I haven't seen/heard anything, but DTK has been in Orlando for the combine, so I'm guessing in the next 2-3 weeks we'll start to hear something's. I wonder if it will be someone DTK's worked with before. Maybe he someone he's hired/worked with at Tigres, Chivas, or FMF. Could also be someone from Argentina that GBS knows.
Check out @b_kleiban’s Tweet: 2018 Year in Review:Another amazing year of top level development in the books accomplished @lagalaxyacademy @lagalaxy . Countless proud moments featuring some of the best players in @ussoccer & @miseleccionmx @ussoccer_ynt with many more being worked on in the pipeline.— Brian Kleiban (@b_kleiban) January 1, 2019 Thread
Podcast with Brian Kleiban https://scuffed.simplecast.fm/ffc4d4d7 On Araujo: good physically but needs to polish skills. Better at CB right now but RB is long-run position and should play there with the USL. Kobe-Hernandez: High quality LB, national team level player Dunbar: Winger, looked good in scrimmages against G2. Getting Traore minutes at LB is priority (implying it might be hard for academy players to get minutes). my note: you can see the quality coming at outside back which might explain the draft strategy, but I'm still not sure that they will provide depth this year.
I just finished listening as well. I highly recommend giving it a listen. Brian Kleiban also seems to think DTK has the knowledge and experience to help bridge the gap to the first team.
This gem of the LA Galaxy U16s beating FC Barcelona 2-1... Evidence that the right environment here in the US can compete with the global standard, no excuses @b_kleiban @3four3 pic.twitter.com/kXySQXm9sR— Elijah Evans (@ElijahEvans_) January 20, 2019
That clip captures both the good of what we are doing with youth development and the work we have yet to do. The positives were the composed, possession-oriented, quick-passing style of play, the side to side ball movement to utilize the entire width of the field. The result was a sweet 10 pass sequence that ends with a very nice layoff and finish. Negatives were some poor 1st touches and the ball watching by the forward after he made the layoff. That should be a standard pass and move play, not a pass and watch play.
It's a doubleheader! 1 week, 2 pods.🎙️| Got LA Galaxy U19 coach Brian Kleiban (@b_kleiban) on the phone. Wide-ranging conversation. Here he talks about competition in the Development Academy — it's heading in the right direction, but still not there. https://t.co/vzeQ8EcDdO pic.twitter.com/xPOyGTzPJe— scuffed (@scuffedpod) January 17, 2019
NEWS: The Rangers have signed 17-year-old @USYNT goalkeeper John Pulskamp.📰 https://t.co/L7Cx2gSNtC pic.twitter.com/bJ9fbndoSN— SKCII (@SportingKCII) April 5, 2019 We lost John Pulskamp to USL Swope Park Rangers. http://glxy.ussoccerda.com/sam/teams/index.php?team=3944960&player=264800111
Multiple sources tell me and a club spokesperson confirms that the LA Galaxy have dismissed U-18 academy head coach Brian Kleiban.Brian's brother, Gary Kleiban, represents USYNTers Alex Mendez and Uly Llanez. Both left LA's academy to sign with German clubs in recent months.— Sam Stejskal (@samstejskal) April 10, 2019
That seems very very odd. Must have been some sort of falling out. By all accounts Kleiban was doing a great job.
Yeah its awkward right? Kleiban certainly is developing great talent but then if its not staying with the team than what good is that doing us. Of course most of the reasons for that can't be laid at Kleiban's doorstep (MLS cheapness with homegrowns). I'm most interested in the implied conflict of interest with his brother's activities in representing some of our players who went overseas. On its face that seems a big conflict of interest to me for the family. I can see DTK coming in and looking at that and saying that it wasn't acceptable. Just the optics of it is very bad even if nothing bad was going on.
I was thinking that too. I believe yesterday on Twitter Skejskal said he'd have his interview with DTK out later this week. I get the impression now that DTK investigated why Mendez and Llanez weren't given contracts. Maybe he found that Brian/Gary were telling Mendez/Llanez and their families that they could get them on a team in Germany. The word "dismissed" to me implies there was some wrong doing.
DtK wants to bring both boys back but their agent (one of the Kleiban brothers) is refusing. Um, WTF???
So we're trying to bring these boys back (on loan I assume for playing time) and their agent (the brother of our academy coach) is working against it? I mean this is why conflict of interest is as much about appearance as it is about what's actually happening. It's not healthy to even have to worry about conflicts like this. That's why they shouldn't be allowed to exist. I'm a CPA and an auditor for a living. I have to be independent of my clients and that's fair enough because if I audited my parent's business (even if I was the most hardcore auditor of all time) no one would believe my findings because of the obviousness of the conflict of interest. So even if the Kleiban's are totally innocent of any wrong doing the conflict exists and is a major problem. Kudos to DTK for eliminating it even if it hurts cause Brian Kleiban by all accounts is very good at what he does.
It's a bummer, as Kleiban is very well-respected. OTOH, I have a feeling DtK has some pretty good connections.
Why is a Cal State Fullerton Physics lecturer serving as a player agent? I suspect he's really just serving as an advisor to the family rather than fornally representing them for a commission on the contract.
I didn't know you do that! That's my training as well (Ernst & Whinney), but I moved into "corporate" early in my career.
Plot thickens: https://sports.yahoo.com/24-thoughts-inside-the-galaxy-laf-cs-battle-for-los-angeles-173745205.html 16. Speaking of MLS talent mills, let’s circle back to the Galaxy. MLSSoccer.com’s Sam Stejskal reported Wednesday that the club had parted ways with under-19 coach Brian Kleiban. The move has been inevitable since two prized Galaxy products, U.S. U-20 national team standouts Ulysses Llanez and Alex Mendez, spurned contract offers from the senior team to sign developmental deals with German clubs. The players are represented by Kleiban’s brother. 17. The only question is why it didn’t happen sooner. Rumors of Kleiban’s impending ouster have been circulating for months. “He’s a good coach,” was the response I got from multiple sources when I asked, as far back as late last year, why the Galaxy hadn’t yet pulled the trigger. Now that the move has been made, here’s a little more context to the story: 18. Had the deals Llanez and Mendez received in Germany been comparable to the contracts signed by fellow Americans Weston McKennie or Josh Sargent, the Galaxy probably wouldn’t have had a major beef. But multiple sources told me independently that Llanez and Mendez are making peanuts with Wolfsburg and Freiburg, respectively, about 1,000 euros a month. My understanding is that’s less that the Galaxy offered them to stay. Makes you wonder what kind of advice they were getting. (Kleiban did not respond to a request for comment.) That last point is a killer. Does anyone know if we retain their MLS rights if they return to MLS in the future?
I wonder. We got money from D.C. for Arriola, I'd imagine that we'd have their rights. Do we know if we offered them first team or USL contracts? That may also have an impact this whole thing.