We know that most of Bayern's first team defense was missing. Fine. What's exciting is that in a very short period the Bayern staff was comfortable enough with Richards that they played him in this friendly. They're also taking him on their pre-season tour of the US. I'm really interested to see where this leads. He's on loan there for 6 months and we heard he was going to play mostly with their U19s. Hopefully Bayern is enticed by his talent to either extend the loan or submit a transfer bid. Man...………………….the class of centerbacks the US seems have under the age of 24 is pretty exciting. Miazga, CCV, EPB, Trusty, Glad, McKenzie, Richards, etc. etc. They won't all "make it." We have a deep enough group there that some will, though.
Gone are the days when Wigan regularly attracted under 1,500 a game. Wigan play passing football with an emphasis on getting the ball forward quickly.
Bristol City have spent a lot of money over the last couple of seasons. Their owner is said to have pumped in $140 million of his own money into the team. Salaries represented 98% of revenue in 2016/17 and although their total salary spending was only 11th last year it looks like they are increasing it this season. They started well in 2017/18 but faded badly only winning 4 of their last 23 matches.
KAA Kortrijk has signed Orebro’s American (and soon Irish) central defender Brendan Hines-Ike on a 5 year deal. I’m told it is the highest transfer value ever paid by Kortrijk and the highest transfer value ever received for Orebro. He will replace Erik Palmer-Brown for Kortrijk— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) July 25, 2018
Looking at Ireland's CB depth, Shane Duffy and Kevin Long are not old and are starting in the Premier League for Brighton and Burnley respectively. Ciaran Clark, if healthy, might be a starter too for Newcastle. Declan Rice seems to be one of the brightest young defenders in all of England, someone who could be with England U21s right now if he wanted. They have other CBs in the Championship who are probably at least serviceable. I don't profess to know about their youth players but you'd think they have some more promising players there too. I like the US young CB depth a lot, I'm not saying it's inferior to Ireland's. But I'd say Hines-Ike shouldn't be so quick to play for Ireland over the US.
Call him up to the next camp instead of someone like Parker. Keep him in the fold, and see if he earns a spot from there.
Praise for Chris Richards from Bayern's coach. http://www.goal.com/en/news/if-we-n...rds-impressing-in-/1a8ss1bmktnht1i2ofor52ouky
Why would you take the most highly rated player against WC Champs France out of the line up for Brazil and Mexico and play somebody training at an academy? You must really hate Parker.
I think you are rating his performance against France too high. He was good. That doesn't make him an automatic starter.
I just noticed you were referring to Brendan Ike - I thought you were referring to the guy training at Bayern. As far as Brendan Ike goes, he doesn't have a lot of time and he is getting Irish citizenship where his mother just got citizenship so might make more sense for him but whatever he wants to do is fine by me. He should just make his own decision. He apparently played in a 5 man back line at Orebro.
Gall gets his first start for Malmo; he's certainly deserving of consideration for a callup: En timme till avspark. Här är elvan!#MFFNKPG pic.twitter.com/Mb0D2QtE4K— Malmö FF (@Malmo_FF) July 28, 2018
And Hines-Ike starts for Kortrijk immediately in their season opener, apparently as a right back. Saief is out for Anderlecht. ⚽ De opstelling voor KV Kortrijk - RSC Anderlecht ! 🔴⚪💪#COYR #KVKand #KVKStrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/5SlfyswRmy— KV Kortrijk (@kvkofficieel) July 28, 2018
Here's an interesting one. '95 US-eligible 6-foot-4 striker Frantzdy Pierrot started for Mouscron today in Belgium. He has been called up to the Haiti national team before but didn't appear. La composition pour la première rencontre de la saison face à @kvoostende (20h30) ! #KVOMOU #royalexcelmouscron 💪🏼🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/zWt7Mv3nBJ— Royal Excel Mouscron (@ExcelMouscron) July 28, 2018
Matt Miazga is about to get loaned to Caen in Ligue 1, after they lost their previous top CB to Rennes.
Yup. That one seems nearly done: Matt Miazga is due to arrive in Caen tomorrow ahead of finalising personal terms & undergoing a medical to complete move from Chelsea, according to the reliable @MohamedTERParis.— Get French Football News (@GFFN) July 30, 2018
Marlon Fossey has been doing well for Fulham in preseason, including getting regular playing time, and was regarded by fans and media alike as Fulham's best performer in today's friendly against Sampdoria. Seems to be a good chance he'll be on their Premier League squad.
There have been a number of Fulham players who have played quite a bit this preseason who will play no meaningful part in the upcoming PL season.
High praise for Richards from the Bayern volk. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018...fcds-chris-richards-making-name-bayern-munich
He's not even from Texas. He's from Alabama. He's been talked about for over a year. Two years ago, he hadn't even played a game in the DA. Under-scouted kid from Alabama. Took him some time to find his way into the mainstream, but he's been pretty solidly considered a mainstay (by fans) with the U-20's for about half a year now.
I don't follow the youth side, closely. ussoccer97531 and the FCD posters on this forum would know about this.
The infrastructure is certainly growing if a kid can move from unknown to Bayern Munich in two years. FCD, RSL, SKC, and NYRB have become real hotbeds for moving kids on to Europe.