What about them? Help me out here? Did they come up through the Dallas youth system? Did they sign 4 + 1 MLS extensions, then move quickly to Europe on favorable terms? What are the similarities?
There are really no similarities at all, with any of those players, outside of wearing a FCD jersey and playing in the MLS. The closest one to Pomykal would be Chris Richards and he hasn't played many first team minutes at all.
If the release clause is $500k-$1M would we want him to leave MLS? Adams left for $3M which we all thought was a bit low, but considering the rise of MLS is going to Europe worth it if that’s you’re current worth? I wouldn’t want Paxton to leave unless he’s close to the level Adams was playing at when he left.
They were all sold by FCD to other clubs for a fee (Gibbs, Richards, Gruezo, Shea, and Fabian Castillo all to Euro clubs; Sanchez and Zendejas to MX clubs). Of those seven, three were - at one time - part of the academy system at FCD (Richards, Sanchez, Zendejas). To say that those comparisons are flawed is fine, but to act like they are irrelevant is - in my view - a bad faith position. FCD has, in fact, sold players when they got a decent offer and the player wanted to go. That's a relevant fact for Paxton. FCD did not, however, sell Kellyn Acosta when his value was at its highest. That's also relevant for Paxton. My broader point though is that the MLS homegrown/academy pipeline (w/ USL, HG contracts, etc.) is so new that it's unfair to ask people for perfect apples-to-apples comparisons in situations like this. Because, quite frankly, that pipeline didn't exist. If FCD prevents a move for Paxton by asking for an astronomical transfer fee, then - sure - that's evidence that Clark Hunt is more likely to pull an "Acosta" than a "Richards." But I don't think Paxton signing this extension hurts his mobility all that much. Every major Euro league is filled with teams accustomed to negotiating with teams/players on long-term contracts. We've also seen a lot of outbound MLS transfers lately. And we don't know what buy-out/escape clauses are in this extension either.
I don't doubt that you've heard, but to me all that says is "we don't want to sell him right now". When does that change? He made an all-star game last year. Does he have to carry a team that has a bottom-half-of-MLS roster to the WCF? It's not the same as Adams where his level is buoyed and supported by his teammates also being good. He plays on a team that is significantly worse than other teams in his conference. It's hard to be a standout player when you're not in a perfect environment like Adams was under Marsch. The difference is those academy guys were never truly part of the first team. Pomykal is now a key player. And I doubt there's a release clause considering MLS rarely has those. I'm guilty until proven innocent with every MLS team in this scenario. The only one that's demonstrated complete competence is RBNY.
That's fair, but Adams had 59 appearances with RedBull and Pomykal has had only 28. There is always a balance between what the club wants and what the player wants. If Pomykal can regain his form from the beginning of the season and stay healthy, his value will rise. As it sits now Pomykal has a way to go to get to the level Adams was at when he left.
I think comparisons to those players are irrelevant. Let's go one by one. Richards was sold without ever having made a first team appearance and being with the youth club for one year. Gibbs would have never come back to the US if he was getting time in Germany. FCD was a stop gap until he had another Euro gig lined up. Brek Shea was injured pretty much the entire last season with FCD and he wasn't part of their future plans. Castillo was begging to leave. Gruezo was keeping the youngsters from playing and the Hunts loved parting with his salary. Zendejas wasn't going to be the starter so it made sense for all involved as a back up usually doesn't have much value. As I said, other than wearing a FCD shirt and being sold, these players have nothing in common with Pomykal or his current situation.
The way Pomykal has talked about going to Europe vs the way, for example, Adams talked about going were very different. Adams was upfront about getting a transfer almost as soon as possible. Pomykal talks about playing abroad as a goal further down the road. Would prefer he goes within the next two windows but don’t see him pushing the issue
Why? If he really wants to go, and a team that comes in for him has opportunity for him to play, what does it matter to him? FCD on the other hand, probably won't even speak to a team that isn't at the $3M mark at minimum.
Spot on with your valuations. I almost spit out my mate reading some of these absurd hot takes on Paxton's new contract.
The team that isn't ready to pay that is either garbage or doesn't value him enough. No reason to go there.
If Chris Durkin can possibly fetch $2.2 million from a mid table Belgian club, Paxton can easily go for at least $5 million within the next year or two.
Shrug. The Pax news is really not that big of a deal in the way people are making it out to be. Folks understand that FCD had options for two more years anyway. Right...………………….? According to reports (Sam and Buzz) the new contract is for $650k per year. I repeat, $650k per year. Huge, huge money for a homegrown youngster that still actually hasn't started that many games. We always talk about MLS needing to shell out the big bucks in order to attract & keep the elite youngsters. Here's a club that backed the Brinks truck up for a 19 year old that has 2 goals and 2 assists as a first team player TOTAL. In summation, Pax multiplied his salary times 6. And there's nothing preventing him from leaving on a transfer if the price is right. What FCD has done is set itself up for another big payday. So...…………..why is everybody up in arms about this exactly? I don't really understand. He can still be transferred in any window if he plays like we all want him to.
Pomykal was already performing at the level Adams was from the beg. - mid season. Performance as in impact on the game even if their skill sets are different and Pomykal’s impact didn’t directly lead to as many goals and assists as we would have liked. To your point about regaining form I hope Pomykal’s consistency is less like Pulisic and more like Adams.
The reality is that way fewer of these players than we'd like ever head to Europe. I never like to see them signing contract extensions. We always hear how it's to improve their salary, but that doesn't help their chances of transferring to Europe. If they care more about the money than their career, thats their choice. It's not for me to tell them what they should prefer, but their careers are definitely hurt way too often. Too many good players stagnate because they don't head to Europe when they should to improve as footballers, and instead are taking contract extensions in MLS.
Most of our top talents go to Europe at age 18 or earlier. In the last 10+ years Pulisic and McKinney are the only two who seemingly overachieved the expectations based on their youth career. I can name 20 who underachieved, and not just underachieved, hugely underachieved, fighting for MLS or below roster spots. Europe is a hit or miss game. Those who stayed at MLS for a few years are mostly what has been expected with Adams as an overachieving exception.
It's called professionalism. If a kid stagnates because he's still in MLS at say 21-24 y/o, that's on him and/or he's just not talented enough. If they're not the best at their position in MLS and trying to win trophies, they should try become that as long as they're here. Eduard Atuesta, Valentin Castellanos sure haven't stagnated. And if they can't do that, how are they going to hack it in a big 4 Euro league? People like to throw out the Kellyn Acosta example. Say he was sold in the summer of 2017, does anybody really think he'd be starting in a big league right now? There's no automatic Euro fairy dust you get with a transfer there.
Beckerman, Besler, Gonzalez, Zusi, Zardes, Long, Trapp, Morris, Acosta, Roldan, Arriola. The list is incredibly long. There’s a good chance Pomykal will be next on the list. Two years ago, who would’ve said that Glad or D. Acosta wouldn’t play in Europe? Now it’s likely neither will. They’ll both start next season at age 22. That’s around the age where European teams don’t have interest in young American players anymore. They aren’t young enough anymore to develop and are making too much money. A year ago the discussions were about when Trusty should transfer. He’s now 4th string. It’s unlikely for him now. How many young Americans coming through MLS in the last five years have transferred to Europe? Miles Robinson also recently signed an extension. It’s good for his wallet, but I doubt he’ll ever play in Europe either. Too expensive and less incentive now for Americans to move from MLS to Europe. Meanwhile, our NT is struggling. Part of it is this large group who’ve taken the easy way out and aren’t going to try their hand in Europe.
I don’t think it’s as easy as you make it seem. 10 years ago our players worked their way up through the European system. Dempsey was a nobody when he first got to Europe. Now, if you aren’t a top talent, you probably won’t ever play in Europe. Players like Adams or Steffen will, but they are the caliber who walk into the NT a year or so after beginning their first team careers. Most players are not as talented and their careers take different development paths. Why should we not encourage them to sign in the middle tier leagues or teams in Europe to hopefully prove themselves, improve and then advance to the big leagues and big teams? That’s not going to happen if they are paid 500k+ per year on big contract extensions from MLS teams. Once that happens, they’ve cut their European options down to a very small number, and most teams that can pay for them would rather pay for Brazilians or Argentines at the same price.
so, was his contract set to expire in 2022? that would make this a 2 year extension... As you say, he can be transferred at any time. If I would have to guess, I think FCD and Pomykal are hoping for a top quality season, free from injury, next year where FCD makes a real run at MLS cup and possibly transferring after one or possibly two more seasons. If I was a European team right now, I wojuld be looking at Pomykal with the idea that he has a huge upside but his inability to stay healthy for the whole season would make me wonder. He needs to show he can be a top level player for the whole season.
They all are successful professionals, none of them used to be first rate talents. Just a bunch of overachievers. Boca, DMB, Howard, Dempsey, Dolo, Yeldin, etc., all went to Europe after a few years of MLS or college. Except for those two that I mentioned, our first rate talents that went to Europe early failed miserably. Those who are still there like DLF, Wright, Akale, Taitague are on their way to failing miserably. Who would have believed that Yueill is discussed as a starter on MNT and Akale just disappears? Glad will play in Europe and Danny Acosta... There was some interesting video a couple years ago in which RSL kids were recalling what they were like at age of 15. When asked what Danny Acosta was at 15, there was uncomfortable laugh and then somebody said something like "and Danny was like Danny". I didn't get what that meant back then, but looking at his "career", that's probably meant a headcase.
The contract he was on was one of the 3 years plus 2 option year specials. He signed that for the start of the 2017 season, so this was the last of those 3 first contract years. He still had two more option years to go on that contract, or thru the 2022 season. That was roughly 100k per year. This new contract reportedly takes him thru the 2024 season on a $650k per year deal. So from Pax's point of view, what he just did was multiple his salary times 6 over the next two years. To be fair, I think FCD was already going to be looking for that kind of transfer fee regardless of this contract extension. FCD's general manager used hold the same position at Gremio and Santos. He knows how this game is played...…………………. I'm not particularly worried about it one way or the other. Let's be honest, if we look at the totality of Pax's 2019 season, it on average was just OK. He can't seem to stay healthy. Last year it was ankle and knee problems. This year its been hamstring and hip flexor problems (apparently). TO some degree I think we're putting the cart before the horse here. I imagine that big Euro teams are gonna want to see more before they try to acquire him. We've heard from sources that there's been "interest" in him from Europe, but no actual offers. I really don't see a down side in this for either Pax or FCD. Pax gets to multiply his salary times 6 at a club he seems to enjoy being at. And he was under contract thru 2022 anyway. FCD has set themselves up for a big payday if he develops like we want him to. If I'm the FCD front office I want him to be front and center for the Olympics. That's the window I want to put him in for potential suitors. I'd also add that by signing Pax to a senior contract, FCD has also opened up a developmental roster slot for next year. They do need to open a couple of those up if they want to keep the homegrown train rolling. If they want to sign Tessman or Carrera or Gomez or any of those cats, for instance, I think this is a domino that needed to fall. I think what FCD (and other clubs) are finding out is that in 2019, USL contracts aren't going to retain prospects. [Maybe they will in the future.] For them its MLS deal or nothing. You weren't going to retain Johan Gomez if you only offered a USL deal. I won't be surprised if Ferreira is also signed to this type of extension. Reynolds might sign one at a lower price tag. Buzz wrote an article earlier this year that I've posted about the FCD Homegrown Bubble. They have a lot of contract decisions to make. Cannon is the one I think is on the way out, perhaps as early as the winter transfer window. Just a final thought. People act like MLS is holding these kids hostage or something. THese kids are choosing to sign these contracts. I mean, people talk about FCD not selling Kellyn Acosta when they could have. That's true. But Kellyn Acosta had just signed a long-term extension with the club. FCD/MLS didn't put a gun to his head. That was his choice.
Pomykol doesn't talk as if he is as eager to go to Europe as players like Adams. FCD is also buying out the last 2 years of his contract for $1,000,000 more than they would have paid him in-exchange for less money than he will likely be worth on the back-end of the deal, so FCD needs to make it to that portion of the deal to benefit from it. For those 2 reasons, I would say that FCD is less likely to sell Pomykol today as they were 2 days ago, but their is definitely a reasonable price for Pomykol in which he would be sold like every player under contract, but first he needs to continue to improve and more importantly stay healthy.