I don't care what transfer fee the Crew get. MLS is corrupt to begin with where teams can't keep the whole transfer fee. I care about the NT, not the Columbus Crew. Adams should've been sold by NYRB this window, not in the winter. That'll disservice him. The reports state Steffen wanted to go. 1019941778219323392 is not a valid tweet id
The reason why Croatia is good is because they developed good players. They did this by having a societal environment where potential talent was casually exposed to the game, early, by people with enough knowledge to start them on a good path. Then, because it's highly valued, these boys spent an irrational amount of time and mindshare learning to perfect a child's game. Some very human version of meritocracy, running on self-interested graft, then sorted and refined these kids by applying generations of accumulated knowledge to produce a player who will be sold for a transfer fee with ample room to wet one's beak. People tend to focus on the structure of our version of self-interested graft over the actual process applied to the players. I suspect it's because the former can be changed with the stroke of a pen, while the latter takes years of iterations and even then could still fail. My view is that the process is paramount and that the structure only matters because, and when, it affects that process. We need to improve our process.
No one's value is higher in the winter. That window gets quieter each year. Summer is where the action is at. If MLS wants to put on its big boy pants and play in the global market, summer is when the action happens. And why would the Crew maybe get a larger portion of the fee this winter? Why not all of it? Why not spend it how they like? The answer is because the league punishes developing and selling.
Production in MLS has not proven to be a great indicator for success with the national team while production in a top 12 first division UEFA league has proven to be a decent indicator for success with the national team.
I'd go with top-5, UCL, and EL, plus being a top-performer, not merely successful, in a few of the others. Intriguing matchups to come over the weekend. AtlvsDC. Can Arriola continue the central midfield excellence. PhivsLA. Can Rosenberry, Trusty, and McKenzie survive LA's onslaught? RSLvsCol. Ford and Castillo vs Baird and Saucedo FCDvsHou. Can Hollingshead(WS 7.92@LB) shut down Ellis? Or will FCD go with their newly acquired Brazilian LB?
The new Brazilian for Dallas won't play this week as his eligibility stuff is still being worked out. Hopefully Pareja doesn't start Figueroa at LB over Hollingshead and watch Houston stream by him all game. I'm very interested in the Atlanta / Carleton watch to see if Martino has learned anything from last year. They didn't rotate players last year and had a bad record against the top teams and seem to be repeating themselves this year. If they won't play their backups and lose in the playoffs again will it lead to fans becoming disillusioned with their club and coach? It also effects how I view him as a possible coach of the US. He definitely has his pluses but with qualifying and tournaments that require more than 11-14 players to excel not sure he's that guy.
The league owners most likely made a collective decision that franchises with effective monopolies in the best youth markets (not Columbus obviously, but still) shouldn't be able to keep the full transfer fee for competitive reasons. Like the policy or not, it probably has more to do with enforcing parity and certainly has nothing to do with being corrupt. Me too. But the Columbus Crew and MLS, who've put actual investment behind their businesses, have every right to prioritize their interests and not ours. Time will tell if they're making the right business decisions.
Juan's biggest problem has been his ability to consistently stay healthy - thus nailing down a consistent starting spot/role. I think that has contributed to him being used all over the field - it did not help that Heaps had no clue and should have cemented him as the CF like 97531 states - even when coming off of injury. Especially since the Revs tweeted when they brought Juan back, they tweeted: "We got our #9!" I always referenced this on he Revs board every time Juan did not play there. Friedel has been going with workhorse Bunbury since Juan has been in/out with injuries again this year. Bunbury is producing so Friedel probably chooses not to move him.
Sorry for the question - was there some rumor of this somewhere? Turner has been a revelation for the Revs this year. Just curious in case I missed this?
So if Dortmund refuses to sell Pulisic to say Real Madrid, Barca, or Liverpool you'd be ok with that........even if they would be doing the same thing.......... Let's not act like this sort of thing doesn't happen all over the world where a club "refuses" to sell a player because they want to get the best deal.
This is not that. Pulisic is already playing in one of the best leagues in the world. Steffen is not. He's playing in what (should) be a selling league. I think clubs in selling leagues should sell, if the player wants to go.
Steffen and Columbus should wait, as they are doing. His work permit will be a problem for now. Just wait till he becomes the USMNT #1 goalie, which he will, and wait for offers from better leagues. More friendlies are coming with the USMNT and then next year the GC. That should give other teams to scout him better and his price might rise even more. He is still young, goalie wise, so one more year shouldn't be a problem.
Not entirely sure they should wait till next Summer. Acosta was supposed to have a big year, until injuries and US failure to qualify for the WC dashed those dreams. Injuries, or roster turnover, or a new coach, knock on wood, all could derail the delicate timeline required for him to get a WP. They should sell if they get a better offer from someone in winter, perhaps after the MLS playoffs.
How can one make the determination on waiting to sell if we don't know his contract length? It would seem more likely than not that his contract is up next winter( 3.5 yr contract). That of course means this summer is the best time to sell him. Next summer's window he can sign a pre-contract or simply wait to leave on a free. And the winter window doesn't see nearly as much action as it used to.
Except Columbus is sitting in 4th place in the East with arguably the best keeper in the league and without a ready replacement. So from the standpoint of the club, I can understand concerns about timing. They might want to pull the trigger anyway, but it is a reasonable concern. Some seem to post thinking about transfer value only, but the club also wants to compete to win. There is still the in-season window in August, so if Columbus starts to fade, maybe they are willing to let him go then.
You are aware that Steffen was at Freiburg just two years ago right? It wouldn't be a shock that the potential move of the Crew to Austin is playing a big part in this. If the Crew move to Austin, he'll ask for a transfer. If they stay in Columbus, he's happy staying there and being only a few hours drive from his family. Plus he's a starting keeper now. If he goes to England this summer, he'll likely not qualify for a work permit. Then he may or may not play depending on where he's loaned to.
This has all been true in Croatia for a long time. The question is, what made this generation different? Did they optimize their process? Was it a freakish generational spike in talent?
Per the Columbus Dispatch "Steffen, who is under contract with the Crew through the 2021 season, acknowledged Thursday that he would be OK remaining with the team through the end of the season. At the same time, he is confident in his ability to succeed abroad." 1020072040332709890 is not a valid tweet id
With smaller countries there is an element of luck because basically they are trading on the fact that you can only put 11 players on the pitch (and make 3 subs). The luck is in having the crop of xi all be good at the same time and not having injuries which exposes the shallow depth of the pool. In a way they have an advantage because the best xi tend to be obvious whereas with bigger countries there is much more room for marketing to corrupt the process with shades of gray (e.g., between player x playing in BL and player y playing in EPL, say). Look at the old USA teams which performed so much better than the ones we put out there today. When the best xi are obvious, they tend to play together more as well. When Arena was talking about his selection for Trinidad he said that the team would definitely change for WC and his selection was just the one that was convenient for purposes of qualification. I mean, he had all these players to select from so what was the criteria for picking one over the other? Was Arriola or Nagbe really better than Bedoya? Was Bradley any better than Trapp? Was Howard any better than Guzan? What really made Wood any better than Dom Dwyer ? There's just so many ways to get it wrong when you're a big country.