2017-18 Development Academy

From the website I linked earlier when you look at the schedule. There is a "watch" link next to each game.

 

Was the RSL parent @IHSSOC ?

 

Don't know, I didn't mention this forum.

 

yes that's him.

 

If you go to International Champions Cup on Facebook ,they are streaming the game on Facebook live and they also have yesterday's game on archive.

 

Sorry, wasn’t me (son is an ‘01).

 

U.S. U20 MNT defender @julian__araujo is joining @LAGalaxyAcademy - first event will be this week at the Silverlakes International Cup - for the 2018-2019 season. Araujo was a standout for @BarcaAcademyAZ last season. Barca U17 finished third in the Dev. Acad playoffs.

— J.R. Eskilson (@JREskilson) July 25, 2018

 

Nice that he’ll be able to play in USL games.

I wonder if he’ll sign a contract, or if that’s just a better place to spend time until turning 18.

 

Hard to say, but this is the route in the way its supposed to work.

Local club (Santa Barbara FC) to DA Club (Barca U17) to MLS Club (Galaxy).......................to MLS HG or abroad.

We've seen a bunch of cases like this recently for USYNTers. Chris Richards is an example. And the moving up the ladder is happening really quickly. Kids are being scouted and recruited much better by DA and MLS clubs.

Gotta keep moving these elite kids up the ladder to push them as much as possible. Julian Araujo is only 16, right? Turns 17 in August. So he does have another full DA year before he needs to make a decision.

 

He should go abroad. He's obviously good enough. 1 year at the Galaxy academy playing in high level DA matches, USL matches, and then he signs in Europe the following season when he's eligible.

 

Funny thing here is while it was very difficult to imagine Uly and Mendez ever getting a shot at the LAG first team, the last few years they actually have given some younger players a chance at defense. Granted, guys like Romney and Steres were well into their 20s by the time they played, but neither of those players is at the talent level of Araujo.

 

Heard he’s signed with an agent, and Europe is the goal

 

Rightfully so.

And of course the Galaxy are rightfully just rolling the dice that he doesn't get the kinds of offers from Europe that he's interested in pursuing. Or that he comes to the club and really buys into their program long-term. No problem from that end either. Its a gamble, but from their point of view its one worth taking.

This is the way our existing development pathway should work.

 

And here is why Nyeman does not play in his own age group very often. 44 in the orange boots.

 

We played the Cayman Islands tho

 

Let’s hope he doesn’t move to Europe and get lured away by another country

 

No indication of that, but he's got French citizenship already through his parents, so he's already a dual-national.

 

That’s what I was referencing, and he certainly seems American enough now but if he moves to Lyon or something and spends the next 4-5 years there, it wouldn’t be that unrealistic for France to be whispering in his ear.

 

We have a stickied thread for the 2018-2019 DA season. Should we close this one? What say you moderators?

 

Why close it? Maybe something relevant to the 2017-18 season is to be said.

 

Well, I just came from a 2012 thread about a guy who was being looked at by European clubs, and had Canadian US, and Jamaican tri-citizenship.

He just transferred to the Swiss third division.

Let's hold off on fantasizing (lamenting) how one of the top YNT's in the world is going to poach a 15-year-old....

 

He’s 13... And thank you for that incredibly insightful and well-thought out comment. Not sure what I would’ve done without it