Shrug. We'll see. Jonathan only just turned 16. 16 year olds without Euro passports really don't have many options. Playing at one of the top domestic academies in the country (with perhaps USL opportunity as well)...................is about as good as he can do right now. I also lived for a long time in Germany around the game. I'll say this: the grass isn't necessarily greener on the other side.
It's kind of hard now to put that cat back in the bag and tell your best 03 prospect he now has to take a small USL deal when his value is so much higher. He should just wait it out and make no decisions and sign nowhere for now.
I think they may have more options than FCD realizes. Kids that don't want to be forced to sign with FCD MLS are starting to figure out other routes. I think we will hear about another player leaving the FCD Academy very soon. It's hard to be forced into doing something for below value when you know at 18 the world opens up. Or to take a USL deal when your same club has two 03s ( that you are better than) on MLS deals at over 6 figures. Will be interesting to watch. Tough all around for the club and player but I side with the player in all these issues as we need them to be in Europe to get our USMNT to compete on the global stage.
I imagine a lot of this will be resolved with the new CBA. Right now Dallas doesn't have anymore slots for the non-dp HG contracts. They've got the full 10 they're allowed. So anyone else who signs a MLS deal starts to count as a real contract on the salary cap roster instead of being able to be "hidden" on the non-dp slots. If MLS is smart they'll expand that roster or change the rules so that anyone under 21 doesn't count. I also imagine if some dominoes fall like selling Roberts and/or Cannon someone else will get a contract. Unfortunately for them FCD is going to lose a few a kids who would have made them money. The overly complicated nature of our system contributes to that but overall a couple of sales a year should make the whole thing worth it to them and to the kids who get sold.
FC Dallas wants to sign a lot of their young prospects for cheap to USL deals. Many of them have turned down USL offers, Jonathan Gomez included. Look who plays in the USL team regularly, and who doesn't. Look whose playing time dries up in the USL team and when it does. For these young players nowadays, what's important is the contract terms. They want high pay, low years, and a clause in the contract relating to potential offers that come in for the player from Europe. These players will all sign, as long as it involves an MLS/USL deal at 15/16 with high pay, low years, and then having control to make decisions later instead of leaving that up to the team. Pepi has near full control, Sealy has near full control. I don't know exact terms of what were offered and there could've been new developments, but based on what I've heard, I do not believe Jonathan Gomez has been offered anywhere approaching Pepi's contract, and Sealy's isn't that far off, so he probably hasn't been offered that either. It's one thing for Dallas to try to suppress his control, and argue he shouldn't get Pepi terms. When you don't substantiate enough of a gap between Pepi's terms and Sealy's, you are going to run into problems for the next young prospect you try to sign, which is happening. You can't then tell Gomez to take less than Sealy. He's going to laugh at you, and say he deserves much better terms than Sealy because he's a lot better. His agent should use Sealy as a baseline for his terms, instead of Pepi. FC Dallas has yet to get their way. He hasn't signed. His playing time in USL dried up in the second half of the season. His brother left the club. The club is starting to get very touchy that he hasn't signed. They didn't take well to his trip to Portugal. I don't know the specifics if he was visiting his family or if he also trained with Porto, but they had no problem with Sealy training with PSG in the summer. The club is worried about another McKennie situation where the player has high potential to cost a lot of money on the transfer market eventually, and they are going to get nothing. I think they'll be some further news about Gomez tomorrow or Thursday that is aggravating and meant to put pressure on the kid in a contract dispute, but don't hold me to that as its possible some initial decisions changed.
Dallas bairgaining strategy seems weird. McKennie won't be their last major loss. Not even mentionong that I'd bet thant in 3 years Gomez will be paid more than Pepi and Sealy combined, just look at 2019 salaries of Cannon, Pomykal and Ferreira compared to Servania. I really like Servania, but that's laughable.
FYI, Dallas has maxed out 30 contracts right now. They can't sign anyone else to a MLS deal after this Brazilian guy till someone else is sold. Gomez probably deserves an MLS deal but they can't give one till others go. Total number of contracts allowed is a CBA mandate. Yet another thing I'm sure clubs want to ditch. Question is will the player's union go along.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but if they paid him 120k per year guaranteed compensation on a two year USL contract that can become an MLS contract at any point and there's a clause in the contract that requires Dallas to accept offers above a certain dollar amount, I don't think the sticking point would be that its not an MLS deal. Teams can find ways around the roster rules. The players are starting to take control of these contracts, and I think that's a good thing. If the clubs don't like it, they can lose the player for no compensation. That might happen here, but if it does, it's deserved. Teams need to learn their lessons. I think the bigger issue at Dallas is the pay structure. They got a little too loose with what they offered Sealy (who I'm not sure had any leverage), and now I don't see how they can ask Gomez to take any less than Sealy got. The way these contracts are starting to trend, I'd argue asking him to take less than Pepi also is not a realistic ask. Jack De Vries at Philadelphia Union making 120k per year is another interesting one. What happens when Brandan Craig asks for 150 because De Vries got 120k and he thinks he's a considerably better player (he is)? He has an EU passport, and can leave in the summer. He trialed at Liverpool last summer. I don't know the current amount before a HGP counts against the salary cap, but I could see MLS teams trying to undue their overpayment HG contracts by trying to up the figure in the new CBA before these contracts start counting against the cap. It probably wouldn't otherwise be too long before we see a contract that a team feels forced into giving a player that is 15/16 years old (due to some prior contracts they gave out to other players), and it costs a big sum for the club towards the cap.
Theoretically, there is some justification for the higher values of Pepi, Sealy, de Vries contracts since they are attacking players. Personally, I'd prioritize a player like Gomez on that same level (especially after seeing Scally go for the number he just did), but that is something to consider.
Not sure if Sealy had leverage, but rumors were he was going to move to Paris. With his dad being an ex-FCD player and pretty influential in the area being a USYNT Scout, they may have overpaid to keep the family in the program. Is a tough situation for these players, if they have any interest in college or going overseas, they they start to lose playtime and eventually are treated as 2nd class citizen's in the academy (not just at FCD, but most MLS academies). Not sure what the answer is, but a least it appears Gomez is fighting the system. I hope it works out for him for the younger players that will face this same situation.
I have criticized Kleiban in the past but if he is Uly and Mendez's agent perhaps he got it right. He bypassed the USL, MLS having control over his players and got them to Europe and both now doing well. I don't recall what they did from age 16 to 18. Did they play at LAG USL or did LAG cut them off? Trying to force your best prospects to sign low ball USL deals as "the pathway" the MLS club thinks is best ( really just best for their pocketbook) is not going to work with your best prospects. This could all be fixed by giving them high dollar USL deals, an option out for a euro offer at a fair price, and limited time frame. The MLS club gets their money if they transfer and the kid still has control over his future.
It definitely makes the decision very easy for the player when the team tries to lowball them. I don’t know what LA was offering Mendez and Llanez, but I remember reading they weren’t lowballed. Those two were initially paid pennies on their first European deals (Mendez has now signed a different contract with Ajax). I think they could’ve been paid a lot more in Europe initially than what was reported. I don’t know if Kleiban did well here. He didn’t negotiate good deals and he pushed them to Europe due to his own biases. Maybe they preferred to play in Europe, so he might’ve had little effect. I think there are certainly questions that can be asked about if LA is a good development environment. I don’t have a strong opinion on what they should’ve chose, but I’m not giving Kleiban any credit. These two kids also sat out time they could’ve been developing once LA figured out they were gone. I don’t think that’s smart for any player. I also don’t think there’s any definite answer to MLS vs. Europe to start a career. It’s dependent on the player, their domestic options and their European options.
I have zero knowledge about what kind of deals have been offered etc but from a club perspective if you aren't interested in playing for the club or signing with before them before 18 to keep practicing and to get sold then I don't see why the club should see you any longer as "their" prospect. You might as well be playing for NYRB as the only thing you bring then is helping them win youth games. I also get why players also don't want to be stuck at low wage long contracts that they don't want to get out of too. I agree the last half of what Runhard posted above is a great compromise but both sides need to benefit here and any tilting one way makes the academy system weaker and that definitely hurts the national team. Players not challenged and able to leave when overseas teams are interested hurts but so does prospects that teams invested a lot of time and money in leaving and the team gets nothing and starts to curtail their program.
I don't' have any first hand knowledge but hypothetically speaking if a MLS team offers their top prospect a USL deal at 20K for year 1, 24K year 2 and 40 K for option year 3, that is a non starter. Just because an MLS club spent something on their academy doesn't mean, in my book, they should be able to take advantage of a young talented kid because his options don't really open up until he is 18. It needs to benefit both parties and it definitely can. The problem I see is the MLS club wanting to control the situation and thinking they bring more to the table then they really do. Ego's getting in the way. But that's sports and why players have agents. FCD has painted themselves in a corner by giving Pepi and Dante the money they did. Any top prospect now will in no way want to sign a cheap USL deal just because FCD says so. If FCD was paying Coleman 500k a year to do absolutely nothing for three years, they can do better then a small USL deal, if the numbers are in fact that low. Would love to see a truly fair marketplace where the clubs had to bid for these kids and pay their true value but we don't have that. Once the kid is 18, he has more leverage and possibly some other options prior to that time starting to emerge. As I said above, I think Uly and Mendez are great examples of one way to do it. They controlled their future and are where they want to be. Mendez I think is on at least 200K a year minimum for an Ajax player at this point. If he signed a LAG2 deal for pennies (no real idea what they were offering) and was still there and under their control, that would have been a bad move, if my opinion.
Jonathan Gomez was demoted to the FC Dallas U-17’s indefinitely. I think we all know it’s not because of his level of play. More bad news for FC Dallas fans. Diego Letayf is leaving the club and signing with Tigres in Mexico. That should effectively end his chances to play for the USA.
Hey, it's Tigres, so FC Dallas can sign Letayf in three years when it becomes clear that Tigres' first team won't give him a chance because he's an academy player.
This is so stupid. Why not just tell him he can't play versus demoting him? The club is not showing its best side here. They have every right to be upset that he won't sign, after all this is a business and it won't be the first or last time it happens. That said, he is a huge asset to the U17 team that could make them one of the favorites in this DA tournament. It's actually kind of funny...they want everyone to know they are punishing him, yet helping themselves out on the field at the same time. Do they really think people won't see through this? What we are starting to see is the backlash from signing kids, just to sign kids. I read they are out of HG spots and this will be an issue with the pro potential kids coming down the pipeline. Gomez has every right to not sign until he gets a proper offer (its speculation that he hasn't) and FCD needs to realize that its not the offer that Gomez is reportedly turning down that's the problem. The issue is the contracts that they currently have average players.
This also goes back to the dumb HG rules. FCD basically controls the MLS rights to these kids. It would be a better system if another MLS team could actually fight for these players and by that creating a true free market that would most likely increase the values of the contracts. Right now, for any player born in an MLS territory it is a monopoly on players for the MLS club. Imagine if Austin FC, just a few hours down the road and trying to start a franchise, could bid on some the the youth players in Dallas. This would force FCD to determine if they really have a future the player and pay them, if not Austin will. There is a lot of talent in some areas in the US that are losing out due to the HG rules.
I wonder if the HG rule is applied differently if the club is currently at the limit of HG signings? Again, I am not familiar with the exact HG rule, but I understand that roster spots 21-30 can be used for HG signings. If a club doesn't have the capacity to sign any more HG players, how can they legally keep a kid from signing with another club? I am probably not looking at this correctly, but if so, even only partly, I can't see how this could be legal.
i am trying not to be overly down on the da post u17 debacle, but its a challenge. curious what people think were the takeaways from that disaster for the da going forward?
Remember MLS is a parity driven league. Only a few teams can pay $15million+ for incoming transfer, but it’s a parity driven league. Only a few teams have positive operating cash flows, but it’s a parity driven league. Don Garber’s dream.
Shrug. I don't think we actually know what Gomez is thinking.................nor do we know what FCD has offered or is thinking. Lots of assumptions and speculation going on here based on squadoosh. You don't know that FCD is "trying to punish" Gomez by having him play with the U17s right now. You don't know that. You can't give out 5 HG MLS contracts every year. Its literally impossible. As it is FCD has signed 10 HG players to MLS contracts since the start of 2017 (Pepi, Sealy, Cerrillo, Roberts, Servania, Cannon, Reynolds, Ferreira, Pomykal, Richards). One was sold in Richards. One has been promoted to a senior contract in Pomykal. Everything folks are saying here applies to every MLS club. Its only under so much discussion here because of the pipeline that FCD has built. Unlike say the Dynamo, they do actually have difficult decisions that need to be made with their talent on a daily basis. For instance, they could offer Eddie Munjoma a HG contract this off-season. What position does he play? Left back. All I'd say is that youngsters can't have their cake and eat it too. They can't continue to show a lack of commitment in terms of their long-term desire to sign a contract at an MLS club...............................and then also expect the MLS club to continue investing in them and providing opportunities. MLS clubs are businesses. Not charities. They choose which players to invest their capital in based on potential return in terms of first team performance and transfer fees. If he's not going to sign a contract, then Jonathan Gomez provides zero return.