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

Keaton Parks started and went 59'. He had an uncharacteristically poor night, but after NYCFC conceded their first goal, they pushed him further up the field into a more 10/8 hybrid role, and his play improved for the last 8-9 minutes he was on the field.

 

Let the rumors about his future begin: Parks' season with NYCFC is technically over.

 

He did alright. He earned a starting spot, became slightly more physical in his play, and played wining soccer. I would prefer him to go back to his home club and try to scrape out 500 minutes or so for the remainder of the current season but I wouldn't be upset if NYCFC wants to negotiate a transfer and he decides to stay in New York.

 

It was one of those games that even when he broke up a play the loose ball ended up with the opponent. It seemed like the flow of the game just bypassed him until he was moved more forward.
NYFC was just not good enough, way too many errant passes very uncharacteristic for them. I guess 2 weeks break didn't help them.

 

His choices are likely limited to the usual Yank haunts: Championship or MLS. I don't see him ever getting anything in Portugal.

 

Disappointing game to watch. Parks just seemed out of it the whole game, definitely rusty after a month out. He had his good moments but on the whole couldn't connect his passes reliably. My biggest concern was that his spacing was atrocious the whole game; he'd end up too close to teammates and get bypassed in the buildup. The garbage pitch probably has something to do with that.

The sole positives were that his dribbling was actually pretty good and tough for Toronto's press to handle, and I saw some good physicality at times as well.

One bad game doesn't ruin a player, and it will be interesting to see where he winds up. A good outcome is that he gets regular sub minutes for Benfica or a loan move to a 1st division league. The best possible outcome is winning a starting role at Benfica but that seems unlikely. The outcome I see as most likely is a permanent MLS move, but the financial side could be a barrier.

In terms of loan success, I'd give this a A-/B+; he came in an unknown, won a starting job, and played a major role on the Supporter's Shield runner up. I would have liked to see him put up some better G/A numbers and earn MNT callups.

 

Clear improvement over the course of the year. Competitive with almost all of the other Nats-eligible central midfielders in MLS. Torrent called him, in a moment of homer overstatement, one of the 10 best players in the league. I think fringe national team is the right spot for him, and NYCFC would be well served to bring him back if the price is modest. If he wants to go elsewhere, let's just hope it includes first team minutes.

 

Something to ponder: Dome loves Keaton, and described him as one of the best in the league a couple of times... Dome's press statements after the game last night seemed to indicate that he gone.

Presumably he's not interested in an assistants position and will be moving to a club in Europe. I realize this is a stretch, but maybe he'd take Keaton wherever he lands?

 

I'm still amazed an American teenager signed with a Portuguese superpower. Pretty rare.

 

Depends on the league pyramid and the club that Dome goes to. If it's a La Liga bottom-feeder, doubtful he'd take Keaton: too much at stake. At a Secunda club with promotion aspirations (e.g. Girona), it's plausible. Anywhere in England and either he or Keaton need to lie down in a darkened room.

 

StatsBomb/FBRef put Keaton at 0.29 xG+xA per 90 minutes this season. That's better than:

Cristian Roldan
Michael Bradley
Paxton Pomykal
Jackson Yuiell
Djordje Mihailovic
Sebastian Lletget

 

He's been playing consistently only since June and he was injured for the October camp, though.

 

Get this kid back to a proper European league.

 

https://www.record.pt/futebol/futeb...lhe/keaton-parks-decidido-a-vingar-no-benfica

The article is behind a paywall, but a fan blog summarized it here. Basically, Record is alleging that Keaton desires to stay at Benfica and fight for senior minutes this spring despite NYCFC negotiating with Benfica to extend Keaton's loan ("extend the players loan bond" is what Google Translate gives me, which suggests neither party is negotiating a permanent move).

Record thinks he has a shot because of his performances with NYCFC and because Bruno Lage was a big fan of his when he coached Benfica B and didn't get a chance to integrate Keaton into the first team because Keaton left just as Lage took over the first team.

Either way, it'll be good for him to take a couple of months off, because he hasn't had a proper off-season since summer '18.

 

Good! He's still young and pretty much just proved he can play in the MLS. Don't get locked into a deal there when you have options in Europe.

 

Not surprising given his history that he would accept the challenge to make it at Benfica. Have to respect his confidence and his willingness to push his boundaries both geographical and sporting.

 

Dome is confirmed to be leaving NYCFC, most likely heading somewhere in Europe. As a result, an NYCFC fan translated an interview Dome gave to a Spanish language football podcast. Here are the full comments on what he had to say about Keaton's development during the season:

If you're an MLS fan, the whole interview is very interesting, he says a lot about MLS and specifically NYCFC's logistics.

 

So is he back in Portugal?

 

Unclear, I think he's still under contract at NYCFC. Transfermarkt has it through December 31st, but I kind of remember reading somewhere that it's actually like December 15th. Some NYCFC journalists also reported that the club was going to at least investigate the possibility of bringing him back next season, but Portuguese outlets claim he wants to fight for a spot at Benfica now that he has more 1st team experience.

A quick social media stalking shows him at an NYCFC end of season party for season ticket-holders this past weekend, so safe bet is that he's still in NYC or possibly headed to Texas for some RnR.

 

Well, it depends on when the Portugese transfer window opens, but December the 15th is more than plausible. They'll want him to get 3-4 weeks rest before joining up with the squad for training to get mach fit ahead of the window opening and that's the most plausible date for doing that.

 

Not sure if this is inside info or if the preliminary roster was public, but Glenn Crooks claims Keaton was snubbed from the most recent u23 roster:

James Sands in, Keaton Parks out although he was on preliminary roster #NYCFC @NYCFC @ThirdRailSC @NYCitySC @templados12 https://t.co/LVoCLv4pym

— Glenn Crooks (@GlennCrooks) November 7, 2019

Personally, I've prepared myself to never see Parks play a competitive match for any US National team, but this is still disappointing after the season he had with NYCFC.

 

It's official. Sands is in, Parks is out, in the released roster:

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...ons-at-united-international-football-festival

 

Shows him not to choose Benfica over MLS

 

This is bonkers, unless the direction of the snubbing goes the other way.

 

Honestly, hadn't considered that, but if he's still under contract at NYCFC I can't imagine he or the club turn down the call up.