Hydnman has seemingly been "on the cusp" for quite a long time now. He did well when given a chance at Fulham. They wanted to re-sign him to a long term extension, but instead he chose to work with Eddie Howe at Bournemouth. That was seemingly a fine decision (20/20 hindsight, not so good). But Bournemouth loaned him around. He did fine at Rangers, in a pretty rough and tumble league. I mean, people say his physical limitations are a problem. Didn't seem to be in Scotland. Emerson Hyndman is only 23. Plenty of time to get back on track, and compete for a USMNT spot. Whether he does or not now starts at Atlanta. Do people think players on our current Gold Cup roster like Mihailovic are "the bees knees?" Really? We have a hole there on the USMNT roster in central midfield that players such as Pomykal and Hyndman have the potential to fill. Kinda like the Lletget role, if Lletget could ever stay healthy long enough to actually fill it.
Yup. We'll see................. He's not a winger. He's not a #10 like Barco in my mind. And I'd prefer that he doesn't interfere in Carleton's advancement at that position (I understand Carleton has some issues in Atlanta). For me Emerson plays a similar type of position to Pomykal. A "free 8" would suit him. So maybe he'll develop into the Nagbe role in Atlanta?
Was it really a bad decision, though? I mean the kid clearly wanted to play at the highest level and Bournemouth was a good spot to try to make that dream come true (relatively thin squad with a highly regarded manager who has brought through some young talent). The problem as I see it, wasn't picking Bournemouth, it's just that Emerson didn't develop into the player he and Bournemouth (and Fulham for that matter) hoped he could. Frankly, had he stayed at Fulham I don't think things would have gone much differently than they did at Bournemouth. The Fulham squad was dreadful in his last two seasons there (seriously, look at some of the names who got game time along with Hyndman) and it improved considerably after he left. I doubt he would have played much more than a bit part in their eventual promotion to the PL.