Eating nothing but ice cream and pizza makes kid happy, but that doesn't mean the parents should automatically led them stuff their faces with it. Often it is in the child's long term interests to have the parents deny them something, and this also applies to kids who play sports, otherwise you end up with some promising starlet who does one commercial with Pele and then thinks he never has to work in training. Kids also change their minds about what they want every ten minutes. Twenty years ago I wanted to be a marine biologist, but I've never even been scuba diving. Let the kid play at home for a couple more years and then decide if this is really something worth uprooting the family for. Depriving the other kids of their father is also not an awesome aspect of part of the family moving to Italy. Kids shouldn't not be favored just because they are good at a game.
Yes, two, and at ten years old they were in no position to make these decisions for themselves and to raise them taking into account only the best case scenario is irresponsible. And perhaps you also need to consider that even if you realize fabulous success you're pushing them into a career that they will be finished at 35, with a ton of money and fame, but also very likely emotionally stunted, physically damaged and intellectually limited. Are these potential problems more or less likely for a kid leaving his family at 11? And the most likely scenario is that they will have missed out on growing up with their siblings, will have sacrificed a good deal of education (unless they're bad enough to get tossed early) and failed to play professionally at any but a token level. But hey, like I said, I think the main problem of the parents is that they just don't know any better. How many of their advisors are saying..."you know the chance of this kid having a meaningful professional career is 5 or 10% at best..."
No idea. There are hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of American 10 year olds playing in Europe. Probably thousands. I was one of them in Germany. (my father was at a military base there). We have ODP Europe for a reason. Every child of an American serviceman probably plays the game, but we don't consider them "yanks abroad".........and discuss their prodigious abilities. But every once in a while we get an article in the American press about some 10 year old "soccer prodigy" trying to move to some European club.......and people think it means something. It means absolutely nothing.
Way to generalize the hell out of something until it fits your view. Why didn't you just take it up another level and say "Smoking crack makes my kid happy..."? Why would you encourage your child to do something unhealthy if it made them happy? What is it about going to Italy to train at the AC Milan academy that is unhealthy? Since the whole purpose of the place is to turn out world class athletes, I'd say the odds are pretty good that it's a healthy environment for anyone. Of course you deny your children some things when they are not in the best interest of the child. This scenario is not one of those instances. How is it in the long term best interest of the child to deny them an opportunity to have an experience like the one this thread is about? If your example above is true, every kid who experienced success in sport at a young age would turn out like the prima donna you describe. We all know that is not the case. Good parents keep their kids grounded. This is not a reason to keep your child from following a dream. When my children are older, they will know that they can do anything they set their minds to, and I will do whatever I can to help them reach their goals. You have no idea what you missed out on because you never decided to follow your dream. I am going to surprise you and agree with you on this....partially. This is definitely a family decision and it is definitely not an easy one. If it were me, I would not want to leave the rest of my family behind and I would figure out a way to keep everyone together. The only way to go forward would be if the entire family was on board. It could be a great experience that a family could share together. They're also not moving to Italy forever. I get that this would not be for everyone, but I also think this is more than just a soccer opportunity. This is great opportunity to show that hard work pays off.
A lot of you are really off base. The kid is all for it, the parents are for it, let them do them. One of the few legititmate negatives I've seen mentioned in this thread is the idea of splititng up the sibblings/parents. Off topic but some of this kids quotes are funny. I work with 10 year olds everyday and none of them have perspectivelike that.
Putting aside the appropriateness of the thread being on this forum .... do you disagree with the notion that the age 10-14 years are crucial ones in a soccer player's development, maybe some of the most important? And that a place like AC Milan would benefit such a player's development substantially more than whatever club he played for in the States? That seems to be what the parent is basing his decision on (from the article), and maybe a better question to focus on than whether or not young Mr. Cassagnol (or any particular player) will ever turn into a star. Wasn't this the same decision the Adu family was faced with once upon a time? If my memory is correct, offered to move w/his family to Inter to train there at age 10 or 11, but they turned it down. And many people say Freddy would have benefitted greatly from such a move - that maybe his career would have followed a different, better path - if he had been thrown into the structure of a big academy early where he trained against similarly talented players his age (as opposed to playing w/DCU at 13/14).
I think you're correct. Freddy was 10 at the time. According to the press, the offer was turned down by Freddy's mother on the advice of his agents. (That's right, Freddy had "agents" when he was 10 playing in OPD U14 tournaments. Absurd.) I personally believe they made the correct decision.............and than managed to make horrible decisions for the next 10 years. In a way, and people will think I'm crazy for saying this...........the youth soccer infrastructure in this country is quite different today than it was only 10 years ago for Freddy. This kid lives in the shadows of DC United, that just brought Andy Najar up thru their youth system. He can get quality training near to his home right now, without needing to "take his talents" to Milan. If when he's a little older......maybe ~13 to 14..........and he still wants to move, then go for it. That's the age Rossi was when he went to Italy. Ten for me is just too young. Others can disagree. I would like to reiterate that we have hundreds upon hundreds of USMNT-eligible boys in Europe right now. You can see lists of them on US Soccer in the ODP Europe section. There are programs in Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Kaiserslautern, Oberfaltz, London, Naples, Rome, Vicenza, Holland, Berlin, and others. At many of these locations we have U11, U13, U15, and U19 teams. We don't talk about all of the "Yanks Abraod" but they're there. This particular 10 year old is no different than any of these other 10 year olds at this point.
god I love bigsoccer. An article is posted on a soccer player on a soccer forum. I read it. It was good to know. And we keep it all in perspective. Now somehow, discussing the merits of going overseas at a young age is somehow labeling him a prodigy and "nothing special?" Go read this thread, blind posters who jumped into this thread and started talking about child trafficking when that's clearly what this thread is not about
I tend to agree that it's an interesting story - although I wished they discussed a little more of how he became so soccer obsessed - and we mods have discussed previously and agreed that 1 low key thread for interest stories like this are okay - but obviously that's the extent of what we will do here. We do have an age limit for Gameday threads.
I just think the idea of uprooting the family, or worse yet, part of the family in order to pursue something that is a statistical shot in the dark is not a great idea.
I think it depends on each individual family/situation. I am not going to add anything else to either argument as everything has already been said. It depends on the kids dreams, and whether his parents will allow him and give him the opportunity to chase those dreams. If everyone who has ever achieved something looked at statistical chances and decided it wasn't a great idea, we wouldn't have half of the athletes competing in the world. Kids/families decide to move all the time to chase their dreams. Michael Tetteh who was recently drafted by Seattle left his family to join an academy in Ghana and then moved to UCSB. I believe he hasn't seen his family for over seven years. It's a much larger statistical shot in the dark if you are not already on the ladder to becoming a professional. He would have a much better chance of achieving his dream if he joins Milan, even at such a young age. It's a great opportunity and it's always good to be positive. I believe the article said he has already been in Italy training. If that's the case they've sampled what it will be like, and the kid obviously wants to take up the opportunity. Plus you don't know what Milan are offering. It some cases, clubs have been giving money, houses, jobs to parents of young kids for years. It shouldn't only be about the deal, but they may want to secure him for the long term. In some cases, clubs will offer a deal till he's 14, and then insert a clause that when he turns 14, he gets another deal till he's 17 for example.
Very random bump that should moved to the Academy, but I came across this kid's instagram. Apparently he is now a youth team player for SD Huesca in the Segunda División. Played for the US U-17's last year in some camps. Patrick Cassagnol (left) scores 2 G3 A in Spanish Nat Leag play for EFSD Huesca Juvenile ! Patrick has drawn interest from La Liga teams ! pic.twitter.com/ILg2wYmm4U— Cantera Fútbol USA (@CanteraFutbolUS) September 30, 2017
Always enjoy seeing updates on players like this -- as I've said, while it's obviously ridiculous to obsess over extremely young players I see nothing wrong with posting an article and then letting it cool until there's something else to say about it. Usually we never hear from those guys again. Other times, they end up on YNTs. Cantera and Huesca are a bit confusing. There seems to be some kind of pay-to-play situation going on there, maybe along the lines of Marbella or other programs. But I can't say for certain that's what's going on with Cassagnol. Anyone know? http://www.canterafutbolusa.com/
Seems to still be in Spain at some level. https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-soccer-articles/pro-prospects:-imperato-scores-twice_aid46017