As a youth player, Ajax must certainly be an offer you can't refuse. It's a horse head in your bed. In making the choice, you cannot be wrong as a young player in going there. Their track record is proven and it's a great place at a) develop and showcase your talent and b) hone the winning mentality they have as their league's preeminent club. If he washes out and signs at 20/21 with a lesser Dutch team it's a success imo. If he washes out and signs somewhere else first team it's a success. If he just keeps his head above water there and at 22/23 makes little to no impact and runs out his contract/gets sold for peanuts it's a failure. If he does eventually crack the first team it's a huge success. Ojalá
This is similar to a lot of YA threads. Mendez joined Ajax on July 30th. He wasnt in the squad for for next game which was less than 10 days after he joined the club. Since then he has played in 10 of the 13 games they have had. He was on the bench for 2 and not in the squad 1 (this was game on 10/18 after being in u23 camp until 10/15). Of those 10 games he has averaged 35 mins a game with minutes spread pretty evenly between roughly 10 min cameo, 30 mins off bench, 45 min either first or second half, and 60+ mins from the start. He has played CM, AM, LW, and RW. People seem to expect players to just walk into clubs and dominate. The player I can think of who has done that is Tyler Adam's. Mendez moved to a new country and is trying to learn and adapt to a new system. I dont see why people feel compelled to come to a conclusion after a couple of months. A month ago there were saying that Pulisics move was stupid and season was lost. Smh! I have no idea how this will turn out. I wont even start to try to guess until they get a good ways into the second half of the season. I am definitely not worried about the kids development. It isnt about pixie dust, but about being in a decent club for developing players, an incredibly competitive environment, and playing competitive games against young or men at very high technical and tactical level.
On the bench for Jong Ajax 📂 Our #JongAjax 11. #nacjaj pic.twitter.com/vyETghnHt1— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) November 22, 2019
Yup. We have a ton of players heading to Euro and I am generally a big fan of it... but lack of playing time is a legit issue. He could be getting ready to try and start for the Galaxy... and considering GB's relative bias towards the MLS, it can be argued that that is a better path to the senior squad. Just like Richie, this kid looks to be a ways off.
I think that's a fair assessment. Mendez does not look to be close to the first team at all. First you'd have to see him excelling at the Jong level which he has not done as of yet.
You can spin the numbers but when he does start, he's pulled at half as often as he goes 60 min. He hasn't played more than 70 minutes in a match (and that was the Jong PSV match where Ajax was basically out of players). When JA has their full roster, he barely plays. All are bad signs. No one is asking him to dominate... they're asking him to beat out guys like Eiting/Ekklenkamp who are fringe Ajax first team guys. Just play consistently. There is no comparison to Pulisic because well CP has performed at the first team level. I think myself (and others) aren't encouraged at all because we've seen this show before. Promising USYNT goes to big club, never plays first team minutes then comes back to MLS at 22-23 back at square 1 essentially. Mendez is 19 and hasn't even come close to a first team bench yet. His career isn't over but it's certainly not trending in the right direction.
Agree with this all except Richie is way further along and I don't think that far off. He's made a first team bench. He's played 90 minutes almost every time he's been available. Most important for him, the barrier of entry for PSV is way lower than Ajax. They're also not buying as many players as Ajax is (and making competition that much harder). Ledezma's proven enough for Jong PSV that next year if PSV doesn't think he's good enough there, he will get first team minutes somewhere else in the Eredivisie. Mendez jus hasn't done that yet which is what concerns me most. Personally, I just think he's a level above Mendez as a player too. I'm a fan of go to Europe too-- but under the right circumstances.
Who are these players who have been injured by going to Europe that would have been better off never leaving thebUS?
With the current set up of Ajax, Eiting/Ekklenkamp are on the fringes of the first team. As you've said before, with the infusion of foreign players making it to the Ajax first team is incredibly more difficult than it was say in 2016. Look at the team that started that year... would even 1 start for Ajax now? Davinson (and he was pretty far off at the start of that season) and that's it. Mendez might be 2-3 years too late getting to Ajax.
Starts for Jong Ajax: The starting 11 of #JongAjax. 📜#jajhel pic.twitter.com/SI94IX8IpO— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) November 25, 2019
It's been a while since he scored from a setpiece. That is normally what he does best but hasn't done it for Jong Ajax yet.
Mendez remains on the field to start the second half. Note that Jong Ajax made two midfield substitutions at halftime, so today may be the day when we go the distance.
Yeah, my source just changed. It had showed Ekkelenkamp (on a yellow) and Timber subbed off - now it shows Mendez and Timber off.
Mendez wore #8... got a start in MF because Eiting/Gravenbersch are with full Ajax at Lille for CL. Pulled at half (again).
just watched Mendez's clips from yesterday -- deep-lying mid against a low block, his clever passing keyed most of the danger Jong Ajax created in the first half. Could have done better on 2-3 duels, but tbh I don't understand why he was subbed at the half https://t.co/7hmvNi5woN— scuffed (@scuffedpod) November 26, 2019