YNT-eligible MLS players: 2019/2020 Offseason thread

It must be FCD news day

Big news on a big spending deal for FCD. I suspect that they needed to open up a senior roster slot by trading Hayes in order to then sign Jara. Hunt says this is the largest contract in FCD history. This obviously affects the playing time of any young forward on the depth chart. [Although other moves may follow this. Cobra out?]

Dan Hunt just announced Franco Jara signing. Arrive summer.

— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) January 21, 2020

 

No. I'll wait this time
Last year I couldn't help myself.
I suspect there are a number of moves to come.

Note also that Jara doesn't arrive until the summer.

 

Hayes on $75K getting traded for a 3rd Round pick means that he really isn’t worth anything to any club. Just roster filler more or less.

Definitely not worth eating minutes from even a marginal younger prospect.

 

Guess Pepi's playing time just got a lot harder to come by. More time at NTXSC for El Tren?

 

Well Jara isn't coming until summer right? Maybe Pepi can prove he deserves time before jara comes

 

Also says the move is summer. Depends if Pepi proves himself at the beg. of the season.

Guess this answers Ferreira playing in the #10 role which I thought he did well in. Tough to say he’s better at a #9 role.

Although if they go with a double #9 or false #9 lineup then Pepi might see more time.

 

See a few things on 3rd degree saying FCD is trying to get him here before the summer. I guess Pepi has to beat out the Cobra for mintues at the 9 before Jara gets here. Once Jara gets here, I figure Pepi is sent down. You don't sit the largest signing in club history to play a 16 year old.

 

Pepi seems like he would benefit from the right loan to a high level USL Championship team like Phoenix. Not sure Pepi is quite ready for MLS, but not sure there is a ton of benefit left from USL-1.

 

Ferreira is definitely a #9, IMO. He’s a secondary striker, but in a formation that doesn’t play with two, he’s better suited at CF than CAM. Not all #9’s need to be big target strikers. Some will be smaller strikers, like an Aguero.

 

Pepi just turned 17.......................

At the #9 position FCD currently has a guy who's been capped by the senior Argentine national team, senior Czech national team, and probably soon the senior US national team.

One can think of Jara as taking up the Christian Colman spot on the roster.

One can also think that Jesus Ferreira could miss a lot of time with the Olympic team and possibly USMNT. Cobra could miss time with the Czech national team (European Championships included), and Pepi himself could miss time with the US U20s. Depth is required.

As I said, I don't think moves are done either. Its premature to go into an enormous amount of detail on a depth chart until we're thru with this window.

 

Cobra is the one on the hot seat. if he stumbles out of the blocks he could be traded once Jara arrives leaving Ferreira and Pepi as backups. Picault can also play there if too many are missing.

 

I tend to think like Pegasus Cobra is also on the hot seat. I think Luchi has been looking for a way to get rid of him and if he stumbles, he's gone. I do think this hurts Pepi's minutes but so be it. FCD needs to do something to win some games and get someone to show up in the stands. Maybe Jara will be a draw they don't currently have.

The way you make it sound with all those National Team players on FCD (up to 7 or 8 Senior National Team players for various countries) there has to be a ton of pressure on Luchi this year. If he doesn't go deep in the playoffs it must be a huge failure.

 

The reverse is also true. It's hard to win and play consistently when a large swath of your players are gone for various tournaments at different times. It's not a bad thing imo, but there's going to be a ton of mix and match from game to game at times.

 

Atlanta announced that Lagos Kunga will be going on loan to Phoneix Rising for the 2020 USL season.

NYRB II '97 striker Kyle Zajec is with the MLS team to start preseason.

The Rapids have two academy players in camp: '02 goalkeeper Abraham Rodriguez and '04 midfielder Darren Yapi.

Real Salt Lake has Real Monarchs '00 defender Steve Jasso, Real Monarchs '98 midfielder Joe Gallardo, Academy '03 forward Christian Garcia, and Academy '02 goalkeeper Christian Olivares in camp.

Seattle's orginal preseason roster included the following Tacoma Defiance contracted players:
Defenders: Nick Hinds '97 and Sam Rogers '99
Midfielder: Azriel Gonzalez '01, Maron Vargas '01, Ray Serrano '02, and Josh Attencio '02
Forward: Alec Diaz '01, Danny Robles '02, and Shandon Hopeau '98

As well as the following academy players:
Chris Hegart '02 mid, Ethan Dobbelaere '02 mid, Antino Lopez '02 defender, and Alex Villanueva '02 mid.

Here is the @SoundersFC preseason roster. #Sounders #MLS pic.twitter.com/50Fk7ybtGY

— Miki Turner (@turneresq) January 14, 2020

Sporting Kansas City's preseason roster includes Sporting Kansas City II's Wilson Harris ('99 Fwd) and John Pulskamp ('01 GK) along with academy players Jake Davis ('02 Mid), Kaveh Rad ('01 Def), and Tucker Lepley ('02 Mid).

 

Do you have a link to the roster? It wasn't in the link you provided.

 

I was just going off the Newcomers and Fresh Faces section here. I did not fine a formal roster like that Sounders one.

 

04 Jeff Dewsnup is also at preseason

 

I disagree. I think the FCD gig is one of the most pressure free jobs in MLS.
Luchi's not on the hot seat. Note that the biggest failure in recent FCD history was Pareja's 2017 campaign. That team was built to contend for MLS Cup (and frankly the CCL), and they missed the playoffs. Oscar didn't lose his position. Luchi's only starting his 2nd year. As one of their own, he's got a long leash.

Anyway, FCD has started their pre-season training.
The good news is that Pax is in training.
[I don't buy the whole schtick that MLS is aphysical league and the cause of Pax's injuries. You know who's also been injured and out a lot over the last year? Let's see. Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Weah, Sargent, etc. We just heard Johan Gomez is out for an extended period. Injuries happen in this sport.]

Luchi gives updates on Pomykal and Thiago Santos https://t.co/ibrgx7EHf6 #FCDallas #DTID

— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) January 20, 2020

 

Definitely very little pressure on Luchi in terms of keeping his job but it will be easy to make the argument he is a failure if he goes nowhere with all the National Team talent he has. As for his job, your right, this is a franchise that is one of the lowest value in the league, has close to bottom attendance and is irrelevant in it's home market yet still keeps plugging away. The Hunt's may make Luchi the next Jason Garrett.

Time will tell on Pax. Pretty easy to see he gets hammered more than most each game in MLS and he is slight of build. Hopefully he can deal with the blows and stay healthy.

 

The thing with Pax is that the overwhelming majority of his recent injuries have been non-contact injuries. Its not like he's suffered a bad tackle and broken an ankle. The last two have been muscle and core injuries. So hopefully he's able to get over these challenges. Staying healthy and being available on a weekly basis is a skill......................

 

I disagree. The teams that win MLS cup almost always have players away on national teams but once the playoffs start they're all there and it raises the team's game to a point that teams without those players can't compete. A lot of times those teams don't get the most points but in MLS that doesn't mean as much as winning MLS Cup.

 

Yup. In theory one would hope that the in-season call up of internationals would even out. This summer we do have a Copa America and a European Championships. Not to mention the CONCACAF Nations League and the Olympics. With the quality of players now being brought into MLS, this will have an impact on the standings.

What must clubs do? They must build depth. An easy way to build depth is to have a group of young MLS-ready players at the back end of rosters to fill the gaps. And of course if they play well, then they advance to no longer being "back end of the roster" players. One can see scenarios this season in which Pomykal, Ferreira, Servania and Acosta are all gone on international duty with the US U23s, USMNT, and Honduras. Queue opportunities for Thomas Roberts and Edwin Cerrillo.

I do think we'll see another young midfielder sign for FCD this off-season. A roster slot will be made available. Arturo Rodriguez makes the most amount of sense based on his play with NTSC last year. If they don't have room for him, then they need to loan or sell him to a USL Championship team.