People love to say that, but I'm not sure it's true about Olsen. He's clearly no Oscar Pareja, but Kemp, Korb, Birnbaum, Kitchen, Opare have all gotten better under him. Doesn't mean they're world beaters or that it's all his coaching. Others haven't progressed. But just remember how few players actually go from being solid prospects to being really good pros. It's not that high a percentage.
There's a difference between a player developing and a player merely becoming acclimated to the league. I would put Korb and today's Birnbaum in the latter category. Kemp is a good call, he's on the good side of the develop/acclimate line. (But it's pretty close.). To my eye, if you look at Kitchen as he was in his last season, he merely acclimated. He was improving at a nice clip, but took a big step backward at the end. Then he couldn't make it at a non-Old Firm Scottish side, which I think confirms that judgment. What I think is interesting is that the 2 top prospects, Kitchen and Birnbaum, both hit a peak and then dropped. Don't know what that means, exactly, but it means something. I always like Opare as a player before he came to DC, so he's about what *I* thought he would be. YMMV.
If true Medel went cheap, no telling his salary however. http://www.espnfc.us/story/3176854/besiktas-announce-deal-for-inter-milan-midfielder-gary-medel
Big difference is the history of the two clubs and the fact that Besiktas will be playing in the Champion's League.
Isn't that the trajectory of most "prospects" who come out of US colleges? The really good prospects generally become above average MLS players at best. The only two I can think of that are the exception are Dempsey and McBride and it's been awhile since even Dempsey broke onto the scene.
If that means Medel chose to play at a higher level, for a club that has a season leading up to final Conmebol qualifiers, and will hopefully play a few rounds deep into the Champions League, I concur. Every player wants to put themselves in the best possible position to go to Russia '18 and DCU would not have been first with a bullet
No. Jordan Morris, for example. Chad Marshall, Matt Hedges, Zimmerman, Gonzalez, Besler. On and on and on. The further up the field you move, the more college isn't the right path. But all the players I mentioned except Deleon are defensive players. I just don't see how you can defend Olsen's ability to improve young players. It's really bad. Then throw in that the combination of him and Kasper has been awful wrt foreign acquisitions. The only thing they're good at is identifying the right cast offs. Even then, the evidence now is that they hold onto those guys too long. Besides, that skill matters, but let's be real. Being smart in the "MLS veteran" category means you can patch the holes in your roster with solid-to-good players.
I wasn't defending Olsen's coaching, just making an observation on "prospects" coming out of college. Of the additions on your list, maybe Morris someday will reach elite status, right now no. The other guys are solid, above average MLS players, they are not game changers by any stretch of the imagination.
I have a weird theory that D.C. got help paying for Arriola (and decicing on him) by the league and or USMNT. It's not based on evidence, just a set of thoughts and the fact that the league does shit like this. First, Arriola has had a few games raising his USMNT value lately but he's fallen off in Mexico. Rumors were he didn't have any big options to go to. The USMNT is trying to build youth since a lot of their quality players are older and won't be huge contributors at major events anymore (or are already retired). It's important that national team players have homes and salaries and are considered valuable. He isn't a 4-5 million dollar player. When you compare him with other, better and cheaper USMNT players or internationals the sale doesn't make sense at that price. It also doesn't make sense given united's financial situation of years past or huge need at many positions. Why would united splurge on a guy like this when Vela wasn't acquired for basically the same amount? A lot of actors benefit from this move more than D.C. United. The league is elevated by a team spending record amounts. The USMNT benefits. Importantly, league darlings LA Galaxy benefit to the tune of 500k at a time when they are on the downswing. Lastly, all of our other choices were either free or extremely cheap and we reportedly whiffed on several other targets. Maybe we went cheap because Arriola was expensive or maybe we went cheap because we intended to go cheap all along, had no one intervened. So I think we will spend more and get more players if we didnt actually contribute all or even any of the transfer fees. That's the good news. The bad news would be he is not going to contribute like a 4-5 million dollar player is expected to (Valeri, almiron, Nikolic), because he may not be one.
As long as we're getting all conspiracy theory-y, there's the unexplained disappearance of the Stiebler transfer fee.
Me either, but it could be problematic if true and the owners use it as a smokescreen to not spend next year.
I like the Arriola signing. Now we get to see if Benny can actually get some decent players to play decent soccer together. I doubt it, but am hopeful. This season is essentially over so we literally have nothing to lose. james
I'm hopeful - he's showed us he can just last season as they had the best attack in the second half of the season with what will all but certainly a worse lineup.
I don't think we should have any opinions on players after a game or even three games. Let's not forget that Luis Silva scored 3 goals in his first few games with us and then started disappearing after that into oblivion.
Silva had 11 goals the season after his debut. Then then the injuries came. He's a good player, he just can't move well enough.
Plausible. My theory on Stieber is that Ben/Kasper probably had no idea who this player was like 3-4 weeks ago. What they really wanted was Krisztian Nemeth, a player they knew from his MLS playing days in SKC. When it became apparent that other MLS teams were favored to sign Nemeth, some agent somewhere called and said "well, there's this other Hungarian forward that is available" This is similar to how we got Ortiz. Someone called and said "they know a guy". Not saying that Stieber can't work out. I hope he does. But I just don't have any confidence that Olsen/Kasper scout any foreign players in depth. And I'm not just talking about traveling abroad. Even just watching games on tape and being generally in tune with the talent market in leagues like Argentina, Portugal, Belgium, France etc ... How can you choose from a menu where you don't understand anything? DC just rolls the dice and hopes. You notice that there is never an inherent plan when a foreign player comes here. They stumble around for a few weeks, and only then Ben figures out what he wants to do with them.
You could pretty easily drop half a million dollars on an international scouting department. The problem is if you find and sign three new guys every year through that department, they have to each save you $160K a year over the three guys you get off a list produced by a kid in his basement with a copy of Football Manager and access to Transfermarkt, right?
We don't need a "department" necessarily. At most maybe an assistant that compiles data and video. The real scouts should be Kasper, Olsen and Ashton. I mentioned Nemeth a few posts ago. Just listen to the way Peter Vermes talked about that player. Nemeth caught his eyes years ago as a match for his 4-3-3 system and tracked him while he was in Greek league, Dutch league etc. He didn't need a department. He had his own curiosity to follow these other leagues and identify prospects that fit his vision. Do you think Kasper or Olsen could answer on the spot which players they like in Dutch league or Greek league? I doubt it. The evidence as I've seen it over the years is that their curiosity only extends to MLS, USL and NCAA. Kevin Payne was the last member in this organization to show that genuine global curiosity.
I can do better than that. Hire me and I will travel to Europe and South America, at a leisurely pace, attending matches in every country and watching hours of film, and talking to players and their agents. I will send in my recommendations along with my bill. A word of warning: I don't stay in cheap pensiones.