I believe they are. They've got a rather big set up from what I saw, so it would be strange to be able to do what they do without ptp. I wonder what the deal is if from the intensive cooperation a talent goes from them to the Feyenoord Academy. If I understood rumours correctly from time to time the best talents fly in to Rotterdam for special attention from our Academy. They stay here for 1-2 weeks, probably to monitor progress too.
Sounds like a good relationship for both sides. This seems to have going on for at least a few years. Any idea if Feyenoord has any players from Gallagher that they may be interested in signing in the near future?
No, only once in a while it is mentioned that kids have been over for training. It was for instance only after someone in the States, Will Parchman, twittered it fans recently heared about probable interest in a FC Dallas kid, 16 year old Jamie Dunning. Guess it's not such a big thing when a young kid joins the Academy. One kid that several times came over had the attention of many fans and they wondered why he wasnot signed, because those who saw him thought he was rather good. It was Wan Kuzain.
In this link WK talks about among others his Feyenoord Rotterdam experience: http://www.goal.com/en/news/exclusi...ro-soccer-us-swope/11zxxm0isjsjf1ok0bw543bxtj "In three, four or five years, I see myself playing in Europe at one of the biggest clubs. "Walking onto the pitch for a Champions League match and hearing that anthem, getting butterflies in my stomach. That's where I ultimately want to be," revealed the Carbondale, Illinois-born midfielder. After all, he has had taste of European football previously, having attended training with Dutch side Feyenoord back in 2014. "Feyenoord managed to watch me in an end-of-the-year showcase, and they brought me over for trial. Every year for three years, for about a week and half or two weeks, for what they called an 'internship'. "The purpose of the programme was to get me used to the facilities, the staff and coaches. It was such an honour to be a part of that. "Feyenoord are such a huge club and are currently playing in the Champions League, one of the best clubs in terms of developing players. In my eyes, they are probably in the top five. "In Europe you get that feeling in the academies that everyone there is fighting for, not just a spot, but also survival. Pro contracts don't get offered to everyone obviously, maybe one or two (players) in every class. It creates that special environment that can't be replicated, which can't be found in the US just yet," explained Kuzain.
Academy and homegrown. NASL wasn't producing Adams or even guys like a Cameron to sell overseas. They are following the European model slowly but surely. They are even working around the college issue so there is still a draft but kids can still be homegrown. It is still signing the Zlatans but also getting a Giovinco and lots of young Central and South American players. There are some markets that are better than others, You are talking Manchester and Liverpool are smaller cities than Birmingham but which cities have better team following. You act like Mexican and Eurosnobs have ties to their team. Their dad was an Arsenal fan so they get a chance to see Arsenal. Same for Cruz Azul and etc. You have a league trying to sell a product that is second rate. My 7 year old nephew can watch Man U play with his dad my bro or go watch the Dynamo. All sports are struggling with better at home experience so how do you get him to watch and go to a Dynamo game. You need grassroots and league on TV. I think you are simplifying the challenge and ignoring nuance. Academy programs are still relatively young but you are seeing them be developed and it is proving even better. There is no need for a Gen 40 from Adidas. I just don't know what you expect? The first goal was survival, then expanding the market then sustainability. This is why ask again about your professional experience enacting change. I don't say it to be a dick, but you don't factor in a lot of real life challenges and Human behavior. You really have no patience. I am not saying it could be further along but you seem to think the MLS should be the Juniper league or Eredivisie by now and that is crazy. I think you are a purest or something. You believe that better quality soccer played by young Americans and that is all we need. You ignore marketing and selling power and a name they know to get people to the game. I literally don't know what you expect. You have high demands but believe serious challenges can be easily overcome. I also like what RBNY is doing. The MLS didnt interfere with the National team. Why is Jurgen telling every young player they need to go abroad and MLS isn't good enough but then a still in his Prime Jozy and MB come back and JK is mum. The league isn't perfect but people are trying meanwhile Jurgen says, you suck!! It doesn't work like that! How do you get people to welcome change and your ideas if you open with you all suck. Think about it and how that looks to people. You are ignoring human behavior. And MLS granted US players an extra week off for qualifiers while FIFA was on their back. I mean come on!!
You really are uninformed. The MLS v Klinsmann issue really started to heat up when Klinsmann complained about first Dempsey and then Bradley coming back to MLS. “There’s nothing I can do about it. I made it clear with Clint’s move back and Michael’s move back that it’s going to be very difficult to keep the same level that they experienced at the places where they were. It’s just reality. It’s just being honest,” Klinsmann said ahead of Tuesday’s friendly against Honduras. ... There have been suggestions that Altidore may be tempted by a move to MLS but while Klinsmann did not address that directly his comments about the player indicate he would prefer him to stay in Europe. “I want Jozy to get through the difficult time at Sunderland and maybe make a big step one day to a Champions League team in Europe because that’s where the top players in the world play,” he said. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-s...american-returns-to-mls-idUKKCN0I321H20141014
The league isn’t built on guys like Adams. It is a definite improvement in that sense, but quality of the leagues were driven by foreigners... and there were many more players in their prime in the NASL. The positives of MLS are that they are going younger on foreign players in aggregate and starting to see some benefits from youth academies, but the number of quality players is increasing. You don’t need mls on tv for revenue but not for the sport in general. We need grassroots type development but only a couple of clubs are going that route. There is no need to talk about nuances when the issues they aren’t doing basic, fundamental things right. Sustainability happened over 10 years ago. There is only slightly less a need for Gen 40 now than 15 years ago. More kids need a chance to play. You’ve got people going on and on about Dallas splashing $50K at every 16 yo kid but they have yet to produce an international quality player ( too bad for them that they lost McKennie, but their is no basis to assume he’d be anything close to what he is now). To have had an academy for 10 years and to have signed over 20 homegrown players and 8 in the last 3 years, but not have a Second team is incredibly poor planning. What would you do if you had a highly talented 15 yo kid? Sign a 3 year contract worth one week of Pulisic’s salary to have him train and maybe become Acosta or start look for training opps abroad so he can jump near his 18th birthday? You have very low expectations and I believe it was the league that suggested they could one of best in the world in the near term. I have disagreed with the arrogant approach from the beginning. You don’t go from where we were pre-Beckham to a top league in one step. I don’t believe they should be the Eridivisie or Jupiler or other top leagues at developing players but they are a much better model. If there is a lack of patience, it is of MLS being unwilling to take the steps to develop the players needed instead of taking short cuts buy buying them and then trying to convince poor naive saps how good the league is. You keep asking for resumes and claiming I don’t understand the issues. The former is irrelevant and the latter is baseless. if you want to engage on a topic, I’m more than happy to share my views and discuss actual alternatives. I can’t caveat very statement I make. These posts are long enough... instead of assuming I don’t understand something, why don’t you just ask? I don’t ignore marketing and selling power or human behavior and think I’ve got at least a decent handle on the game of soccer, running and growing a business, and enacting change. Just because I don’t hate Klinsmann doesn’t mean I think his approach to things is always right and just because I think if player has potential to make it in Europe, they should give it a go doesn’t mean that Europeans are the only people who can develop players. It appears somebody else has corrected you about MLS and the national team. It is weird you didn’t know that piece of information, yet constantly claim Klinsmann “sh!t on” MLS. I disagree with that view and not sure what else he really did beside making a very factual statement that proved itself to be true.
Thank yo for informing me, but those are not comments you make public regarding your domestic league.
So can I count this as something we agree on. They are devleoping quality players and signing young foreigners to improve the league. So it is doing better than the old NASL and is on an upward trajectory. TV money is critical. I don't know how you can disagree. It is how the large number of American sports function. The MLS is lucky the have FIFA having their back or they wouldn't get TV offers. I agree grassroots and the youth systems for MLS and clubs underneath it have to improve but these things take time and money and are long term investments. Not every team has the money or ability to do that yet. I don't disagree but how much are you putting on the clubs and how much are you putting on USSF. The leagues are not a bottomless pit of money. Why Dallas doesn't have a second team is beyond me. It is the best thing RBNY ever did. I go toward trail and error and investment. Buying a location, facility, etc. RBNY has RB behind it, Dallas doesn't so it is a challenge that has to be overcome. I am more a pragmatist than low expectations. I know what the league said but what it is capable of, all challenges considered is not something as grand. Developing players again takes time and cost money and investment. Could the Galaxy have used the Zlatan money to develop youngsters and all of that. Should they have? I am not sure. Sometimes you make the splash, hoping to make more money and reinvest but LAG have done this so much, it is kind of who they are and I would have thought this time, they should have passed. I apologize if I am insulting or offending. It is just in my professional life I have tried to enact organization change a few times and people can be petty as F. So when I listen to you or is my beef with JK, it is that this is a very delicate process and unless you are Pep at Barca and can fire the old blood and hire the new blood, it will be painstaking and require concessions until you get there. I actually like this paragraph and see this as something we can use as a building block to understanding each other. I stand corrected as I admit. I don't pay as much attention as most so it is often what hits my eyes when I am looking. So I may look on a Monday and not look again for another week. I will say that JK shouldn't have slagged in public. I have explained the reflex of Americans to perceived Eurosnobbery. Plus it is not a sentiment you make public, there is no good that can come out of it, especially as he kept picking a guy like Bradley and ignoring a guy like DWIll or other MLS players playing well. I mean if they guy has taken a step down, why keep picking him and not another guy steeping up and looking like he can take the next step?
Every coach before him said basically the same thing or worse. Grow a pair already. This isn’t an after school community project. This is supposed to be elite athletics. WTF makes people think everybody has to cater to a bunch of Billionaires at the expense of our national team?
I didn’t say that and you should back it up with data if you want to make the claim. Here is a list I started...
"When pressed by Goal, Kuzain admitted that the wage he received from Sporting KFC is comfortable..." Not surprising with all that free chicken.
NASL v1 was packed with European D2 standard players in their 30s. Eventually under pressure from US soccer the league mandated that at least 3 Americans had to play for each team. The average age of MLS players is just over 25. The US roster against Paraguay had 14 home grown players with an average age of 23. $90 million a year doesn't hurt professional soccer. Like New York City and NYCFC working together to build 50 full-size pitches in poorer neighborhoods Every club has targets for grass roots development target. Target and Wells Fargo are pumping money into grass roots development. The academy program started 10 years ago. It takes several years to develop an academy player. The following home grown players have MLS contracts. Andrew Carleton Chris Goslin Harrison Heath Joey Calistri Drew Conner Patrick Doody Collin Fernandez Matt Lampson Djordje Mihailovic Caleb Calvert Kortne Ford Ricardo Perez Dillon Serna Alex Crognale Ben Swanson Wil Trapp Chris Durkin Bill Hamid Ian Harkes Jalen Robinson Kellyn Acosta Reggie Cannon Coy Craft Jesus Ferreira Jesse Gonzalez Aaron Guillen Paxton Pomykal Bryan Reynolds Victor Ulloa Tyler Deric Christian Lucatero Memo Rodriguez Hugo Arellano Bradford Jamieson IV Jon Kempin Ariel Lassiter Jack McBean Raul Mendiola Nathan Smith Jaime Villarreal Jose Villarreal Gyasi Zardes Collin Martin Louis Beland-Goyette David Choiniere Maxime Crepeau Anthony Jackson-Hamel Wandrille Lefevre Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla Juan Agudelo Scott Caldwell Diego Fagundez Zachary Herivaux London Woodberry Sean Okoli James Sands Ethan White Tyler Adams Brandon Allen Arun Basuljevic Sean Davis Derrick Etienne Connor Lade Evan Louro Alex Muyl Tommy Redding Mason Stajduhar Donny Toia Derrick Jones Adam Najem Auston Trusty Marco Farfan Danilo Acosta Jordan Allen Eduardo Fernandez Justen Glad Jose Hernandez Brooks Lennon Sebastian Saucedo Ricardo Velazco Nick Lima Tommy Thompson Seyi Adekoya Aaron Kovar Jordan Morris Harry Shipp Henry Wingo Gianluca Busio Kevin Ellis Erik Palmer-Brown Daniel Salloi Sergio Camargo Jay Chapman Marky Delgado Jordan Hamilton Ashtone Morgan Ben Spencer Sam Adekugbe Marco Bustos Alphonso Davies Ben McKendry Russell Teibert. In total MLS clubs have invested or are investing not $ millions, not $10s of millions but $100s of millions into academy programs. Salt Lake's $78 million academy for instance. Things don't happen overnight. He's not even a designated player. No, Garber said it was a target to be a top ten league by 2022. That's not arrogance, it's a business objective, like Starbucks saying they want to open another 50 stores by Christmas, the arrogant bastards!
Whatever version of MLS we are on has a 33 yo English 3rd division player as its most prolific scorer ever. What is the average age that plays. We are in trouble if we are relying on those mls players. I already stated it was a typo. Those things are great, but.... How does the grass roots connect to the academy and then connect to the first team. Who cares how many average players they have signed? There are maybe a handful in that list that will be useful for our national team. You don’t see a problem with spending all that money and not having any platers better than we had 15 years ago to show for it? Can you provide a link where Garbers goal it to be a top 10 league? Every one I’ve ever seen has been like this... “ his public goal of becoming one of the world’s top soccer leagues by 2022”. Which one is it? It takes time or we are 4 years away? Based on that recent friendly, I’m not sure there is an American in mls that can play in one of the worlds top leagues. MLS isn’t Starbucks.
Yup and those guys had achieved it all in the American game. I am shocked Johnny Foreigner's comments led to bad tension, shocked! When your ready to put down you how it should be flag and accept the limitations of people, it will help people accept your ideas. This is life, I don't know what you think it is.
I can only assume that either he was played out of position. But if you believe he's the most prolific goalscorer he's beaten out Landon Donovan, Thierry Henri, David Villa, Robbie Keane, Sebastian Giovinco, Brian McBride, Preki and Juan Pablo Angel.
You know a second team is added cost, travel and etc. So you want them to sign less kids and have them stay amateur for longer, lose them to college? All that money has to be spent because youth players are tough to predict. And then there is getting the right coach that is actually gonna pick MLS players. Also I mentioned kids going abroad. We are having younger players go abroad but that is relatively new. Soccer in the US is making huge strides and all you can say is it should be here already!
You did it again. Where did I say we should already be there? My view is we have been on a path for sometime and appear to be continuing on it that slows our progress. You also used the “league needs to watch expenses” argument when they are supposed to be “major league”. I was sympathetic to the argument when the league’s focus was viability, but that time passed over 10 years ago. No, I want them to continue to develop those players, have somewhere for them to play, and aggressively move them into the first team. If you provide the right incentives, any coach will do what you want them to do. It starts with the owners and management to decide that building players and having a connected system is more important than winning every game this year. Are you really worried about the expenses of a USL team? The only real expense is the unnecessary expansion fee. They are ready have players signed and youth players. They already have a huge coaching staff. They could travel to games by bus and and double up in the local Motel 6. A team like FCD could take half a million of Gruezo’s salary and still have a couple of hundred thousand left to pay a decent replacement. The reality is that they are throwing a lot of money away because they aren’t getting much reward for their development program because there are gaping holes in the process. It seems like they have gotten the whole thing backwards. They started w/u16 and 19s and then went down in age and yet have no place for players to transition between youth and professional ball and for every improvement in youth they get, they match it at the professional level by adding more money for foreign players. I do believe USL should have been the last thing that was needed, but believe that if they were going to only start with two teams it should have been u12s &14s or even younger and grow with those groups with the plan to have a USL side by the time the first group reached 19/20.
You don't say it but all your issues with MLS point to that belief or at the very least we should be far beyond where we are now. Yes and 10 years ago the academy system started out as another poster pointed out. This means more investment, You are now building something like an academy while running a franchise. Right incentives are what? Play youth and take the losses? You have a product to sell to, lets not forget that. You have to do both at the same time, come on! There is no relegation but no one is gonna pay to see you waste half the season developing talent. Not like other American sports! They are very afraid. You have to get attendance going and all of that, least someone complain about attendance too. Expansion fee, expanded staff and coaches, players, travel, hotel, etc. You are downplaying the cost. I googled Greuzo's salary and you are right he makes a lot. Moving from him on to younger players and the future should happen but look at RBNY they only bought big for awhile before moving into developing young players, RB2 structure so that is on how the teams wish to win and market themselves. If you ask me, RBNY despite no titles has the structure that everyone should imitate. I assume you live in Dallas and or are a FC Dallas fan since you use them in your argument a lot. Here's to MLS 1.0 fans. I actually don't have a problem starting at a higher age level and working down. They do need to facilitate a second team so they can use these young players that is the main hole and a cost thing they must figure out, even if only a high level regional league.