I can't find the thread now, but I remember an article about a kid from Silver Spring a few months back - before he went to the first open trial, maybe. It's awesome to see that Milan are interested in him (even if he is just 10) to let him into the academy. And before the whole "how young is too young" thing gets started - how about we all just agree that it's cool a (very) young American might be going overseas, and we'll hold off discussing how much better than Messi he'll be until he at least makes an appearance for the Primavera team?
I hope that the kid can settle. But here's the deal: AC Milan aren't going to be bringing this kid through to the first team. He'll be at another club when (and if) he gets consistent playing time in Europe. Plus, if he's really talented, Italy will want him, like Spain wanted Messi. So it's not all great, but obviously he will be better off training over there. So good luck kid, get ready for the 2018 cycle!
What kind of name is "Cassagnol"? Frankly if he's eligible to play for either Italy or Spain I'd rather he not go there at age 10.
please help us ... not this again .... let the kid grow at his own pace and desire and don't publicize it ....
You're dreaming. Italy would never cap an American-born kid, no matter how good he is or how much he might want to play for Italy.
FFS, saw this in the Gazette and was fearing that it would end up here The kid plays years up in one of the most competitive areas of country, practices 5 times a week with a bunch of coaches that have foreign sounding names, but still, he cannot develop unless he breathes that magic European air. Hell, even Rossi waited until he was 13 to move to Italy. But he got magic European fairy dust in the breastmilk. Damn, there are some serious hustlers out there, convincing clueless and ambitious parents that they are the only ones who know what's best for their kids...while at the same time lifting thousands of dollars a year out of their pockets.
If he's truly that good then someone at USSF needs to step in and work with the family and help set a path for him. If he's that good they could at least have him train with the DC United U-14's.
Undoubtedly. This is all about parents making absurd decisions because they think their "little Johnny" is special. Chances are Mom and Dad, little Johnny ain't Lionel Messi. Chances are extremely high that by the time he's 15, he'll be a wash-out. Then what do you do? We're not talking about a "young kid" here........ we're talking about a child. People should have learned by now through a bazillion examples that the fact a 10 year old is good versus his peer group means absolutely nothing with regards to his future. Nah-ting. In any sport. If I was a moderator on these forums I'd ban any discussion of a kid younger than 15. We shouldn't feed into this bullsh*t. It's virtually child trafficking. If this was a child from a remote village in Africa, we'd all be really looking at this story with an enormous amount of concern. But since it's some kid from an affluent DC suburb.........people are talking about it like it's "cool." It's not cool, it's pathetic. Have him train with his local club team.........in this case if DCU likes him, that's good. Then you don't need to turn the child's life upside-down..............in order to play a sport he probably doesn't know if he likes anyway. He's 10, for Christ's sake.
I agree! He is 10 years old and even to go to Italy the family would have to move with him. They really need to think about this, moving the family, moving the kid away from friends (he's 10 friends are a big deal at this age), other family members, school. Let him play with DCU. The academies aren't a bad way to go and it certainly beats moving to a different country. Who says he'd even be at Milan in 5 years? Or even 2-3? Let him develop as a player first and a kid. If he's getting interest now at 10 years old he'll probably have interest when he's 15,16,17. Look at Devann Yao he's been abroad pretty much his whole life. If you read that TIAS article you could tell he just wanted to be normal when he was back home, go out with friends because once he's back in Europe its all business.
exactly, he'll enter a class with, what, 20, kids in his year? By the time Milan start letting go kids that don't cut it and poaching promising kids from other teams' youth squads and bringing in talented international kids, they'll go through 50 or 60 in his year. If, from this group of 60, they get one player who contributes to the first team they'll be satisfied. Two would be a great class. If the kid has enough talent to make that cut, he can stay in the US til he is 14 or 15. We've shown we can develop 15 year old players here, it's the 16-20 age range where we fall down.
I hate how I have to post about things I am not interested in, but at least it gives me the opportunity to judge people I know nothing about!
How is this different from sticking a thumb tack on the neck of a violin (until they stop bending their thumb too much) and making your 10 year old practice for 2 hours a day. Tiger moms in the house yo.
We really do have a soccer discussion board where someone found something that he thought was interesting. There are other threads for you to read and post in. Hey, look at this: What can happen when you track young players.
Do any of you have kids? My guess is probably not, given some of the comments I'm reading. If you do have kids, you know that you would do anything within your power to make sure that you child had every possible opportunity to excel at something that makes them happy. In this case, playing soccer at the highest possible level makes the kid happy. What is wrong with taking advantage of an opportunity that 99.99% of kids in the world will never be presented with? It's not like his parents are sending him off against his will to become a bull fighter or something. He has an opportunity to experience a new culture, learn a new language, and pursue his dream as an elite level athlete with the best possible environment for him to succeed. All of these are things that will give him skills that will be valuable to him no matter if he ends up as an elite player or some other profession. From a soccer perspective, I am not disagreeing with everyone else who says that he could probably get close to the same level of development by playing at the DC United academy although the article seems to suggest that he would be considered too young for that option. From a cultural and social perspective it is a very attractive proposition to get some exposure to environment like the one at AC Milan. As a parent I consider it part of my responsibility to teach my children about things like professionalism, work ethic, and competition among many, many other traits. What better environment to learn those things? This is not a decision that anyone can take lightly, but I do not get the impression from the article that this family is doing anything other than weighing their options very carefully. I don't get the impression that this is a case of a parent with stars (or $) in their eyes. I do get the impression that this is a parent that is willing to do anything within his power to help his child achieve a dream, while at the same time gaining valuable life experience that will serve him well no matter how his soccer career turns out.