off and his poise. Playing against older players hasn't phased him, in fact he's thrived more. Besides, you just gotta believe.
I think 3-4 goals if he remains with the 1st team the whole season. There is a chance he still goes down to the 19 if he starts slow, sort of like Parks going through this past season.
I'll take the over barring injury, as I tend to be a "realistic optimist" in a Stockdale Paradox kind of way.
Werder also just signed Osako from Köln. He ended up playing out of position a lot to utilize his playmaking skills on the wing, #10, and even DM for the Goats behind bruisers like Cordoba and Modeste. He can function basically anywhere in the attack, which should be good for the other strikers.
I'll take my lesson from Sunderland and Hamburg and argue that if he can receive half decent service and enough appearances w/legit minutes, then I'd go 6>, but if they have that classic,"don't get relegated" midfield that Jozy and Wood were ruined by, then I think 1 or 0 is highly possible. For youngsters playing big minutes for the first time in an elite league, service is damn important, and if you don't get it, and fail to finish your rare chances, then you end up like Jozy, and Wood, so up in your own head, that you fail to finish chances you would have 99 out of 100 times play U-9 ball a decade earlier. Confidence, Creativity and minutes. If he has that creativity in the midfield, and the minutes, he'll have the confidence and score plenty, if either creativity or minutes or both are missing, the confidence will wane, and the goals scored will sink to barely visible levels. I hope they have a decent midfield this year, everything rests on that.
This thread should be moved to the YA forum. He''ll be seeing first team minutes this year with Bremen.
Hah I was just having a little fun. I understand that there's certain stipulations that a player has to meet.
He's kind of "All But Dissertation" at this point. It'll be nice to see him make it official in the fall.
Article on his preseason prospects: https://www.starsandstripesfc.com/u...-preview-josh-sargent-werder-bremen-usa-usmnt For Sargent to play a major role, he will have to beat out several good players at his position. Ishak Belfodil will depart for TSG Hoffenheim after impressing in the spring. However, Max Kruse remains. Kruse is coming off a fine season where he put up eight goals and nine assists in 33 appearances in all competitions. Fin Bartels had his season cut short by an achilles injury, but he was playing pretty well before he got hurt. He’s beginning to get up there in age, but I believe he still has more in the tank.
Author says things like, "It will be a difficult task if he wants to succeed and take the field at the Weserstadion this fall." and "This summer poses a big challenge for the young man. Sargent will have to battle it out to make it in the Werder Bremen first team." Article gave me sense of "this will be a tough nut to crack" which I don't think is all that true. While establishing yourself at that level is of course difficult for anyone, the situation at Bremen is extremely promising IMO. The forward position is certainly not clogged up with quality and the manager has already said they aren't bringing anyone in and are looking at internal attacking players (Sargent and Eggstein) to come into the team. You've got Kruse.. who is the #1... after that it gets hairy with injured/unproven players. That is pretty much as good a situation as you could ask for at this level.
hmm, it doesn't even mention the acquisition of Yuya Osako who scored Japan's second goal against Colombia.
A 31 year old coming off an achilles injury is not really competition. If he's even marginally comparable, they're gonna go with the 18 year old. If he's not, he wasn't going to be an option anyway - that's a struggle. Yuya may have scored in the world cup but he's struggled in several years in the Bundesliga. He's not on the wrong side of 30, but he's not young, and there's got to be a "you get what you see" out of him feel. That's why the coach doesn't mention him, he mentions Eggestein and Sargent. Seems obvious what the plan is - Kruse is the guy. The hope is one of Eggestein and Sargent will emerge as the primary backup. If both fail to impress, they'll make do with Yuya and Bartels, at least until the transfer window re-opens. So Sargent's competition is basically (1) meet the coach's minimal definition of competence, and (2) be better than Eggestein. That's not as easy as it seems, as Eggestein's got 2 years on him, was able to be introduced in to the team last year (7 games plus 1 cup game, though no goals), and is German member of the most recent U21 team. But that's the competition.
Honestly cant wait to see how he does this year in the Bundesliga. I'm sure I'm just seeing things through my red,white and blue glasses, but I think he could have a much bigger season than the conservative projections I've seen on these boards.
We are hoping he gets the same treatment that Mckennie got. He will get limited chances at first, will do well and continue to get more chances until he becomes a rotational player by mid-year and a starter by season's end.