Parks and recreation in Lisbon: Keaton at NYCFC (on loan from Benfica)

Deep down, the Celtic Irish and Scots are the same people, sort of like the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes --before the former mixed with the previous and next arrivals to the island.

Yep, the Mc/Mac thing is not fixed in stone. At least not now. Lists of typical Irish names contain both, with their origins explained, even. See here for example:

http://www.ireland-information.com/heraldichall/irishsurnames.htm

Shame they didn't retain the Nic/Ni for the daughters and granddaughters though.

 

'Stangs, baby!! He's missing out on some killer parties, too!!

 

It's more understated (see avatar). Or is it...?

 

He didn't even dress today. No reason given. Per USSF's lineup notes:

"Midfielders Julian Green (right foot injury) and Kenny Saief (right knee injury) were held out of tonight’s squad due to injury. Midfielder Keaton Parks, defender Erik Palmer-Brown and goalkeeper William Yarbrough also will not dress for the match."

No journalists make mention of it, although, apparently in the post-game commentary Twellman cited Keaton as an example of USDA's academy system at work:

Keaton Parks was not at FC Dallas’ academy, fyihttps://t.co/diIfJiuEt4

— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) June 2, 2018

 

Dave Sarachan hates you.

 

Found this:

 

I suspected as much

 

Very informative and interesting guys. For some reason, all the Mac vs Mc talk reminded me of the old Scottish joke, "Do they call me McGregor the bar builder, no?". (Starts at the 15 second mark of the video.)

 

One of my all-time favorite jokes to tell at a bar.

 

You mean you din't like this one:

A priest, a minister and a rabbi walk into a bar. The barman looks up and says "what's this? A joke?"

 

https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/06/0...lks-over-loan-deal-benfica-outcast-midfielder

Well, this is interesting... I mean, Samaris supposedly has one foot out the door, Pizzi is apparently on the chopping block, and Joao Carvalho is being linked to all kinds of English clubs (most recently Nottingham Forrest), but still, this can't be great for Keaton's play-time.

Assuming he does well during the summer, I wonder if they'll keep Keaton for the first half of the season and then try to loan him to another Portuguese team during the winter window?

 

He got 12 games at Swansea last year. Sure, he's got potential. But I can't imagine they're bringing him in with the absolute expectation that he'll own a starting spot. At most, they're bringing him in to compete for one.

 

what's the budget at Benfica? I'm kinda curious how it/Sporting/Porto compare to mid-table clubs in say Serie A or Ligue 1. For sure mid-table clubs in the PL have more cash than any non-CL side in Europe.

But what cash is Parks earning since he signed a pro contract with them?

 

Sanches was a young star at Benfica and Euro2016 young player of the year. They sold him to Bayern for E35MM to E80MM based on performance.

If he goes back to Benfica on loan he is a guaranteed lock starter even if you forget that Benfica has E45MM reasons to rebuild his confidence and progress his development.

 

Lol Benfica isn't going to risk missing the CL because some player might become good again and earn them money. If Keaton beats him out he will get PT.

 

He isn't a lock starter if he plays as poorly as he has for the past 2 years.

 

I'm pretty sure Sanches will start. Yes, they'll try to win games. Bringing back Sanches is in part an effort to win the whole league, because plenty of people believe he's good enough to make a difference.

This will reduce minutes available for Keaton, but I'm sure a coach can find a way to get both guys on the field if Keaton is playing well enough to merit it.

Yes, there's money at play on Sanches, but I think his resume argues for playing him a lot.

 

IIRC, he is a night sided winger/midfielder. KP is a central midfielder. It would seem they won't b in each others way. The whole scenario reminds me of the James Rodriguez saga. Highly touted youth player that gets big move and struggles. It happens. James came good this past season at BM. KP still on the way up and it would appear from his track record that he thrives on competition. Good luck to him. CP could learn a lesson from both. There is no substitute for experience!

 

This might have been where he played at Swans / Bayern, but at Benfica he was pretty much used as a no. 8 or as a pivot in a 4-4-2 double 6. Most likely he'll be competing with Keaton, Fejsa, Krovinovic (assuming he healthy), Zivkovic, and Gedson. This assumes that Pizzi, Samaris, Taarabt, and Talisca are all sold (the last two spent the season on loan at Gerona and Besiktas respectively and have been the subject of numerous transfer rumors). Plus there were rumors that Benfica would exercise a buy-back clause on Pele after his fantastic season at Rio Ave.

Again, I'm not really worried. Like you mentioned, Keaton seems to thrive in competition, and him going on loan to another 1st division Portuguese team would still be a positive for him. But if he does make Benfica's first team, it will really reinforce what we believe: this kid is something special.

 

I think this would be right if the last 2 years didn't happen. But they did!

 

Why do you think that Benfica would take Sanches back on loan? He was an absolute phenom as an 18yo dominating the first division as a rampaging box-to-box CM.

He made a big money move to Bayern where he had to compete with Vidal, Thiago, Martinez, ... He is not yet at that level and so was loaned out. I suspect that Sanches if he returns to Benfica will again dominate Liga NOS.





I believe that Sanches will actually be good for Keaton especially if Benfica as reported is trying to turn Parks into a #6. Playing beside a box-to-box beast like Sanches will give Parks more time and space on the ball to work his magic. Sanches will also take a significant amount of defensive pressure off Keaton.

 

Sanches dominated Liga NOS to the tune of 2 goals and 1 assist in 24 games. And in 2 years of Liga Pro he had 3 goals and 1 assist through 34 games. I think he had a great tournament and maybe doesn't quite have what it takes to perform consistently. Benfica made a tidy profit from him.

 

He also wasn't good enough to contribute at Swansea during a season that saw them get relegated.

Promising young players flame out sometimes. Anderson and Pato won the European Golden Boy Award in consecutive seasons. Pato is 28 and playing in China, Anderson is 30 and out of the game.

 

If you don't believe that Benfica should take him on loan i will take your word for it. I never saw him play for Swansea but I certainly saw him in the BuLi and Schalke would take him in a heartbeat. He is only 20yo.

I believe that Sanches' style complements Parks' to a T so lets check back in 6 months and see what happens.

PS. Both Anderson and Pato have had great careers playing multiple years for very big clubs. If Sanches ofr Parks have similar careers they will have done very very well.

 

Pato got destroyed by injuries. Anderson, like many Brazilians, flopped in England.

Brazil and England have such different soccer styles, it's seldom a good idea for a Brazilian to go there.