Brendan Hines-Ike at Kortrijk (Belgium)

FWIW... Ireland is reaching out to Brendan

I am hearing that there has been some interest from the Irish federation for Orebro's American central defender Brendan Hines-Ike who has become one of the best defenders in the Swedish Allsvenskan. The Colorado native is in the final stages of acquiring his Irish passport.

— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) July 10, 2018

 

Is that concerning? Based on passed interview he seemed pretty dedicated to playing for the USMNT (though he didn't have Irish citizenship at the time) and he is American born and raised. I would file it under "not that concerning" but what do I know.

 

If you are concerned about losing Brendan Hines-Ike to Ireland, then it is concerning. If you are not concerned about losing him, continue to be not concerned.

I would say that he would accept an Irish call-up if offered

I think he sees the USMNT and sees Brooks, Miazga, CCV, EPB, Parker, Zimmerman, and then the Olympic qualifying guys of Glad and Trusty. He might not feel he's going to get a shot with the USMNT - not saying he deserves to be ahead of any of those guys either.

 

Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed following the young mans career so far and look forward to following it as he hopefully moves on to bigger and better things.

The reason I'm not that concerned isn't because I think other younger options are certainly going to be better. The reason I'm not terribly concerned is his connection to Ireland seems fairly attenuated and that based on what I've read he feels pretty American and would prefer to play for the United States.

If he is able to keep moving forward in his club career he certainly has every chance of being a part of the US player pool.

 

I am sure he would rather play for the United States if given the choice. But if Ireland is his only choice, I think he will happily take it. And at 23, if Ireland comes calling, why wait for the United States if that offer never comes?

 

While it is true he is already 23 his professional career is fairly new given that he only made his pro debut in February 2016. He might want to give himself some more time to see if he can move on to bigger things and break into the usmnt set up.

I don't know what he will do obviously but that is a plausible line of thought.

 

im not sure how much more attractive an option we are than ireland. hes been playing well for a couple of years while we missed the world cup and have spent a calendar year with an interim head coach who didnt even have that title for about 8 months. meanwhile every 18 year old in the pool who is on a euro roster (many who have 100 minutes of first team action or less) has been called in while hes never gotten a call. if ireland says they value you i mean...its better than what (we know) hes gotten from us soccer.

 

I guess the injury wasn't too bad, because he's starting today:

Här är kvällens startelva. Avspark 20:00.#ösk #öskfotboll #GBGÖSK pic.twitter.com/WRPfxgLlaa

— ÖSK Fotboll (@oskfotboll) July 14, 2018

 

Could Ireland really use him? Or is this Joseph Lapira 2.0 or Michael Parkhurst 2.0 (using the potential of an Ireland call-up to ensure Bradley calls him up first).

 

I mean, does anyone really know how good Hines-Ike is? I sure don't.

Ireland's centerbacks are below-average Premier League players at best, so if he can approach that level, then yeah, they could genuinely use him.

 

I'd wager many of them are Championship level. But I haven't watched. But Championship is above Swedish league. But if he gets the move to the Eredivisie; his chances drastically rise, am i right?

 

Judging purely by league/club pedigree, sure, but there have been some monstrously shitty players who have featured for otherwise good teams. It's hard to say without actually watching him play.

My inclination is to say that, if he's at all decent, Ireland could probably use him more than the US could.

 

Looking at the defensive squad they used against us their active players (one retired) play for Everton, Brighton, Burnley, Cardiff, West Ham, Wolves, Brentford, Blackburn x2 and Sheffield U. 5 EPL teams and 3 C'ship teams. According to fivethirtyeight club rankings Orebro is ranked 394, one behind Sunderland.

 

They like North Ireland/Wales/Scotland seemed to have more favored status decades ago in England. Now, they're lucky to have 10 starters in the PL.

 

These two words together, ...underutilized.

 

I feel like decades ago the only players in the EPL were from the UK. The transfer game is completely different from then to now especially in the EPL.

 

Interview with an Irish publication

http://www.punditarena.com/football...et-american-sweden-irish-footballs-next-star/

 

With a lot of players from Scandinavia too

 

The Bosman ruling and EU/EEA labor mobility have changed the face of the sport across Europe.

 

Can you be a bit more specific?

 

The Bosman ruling in 1995 gave EU/EEA players 2 rights:
1) the right to leave a club after his contract expired without any compensation
2) the right to play for any club in the EU/EEA as a local, meaning the end of FA limitations on the number of foreign (but still EU/EEA) players on a team

The EU, in a series of steps, had established that EU citizens were free to move anywhere within the union and to work without restriction. This ultimately led to the Bosman ruling which guaranteed that clubs could "hire" anyone in the EU/EEA without restriction. And as the EU expanded, players from poorer countries would go to richer, better paying ones. Even lesser players could go and squeeze out the locals in some leagues by being better quality (or cheaper) than the existing local talent pool.

The EU/EEA became a huge single market of sorts and players moved wherever made the most sense (with only the concept of training compensation and perhaps existing prejudices getting in their way). Players from both Americas dug into their family pasts to get the valuable passport -- even some by fraud. Foreign players sought naturalization wherever possible to get into the game.

Add in that EU/EEA players can move at age 16 under FIFA rules to top clubs and academies (and parents can always move before that if they know how to play the game) and you have a huge mixing of national identities, a clash of club interests vs. NT interests, an advantage to national teams that could export their players to better clubs/academies than they provide at home (we see you, Croatia), frustration of NT fans in the league that can pay the best because they are the place all the best players aspire to, thus squeezing out the local boys...

Labor mobility is a huge game changer.

 

Starts:

40 minuter till avspark. Här har ni dagens startelva.#ösk #öskfotboll pic.twitter.com/T1FAEvhPHQ

— ÖSK Fotboll (@oskfotboll) July 21, 2018

 

Thanks for posting. I was more interested in its effect on the PL in particular though.

 

Breaking!!!

@TheFalseNine - new thread title needed

KAA Kortrijk has signed Orebro’s American (and soon Irish) central defender Brendan Hines-Ike on a 5 year deal. I’m told it is the highest transfer value ever paid by Kortrijk and the highest transfer value ever received for Orebro. He will replace Erik Palmer-Brown for Kortrijk

— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) July 25, 2018