No one here is relying on BS posters, silly. We are relying on the words of team management. What evidence do you have that the interviews have been poorly translated? If you believe that to be the case, please give us a better translation. If you can't, you must have made that up. And At least for point "a", I'm not sure what more Schalke could do than celebrating his "graduation" to the first team. So it seems they are saying he is on the first 23. Of course no one guarantees playing time for a youngster. But all points suggest he will get a solid opportunity to stake out playing time. And Weston is exactly the type of player you suggest the team needs.
I didn't read it that way, I think for sure McKennie will remain with the 1st team, even after pre-season. If he is playing his age level, he will ride the pine. If he is the player we think he can be off-the-gate, then he should see spot minutes at first, building up until he does something exceptional for his first start.
The SBI translation that was posted earlier: “He will fight with the pros and will challenge some of them next year. He has an uncanny force and is incredibly strong in defense and in the attack.” The correct translation: "He will show grit when training with the [first-team] professionals and challenge some of them in the coming year. He has an incredible force, is strong in the air -- offensively and defensively." All the youth academy coach was saying is that Weston works hard and is good in the air. Are you serious? The pre-season has not even started yet and we have a new coach. There is not a single Schalke staff member saying that Weston is on the first team much less the 23! That is just nonsense. Lets wait until Schalke offers him a professional contract before we talk about the first team. McKennie is still a youth player who along with Haji got a chance to be on the first team for the last meaningless match of the season. If Weston and Haji can move to Schalke II and start this season I will consider it a huge step up for them. First team? This season? Wow!! At least in 2013 at age 18, Green was on a professional contract and Pep was talking about keeping him with the first team before the hype started.
That's one quote, there were many others. He's received a lot more praise from Schalke than Green ever received. Of course there are no guarantees and we will have to wait and see how he performs. But a few posts ago you apparently had no idea what the players qualities are, so itseems you aren't following the situation closely. Also, he already has more Bundesliga appearances than Green.
Jazzy, Are you a long-time schalke fan or primarily following Weston? HHF is a local schalke fan and is offering a more knowledgeable perspective of what the club says. While he may be wrong, I think it's strange to discount that insight as much as you do. Apologies if you are also a long-time Schalke fan (which I am not).
Hey there, no I'm not a long time Schalke fan. Generally I have nothing bus respect for HHF and find myself in agreement more often than not. And agree that nothing will be handed to McKennie. But I think to say this is no different than the Green situation is not true. McKennie has already appeared in a league match--Green never did so for Bayern. And while Bayern staff would make nice pleasantries for Green from time to time, I think the positive statements about West from Schalke have been on another level. Is all of that hype merely the product of mistranslations? I don't know, I'd need HHF to go through the various statements made in May and show me. I'm also not sure how closely he's been following the player, given that he didn't know that McKennie is the precise type of player he stated that Schalke lacks: a ball-winning, fast, athletic CM.
I have seen (video) several Schalke U19 full matches of Weston including training sessions. I know what kind of player he is. I also saw his 13 minute debut v Ing. Lets be clear, I am not disparaging a promising youth player I am just bemused at the suggestion that he will be in the first team 23 this season. I suspect it is because many don't understand that Schalke is a top 3 BuLi club from a revenue/income/payroll perspective and just failed to make European football for the first time since 2010. The natives are very restless and we need to bring in proven BuLi quality reinforcements this transfer window. When I talk about needing an aggressive ball winning CM I am talking about bringing in a proven top 5 league professional to anchor the center of the park for us. I am talking about the next Jermaine Jones, Geis, Bentaleb, Goretzka, even Hoger, or Neus, players with 2-5 years professional experience in a top 5 league who we know can do the job. An unproven youth player with less than 6 months in the youth system? Almost no chance. First lets see if our new coach Tedesco even calls him into the first team preseason camp!
Yeah an until then people can stop disparaging other people from stating an opinion, because no one knows yet until it happens and this board i\s for discussion and speculation.
If McKennie and Wright are not called up to the training camp and play this season with the reserves, its a failed season. Why wouldn't they though? They are technically first team players. Maybe they won't play much or might go out on loan or might play some games with the reserves, some with the first team, but I think it would be missing a lot of available info to call this the Green situation.
Markus #Weinzierl today confirmed Weston McKennie🇺🇸 and @HajiWright🇺🇸 will train with the #S04 first team from now on. Congrats, lads! 👏🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/OapOfeZ098— Schalke 04 USA🇺🇸 (@s04_us) May 18, 2017 According to the club, Weston will be training with the first team. But yes, I agree, let's see if Tedesco will let him train with the first team. Makes sense.
A shoe-in for a World Cup selection. So a guy with 10 minutes of first team playing time is a "shoe-in" for the 2018 WC if he is a big part of Scalke's plans this year (whatever that means)? I believe the kid is a good one, but damn ... can we have a little perspective. Let's see his actually accomplish something on the field before we crown him König der Welt.
If there's a need at his position, then it looks like it may be an ideal time for him to win some playing time. CM is a position where subs see plenty of time.
Did you read what I said? He is a shoe-in if he indeed ends of being a "big part" of Schalke's plans, next season, i.e., is receiving regular playing time. HHF disputes that is necessarily the case, but I stand by the statement that a player getting regular time at Schalke is a shoe-in for the World Cup roster.
Please follow along before making snide posts. Weinzierl was fired as manager on June 8th, 3 weeks after that tweet.. We need to see how Tedesco (the new manager) puts his squad together, which new players he brings in, and does he rate Weston and Haji. Most folks around here understand that the fortunes of fringe players change with hiring of a new coach.
Wouldn't you think the sporting director has a say in something like this? How can the new manager properly evaluate all the youth players and decide who belongs and who doesn't belong? Might be easier to do for first team players that you already know a lot about. And also, Tedesco coached last year in the U-19 Bundesliga, the league McKennie and Wright dominated. I'm sure he knows about them already.
I agree that if he were getting regular first team minutes and was doing well, then he would be in a position where he probably should make the World Cup roster. But Bruce's reluctance to play young players makes just about any non-Pulisic player under 24 impossible to call a shoe-in. I wouldn't even say Acosta is a shoe-in with Bruce right now. The random collection of MLS guys on the GC roster should teach us that
Sure, but it's not like the Tedesco is going to stop McKennie from coming along. How would he know that he truly doesn't like him as a player if he's never coached him before? A normal situation for a new coach would be to bring more players, not less, since he'd be unfamiliar with the personnel. How could he possibly justify leaving a promoted youth player off of his first camp? I could see you justify Haji since he's at a deeper position with no game time, but it's impossible to say Weston should not train with the first team when he has played in the Bundesliga.
Is that really a thing? Which players under 24 do you think are unjustifiably left off? And off those, how many have as much of a reason to be included as as theoretical version of McKennie getting consistent minutes for Schalke?
Tedesco got hired because 1) He took over 2.BL Erzgebirge in March and saved them from regulation 2) he is considered one of the bright young coaches 3) Heidel, who is credited with discovering Klopp and Tuchel convinced the board. Tedesco is only on a 2 year contract and Heidel is on the hot seat for the fact that we will not be in any European competition this coming season. I hope both YAs make the preseason camp roster. Cleaner translations and clearer separation of the academy coaches comments vs Heidel's. http://www.espnfc.us/schalke-04/sto...s-teams-us-youths-weston-mckennie-haji-wright
I definitely think it is really a thing. Jose Villarreal, Bradford Jamieson, Jack McBean, Ariel Lassiter all had growing pains and saw limited minutes because of it. Even Brian Rowe only got a chance because Dan Kennedy got hurt. Bruce will play kids if they jump in and start swimming like Lletget, Zardes, etc. he will keep throwing them out there but if they start to sink he will move on. It's hard to predict what will happen in the next year or so but between Acosta, Arriola, Morris, Adams, McKennie, Hyndman, and even players like Gooch and Lennon could be in good club situations and still be left at home when the team goes to Russia. If Weston is getting regular minutes but isn't shining or doesn't impress in his first cap, then I wouldn't be surprised at all if he doesn't make the roster. Bruce will take the best players that fit what he wants to do. His mind will be about winning in 2018 and nothing else. Plus, there will be some real competition for WC spots. We know, barring injury, Bradley and Pulisic will be on the roster. Guys like Nagbe and Lletget, who can play both centrally and on the wing, would also likely have an edge at reserve spots.
I... completely blanked on Galaxy Bruce for some reason. I even literally posted about this like an hour ago.
Bruce is not reluctant to play younger players. He played them on the Galaxy, and he played them in his last stint as USA manager, giving Beasley and Donovan the keys to the offense at the World Cup.
The players you mentioned quite frankly were not good enough. Bruce gave them chances, but they did not seize them. Villareal in particular received more chances than he should have, because it was obvious that he lacked the physical quality needed to make it. But Bruce gave a lot of young guys opportunities--and some succeeded. Juninho was young when he arrived; so was Omar G and AJDG. And then Zardes and Lletget as you mention. Bruce gave other pretty crappy young guys time, like Stephens (now out of MLS).
Arena just started players aged 23, 22, 21, and 18 at Estadio Azteca, two of whom were very inexperienced at the international level heading into the match. If a player is worthy of consideration, then he's not going to be ruled out because of age.