YNT-Eligible MLS Players: 2018 In-Season Thread

Busio and Lindsey on the bench for SKC

 

Durkin had a solid match. Gets caught out of position at times and takes some bad angles but he was solid. Don’t think he beats out Moreno yet, but this has been a good year for his exposure and development.

 

Busio boutta be subbed on.

 

Busio is confident as hell for a 16 y/o, love it

 

Busio is unreal. He's made 3 or so line-splitting passes to put a teammate in a dangerous spot. He's got it.

 

And another nice pass by Busio, wasted. The dude has vision, if nothing else.

 

Busio scores.

 

The easiest goal of all time, it must be said, but his movement definitely helped.

 

Unquestionably.

 

Wow we might end up with good amount of young quality attackers with guys breaking out in the coming years. Feels nice

 

Busio is such a fluid athlete with tactical ability. Everything looks easy for him.

 

Well this was an eventful night for our kids considering only 4 played. Except for Orlando, of course. Jack asses. Like you're could lose 20 in a row or whatever it is with young players just as well as with veterans!

I thought Durkin was really good. Broke up a lot of plays and was a good outlet as DC absorbed a lot of pressure after scoring.

Both Bwana and Busio are really smooth. Just graceful athletes we haven't had much of in the past. And pretty skilled, too. Obviously Busio has the bigger upside. He is just naturally confident.

Akinola ran around lot and did some pressing but didn't see much of the ball. Not sure if he's athletic enough to get by on just that and pretty sure he isn't skilled enough. But he scored a lot for the 17s and he should get plenty of chances to prove me wrong.

Updated.
Auston Trusty (98), D, PHILADELPHIA – 32 GM/32 ST, 2880 MIN, 1 G/1 A
Justen Glad (97), D, SALT LAKE – 32 GM/32 ST, 2820 MIN, 0 G/0 A
Reggie Cannon (98), D, DALLAS – 31/31, 2741, 1/3
Brooks Lennon (97), D/M, SALT LAKE – 31/30, 2670, 0/5
Tyler Adams (99), M, NEW YORK RB – 25/24, 2168, 0/7
Chris Durkin (00), M, DC UNITED – 23/16, 1503, 0/1
Mark McKenzie (99), D, PHILADELPHIA – 16/15, 1449, 0/0
Jackson Yueill (97), M, SAN JOSE – 19/13, 1106, 0/3
Aaron Herrera (97), M/D, SALT LAKE – 14/12, 1076, 0/0
Sebastien Saucedo (97), M, SALT LAKE – 26/9, 929, 2/4

Danilo Acosta (97), D, SALT LAKE – 12/10, 896, 0/2
Jaylin Lindsey (00), D, KANSAS CITY - 7/6, 555, 0/1
Handwalla Bwana (97), M, SEATTLE – 11/6, 476, 2/1
Djordje Mihailovic (98), M, CHICAGO - 7/6, 441, 1/3
Marco Farfan (98), D, PORTLAND – 10/5, 425, 0/0
Derrick Jones (97), M, PHILADELPHIA – 11/3, 369, 0/0
Kyle Duncan (97), D, NEW YORK RB – 4/4, 360, 0/1
Jeremy Ebobisse (97), F, PORTLAND - 7/4, 354, 2/1
Mason Toye (98), F, MINNESOTA – 17/2, 340, 0/1
Wan Kuzain (98), M, KANSAS CITY – 6/3, 307, 1/0

Miles Robinson (97), D, ATLANTA – 10/3, 272, 0/0
J.T. Marcinkowski (97), GK, San Jose - 3/3, 270, 3.00 GAA, .608 save pct.
Matt Real (99), D, PHILADELPHIA – 3/3, 236, 0/0
James Sands (00), M, NYCFC - 3/3, 223, 0/0
Jonathan Lewis (97), M/F, NYCFC - 14/0, 219, 1/3
Cam Lindley (97), M, ORLANDO – 3/3, 201, 0/0
George Bello (02), D, ATLANTA - 3/2, 177, 1/0
Gianluca Busio (02), M, KANSAS CITY - 7/1, 153, 1/1
Cole Bassett (01), M, COLORADO - 4/1, 133, 0/0
Paxton Pomykal (99), M, DALLAS – 6/1, 125, 0/0

Anthony Fontana (99), M, PHILADELPHIA – 5/1, 98, 1/0
Andrew Carleton (00), M, ATLANTA – 6/1, 94, 0/1
Ben Mines (00), M, NEW YORK RB – 1/1, 90, 1/0
Tommy Redding (97), D, NEW YORK RB – 1/1, 90, 0/0
Brandon Vasquez (98), F, ATLANTA – 8/0, 86, 0/0
Pierre Da Silva (98), M, ORLANDO - 2/0, 49, 0/0
Ayo Akinola (00), F, TORONTO - 4/0, 45, 0/1
Isaac Angking (00), M, NEW ENGLAND - 3/0, 36, 0/0
Shaft Brewer (99), M, LAFC - 3/0, 29, 0/0
Joshua Perez (98), M, LAFC - 2/0, 22, 0/0

Eric Calvillo (98), M, SAN JOSE - 1/0, 16, 0/0
Jesus Ferreira (00), F, DALLAS - 1/0, 3, 0/0

 

Feels like Vermes has learned from EPB. I know that’s a very simplistic take but he is giving some younger players some chances.

 

I can’t understand how Busio adds nothing to his youth age group, but undoubtedly has been productive at a much better level. It could have something to do with sample size for both teams, but nonetheless, it’s worth monitoring because it could make someone draw two very different conclusions.

 

He blamed EPB’s agent.

 

He doesn’t have to admit it publicly but his actions show a change

 

Shrug. There's plenty of blame to go around.

Busio became the 2nd youngest scorer in league history last night. Just edging in front of Jesus Ferreira. (100 years from now people are going to look at Adu's record in this category and say "What the hell where we doing back in 2004?" Like those crazy baseball records from 100 years ago when somebody had 30 complete games.)

 

I was agreeing. I was also mentioning that though. I'm not sure he wants to admit it (nor does he have to), but I agree his actions have definitely showed a change.

 

For me it isn't really anything unusual, You see it all the time in other american sports where a player dominates at the collegiate level and then is a relative flop at the professional level while a player that doesn't do as much at the college level outperforms many or even all of his better rated contemporaries. A quick easy example: Joe Montana (5th round pick or something to one of the top quarterbacks of all time). That is part of what makes speculation on players so difficult but yet so interesting.

 

Agreed. Weah was like that, but I tend to think it was easier to spot that Weah was really talented than Busio. He was being played out of position at youth level (still is played out of position often). Also, he was in and out of the team all the time. Some tournaments he'd play, others he wouldn't. It was harder to understand his role and the system than a player who was with the team on a daily basis.

With Busio, I think there's still a sample size issue on both fronts. There is certainly a danger in saying he's not any good, he can't produce against youth players because its a similar situation to Weah with the constantly going back and forth between teams, different roles, different caliber of players, different positions, etc. At the same time, he's played less than 250 minutes with the SKC first team. Too early to say he's proven.

Hard situation to figure out all around.

 

So what you're trying to say is that Busio is a system player?

 

Wow even forgetting the goal those were some sick passes by Busio. There was one where he passed diagonally to his left that I thought was a misplaced ball, when it actually turned out to be a beautiful pass into Sallio I believe.

Him not cutting it at the youth MNT level doesn’t mean he doesn’t have more potential than Carleton (I know no one has said this but there seem to be far more Carleton supporters than Busio).

The difference is Busio has shown with each appearance he can provide those killer passes with confidence, and he’s only 16.

 

I've watched pretty much all of Busio's limited minutes with SKC, and again and again, the following things stick out:

• excellent passing vision and execution (created several dangerous chances last night);
• a really solid first touch in traffic (controls some really hard balls passed into him with relative ease);
• comfortable in traffic, with good spatial awareness (noticeably better than most MLS players);
• good athleticism for his age (although, we'll see how he physically matures);
• and although he hasn't had many chances, a solid shot from distance.

Last night, he not only looked like he belonged on the field, but seemed to be one of the more influential players. Very promising, although I agree with @ussoccer97531 that he's young and we'll have to see how he develops.

 

It happens. In a way, it is like a boxer who, as an amateur, looks good but not great. But then stepping up to the pros, the same boxer is a beast (more rounds, different scoring, power being more rewarded, etc). It just seems that Busio fits with guys who start with a higher base level of talent. That's a good thing. We would rather that than the alternative.

Edit: I see this was already addressed. I am late to the party.