The Official Gilbert Fuentes thread

Quakes Sign 15-Year-Old Midfielder Gilbert Fuentes to Homegrown Player Contract

 

Looks like Jacob Akanyirige only got to have the "youngest ever" designation for a few months...

5 things to know about 15-year-old homegrown signing Gilbert Fuentes


1. At 15 years old, he’s the youngest player in Earthquakes history. He’s also the youngest professional athlete in the history of Bay Area team sports and the second-youngest active player in MLS.
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5. TopDrawerSoccer tabs Fuentes as the No. 4 player in the nation and No. 1 midfielder for the Class of 2020.

 

Love these homegrown signings, as I was just saying in the Development Academy thread, this is where MLS is going...

 

In Jesse We Trust.

 

Just imagine where this team would be right now if Doyle was still the GM, or if Kinnear was still the coach...

 

Too small. Next...

On a serious note, it's great to see the focus on young talent. Get the pipeline growing and have a look at these players as they develop.

 

What positions does he play? Does anyone know his strong foot.

 

Yeah, but, how tall is he and how much does he weigh?

 

Yeah those are the important questions, not sure why Jesse is talking about his "strong technical ability" and "high soccer IQ"... maybe the kid is really short so Jesse is trying to distract us with those irrelevant details?

 

I love that our FO and coach are saying these things, it is music to the ears, "strong technical ability" and "high soccer IQ". Hallelujah! Now to keep with that focus through thick and thin for years to come, because there is no magical winning formula for success with players who have strong technical ability and high soccer IQ, you need to keep looking at and giving such players chances until you hit the jackpot. It might be 10 guys who fail for every one who succeeds but that ratio is more than worth it because that 1 guy who is a success will be at another level, a top level quality player who teams can be built around. If enough teams in the U.S. do this, we as a country will surely start developing world class players in the next few years.

 

This is exactly the direction needed for both the Quakes and USSoccer!

 

mlssoccer.com story:
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018...gn-15-year-old-gilbert-fuentes-homegrown-deal

Fuentes, 15, is the youngest signing in Earthquakes history and is the second-youngest player in MLS at the moment, behind Sporting KC's Gianluca Busio.
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The addition of the midfielder marks the third Earthquakes Homegrown signing for the 2018 season, joining goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski and defender Jacob Akanyirige, who signed as a 15-year-old before recently turning 16. Fuentes and Akanyirige are the youngest pair of current teammates in MLS and second-youngest pair all-time.

 

Another player who played for my cousin on the Balistics! I think he has already coached more U18 youth players who the Quakes signed than Doyle's Mustangs.

Report is that he is a great player, a good kid with a nice family. A true #10 and a lot better than Jacob Akinyrige.....

 

Jesse said " a small little surprise this week, nothing big"

 

Ok, I love this, but what does it mean. Does he play in the academy if he isn’t in the normal 18 man rotation? Do we loan him out? Where do we go from here with a 15 year old? How do we make sure he is developed as best as he can?

 

Yaaaayyy we are a real soccer team with a real soccer academy actually signing homegrowns. better late than never.

 

. One gets the impression, Gilbert may be called up to the national team a fair bit and traveling. But, you would hope he’d get loaned to Reno for real games when he’s not. He could rack up the frequent flyer miles. I think it is a bit tricky though to work with the young players if they don’t train with the first team, so it also would not surprise me if both the 15-yr-olds are not sent there for games when Reno travels. I’m pretty sure all the young guys & the draft picks that are signing-worthy will be with the first team for the next 5 weeks preaseason though, so I think we’ll get to see them play....provided the preseason games get streamed.

 

Very excited by the signing. He scored one of the best goals at the recently completed USA youth camp. The camp brought in all the youth teams with adjacent age groups scrimmaging...over 150 players total.

Jesse is crushing it...

 

Not yet, I've been burned too many times before.

 

You trying to make me puke? I've been having a rough few days here. Visiting this forum (and the SJ Quakes site) has been almost uplifting recently, and then you drop that turd in the punchbowl? What if we still had the worst possible GM and a neaderthal coach?

Thanks. I needed that crap sandwich.

Go Quakes!

- Mark

 

Sadly, it takes even less imagination to picture that scenario than the amount of imagination either of those two ever used to put a roster together.

 

They can probably still play with their age group or above in their academy seasons, can’t they?

 

Mixing amateurs and pros...I don’t think so.