Tours de France: Maki Tall's Next Stage

Herzog names U.S. U-23 squad for England camp

 

So, Maki Tall isn't on Sion's Europa League roster for the group stage. I guess they don't expect him to play much in the group stage.

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2016/clubs/club=52824/squad/index.html

 

They've got some highly valued strikers older than him. He's probably getting normal league games to give those guys rest.

 

Maybe he won't play for the first team this season. Was there any actual indication that he was viewed as a first team player?

 

He has multiple teams interested in signing him after the u20 WC. I doubt out of his options he signed with a team that doesn't see him as a first team player. Maybe not this season but soon enough.

 

Yeah, I guess. I don't think he's signing to be one of those players who captains the reserve team for 15 years.

I'm just curious if there's any actual indication that he's supposed to be playing with the first team this season. He's listed on the second team roster as well.

 

Not official but in the below interview he says "I am rehabbing very well. I should start running next week, and I hope to play my first game with FC Sion in early September, after a game or two with the reserve team in order to be in full shape."

Of course it's early September now...

 

It doesn't help that he spent time away from the club at the Olympic Team camp...

 

Got his first 10' on 9/19 for the second team.

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/maki-tall/leistungsdaten/spieler/236470

Didn't make the bench the next week.

 

Are we sure that his contract wasn't a reserve team contract? Not gotten into the 18 for the first team at all, and he's barely played for the second team.

 

He said in an interview that he expected to play for the first team after rehabbing with the reserve team. However, that wouldn't be the first time a player was mistaken about his team's plans for him.

 

I hope he does get into the first team, but I didn't really get the sense either that he was viewed as a first team player.

Sion is not a bad side, at all. Going from not being able to get a single minute for Lille to getting minutes for Sion is a lot to ask. He wasn't even much of a regular with the 3rd division club he went on loan to last season. Hopefully he was telling the truth though.

 

I don't think 20 year old players are signing contracts with no intention of first team playing time, but in Talls case his rehab may not be going as planned. Either that or he simply might not be standing out enough to break into the team. Similar to Lleget in West Ham. Good players, but it's always harder to break in than it is to be knocked down a level.

 

Yeah, I imagine showing up to pre-season with a broken toe was a pretty big setback . But it's still too soon to start worrying IMO.

 

Any updates on Tall's status with Sion? Has he been playing with the youth team or reserves?

 

@RobtheAggie ??

 

Not a single game with the First Team or even in the 18 for them. He's been in the 18 for the second team three times and has played 117 minutes in those three games. Maybe he's injured?

 

Was he with the USA U-23s on their Brazil trip a few weeks ago?

 

Yes, he was.

 

The U21 team ended their fall season about 2 weeks ago. They are off until the first part of March. The Swiss leagues take a winter break of almost 9 weeks. Even with that, there are usually matches cancelled due to snow and ice the first couple of weeks.

 

http://article.wn.com/view/2016/02/09/Maki_Tall_arrive_en_Belgique/

Looks like he's on a 10 day trial at Standard Liege in Belgium.

 

I wonder if this is a potential loan from Sion or a sale.

 

This article claims that he was released by Sion already:

http://www.nordeclair.be/1487725/ar...espoir-americain-arrive-a-l-essai-au-standard

 

Interesting, I had not heard anything about this.