Faris Abdi, Fr. M, Virginia (plays for Saudi Arabia) - Team Vaud (Switzerland) Mo Adams, Soph. M, Syracuse (England) - Chicago Fire (Generation Adidas) Angel Alvarez, So. GK, Laramie County JC - Las Vegas Lights (USL) Francis Atuahene, Jr. F, Michigan (Ghana) - FC Dallas (Generation Adidas) Handwalla Bwana, Soph. M, Washington (Kenya) - Seattle Sounders (homegrown contract) Fabio De Sousa, So. F, Rutgers-Newark - Penn FC (USL) Christian Enriquez, So. M, Cal Poly - Portland Timbers 2 (USL) Hjalmar Ekdal, Fr. D, UNC-Wilmington (Sweden) - IK Frej (Sweden) Aaron Herrera, Jr. M/D, New Mexico - Real Salt Lake (homegrown contract) Nick Hinds, Soph. M/D, Akron - Seattle Sounders 2 (USL) Elvir Ibisevic, Soph. F, Nebraska-Omaha (plays for Bosnia) - NK Selje (Slovenia) Jean-Christophe Koffi, Jr. M, Virginia (Ivory Coast) - signed with an agent Cam Lindley, Soph. M, North Carolina - Orlando City (homegrown contract) JT Marcinkoski, Jr. GK, Georgetown - San Jose Earthquakes (homegrown contract) Mark McKenzie, Fr. D, Wake Forest - Philadelphia Union (homegrown contract) Joao Mouthinho, Fr. D, Akron (Portugal) - LAFC (Generation Adidas) Edward Opoku, Jr. F, Virginia (Ghana) - Columbus Crew (Generation Adidas) Jordan Saint Louis, Fr. F, George Washington - Servette (Switzerland) Brandon Servania, Fr. M, Wake Forest - FC Dallas (homegrown contract) Kevin Silva, So. GK, UCLA (had transferred to Rutgers) - Hearts (Scotland) Haris Stamboulidis, Jr. M, Columbia (Australia) - Aris Thessaloniki (Greece) Sam Strong, Jr. D, Coastal Carolina - Fresno FC (USL) Raheem Taylor-Parkes, So. F/M, Virginia - Lausanne Ouchy (Switzerland) Mason Toye, Fr. F, Indiana - Minnesota United (Generation Adidas) Ema Twumasi, Soph. F, Wake Forest (Ghana) - FC Dallas (Generation Adidas) Alex Vedamanikam, Fr. F, New Mexico, Eintracht Braunschweig (Germany) Evan Waldrep, Jr. M, Grand Canyon - Phoenix Rising (USL) Gordon Wild, Jr. F, Maryland (Germany) - Atlanta United (Generation Adidas) Eryk Williamson, Jr. M, Maryland - Portland Timbers (homegrown contract) A lot of dudes going to Switzerland! I assume someone here can comment on that trend.
Yes, division 3 in Switzerland: Stade Lausanne Ouchy, I can tell that salaries are very very very low at this level. With the high cost of living in CH, I hope he has a family housing and feeding him. So I am pretty sure he did not do this for the money. Maybe he is hoping to attract attention of Div1/2 clubs? Or a plot by shabby agents?
Really can't trust that anyone has the players interests. Starting from with youth coaches that recruit, train, and play kids in a way the will make them win and become more marketable, there is a conflict between what is best for the player and the person involved with the player. The NCAA certainly will side with its membership over players at the drop of a hat in any number of issues. The lack of information and oversight just makes it easier for unscrupulous agents to take advantage of players than unscrupulous people in other areas.
Youth coaches and college coaches are not trying to talk the kids into giving up a lifetime opportunity to make $500 month and an apartment with no real concern whether they make it or not. As long as one out of 100 makes it they win.
Let's not act like college coaches don't screw kids over, either. Scholarships get messed with. Playing time is used an punishment. Players get recruited being told a position is there's then the team recruits another guy at the same spot and gives him more scholarship money. Some coaches are dishonest about pro interest to get kids to stay. Etc... I'm not saying the issues with agents aren't real. I'm just saying that many - not all but more than a few - college coaches have their own ethical issues that aren't always in the best interest of an individual player.
To add some spices to the conversation about weird player moves. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/...s&module=News&pgtype=Homepage&pgtype=Homepage
If a coach pushes a player to agents that provide kickbacks, which of the two is less ethical? Youth coaches, college coaches and agents individually vary somewhere on the continuum between saints and psychopaths. Given the content of your post and the handle it was posted under, it is pretty clear you have a strong college bias and view agents as detriment. But the reality is many college coaches will routinely mislead kids into attending "ID camps" that have little to do with talent identification and everything to do with paying bills for themselves and their staff. They will talk families into spending far more for lower quality education based on scholarship and playing time promises they have little intention of keeping. Many will dissuade their players for taking more valuable classes and majors with better long term employment options that might interfere with practice or performance. The most unscrupulous will knowingly push players to play and practice when doing so will cause permanent damage or potentially ruin any chance of a long term career. There are people involved in the business who I have the utmost respect for and others that I have none. Playing elite lever youth, college or professional sports can be a pretty exciting and rewarding experience. But they can also be pretty ugly and are especially cut throat at the most competitive levels. Players and the people that advise them need to go into sports as informed as possible.
In case you were not following the FBI investigation, college coaches who pushed agents for kickbacks is a federal offense. The terms "many", "most" are out of line here. The term should be a "very few" (less than 10%) who don't have the interest of the player in mind. That being said, as has been long wished for on this forum, coaches are being held to hire standards in terms of keeping their jobs in the college coaching business so tough decisions will need to made as well.