YNT-Eligible MLS Players: 2018 In-Season Thread

Every coach has "his favorites." Maybe the Chilean guy will become his new favorite, and Pax will become even more of role player. Who knows? The primary goal is to win games, not be a day care center.

RBNY has given plenty of opportunities to some young players, but not as many opportunities to others. Ben Mines, who is also 18, hasn't appeared in a first team game since March 11th. Plenty of playing time to Tyler Adams. Zero playing time to Tommy Redding. A coach doesn't blindly give playing time to young players for the sake of development. They have to feel that they're ready to help them win games more than the other options on the roster. That's true for every club on planet earth.

You either trust Pareja to make these decisions about which young players are worth developing and working with further.................or you don't. Based on his previous work, I trust him. Mostly because prior to Oscar Pareja, FCD fans had to endure year upon year upon year of mindless and directionless mediocrity. [Other than a moment or two, such as the 2010 playoff run.] Each one of us should have a disturbing shrine to Oscar Pareja in our basements that scares our friends and families.

And there's zero reason for anybody to think that he's given up on Paxton Pomykal. Who, after all, is only 18. Reggie Cannon just turned 20. The focus on the playing time given to Paxton Pomykal has gone way overboard..............so I'm done with it for now.

 

Watch: Andrew Carleton and George Bello Q&A

 

One #atlutd player remains on the training pitch. Guess which one....

— Doug Roberson (@DougRobersonAJC) August 15, 2018

Player still out there for #ATLUTD? Carleton.

— Doug Roberson (@DougRobersonAJC) August 15, 2018

 

As an Atlanta United and ATLUTD 2 STH, this hurt me to say, but I think Andrew Carleton needs to sit down with the FO and have a man-to-man conversation with them and see where his future is going to lie.

Tata likes him, he's a hard working kid, he's just in a place where there's a lot of money spent on attacking players and the coach doesn't like making subs until AT LEAST the 75th minute, and he's preaching "patience" with AC but I watch AC vs DC United and it frustrates me that he's not being given more trust. As an ATL fan, I look at the Supporters' Shield standings and I have full trust in Tata, but as a USMNT fan I want Carleton to be playing at a high level more often because I believe he belongs in the same echelon as Weah and Sargent as the real superstars of that u17 team last year. Weah and Sargent are having break throughs and playing for the USMNT, but Carleton (while he has more professional minutes than both of those players combined) could be doing something similar at a mid-table club in Europe.

Our FO worked with Carlos Carmona when he said he wanted to go to Chile just weeks before the season started. I think if AC went to Bocanegra/Tata and said "Thanks for everything, but I need to be playing. Either sell me or play me." I think they would listen and do what they could.

I don't want our players to be soft and chicken out of competition, but the bottom line is there will always be players in his positions that will get precedent over him with the way we operate. I hope to Saint Zusi that I am wrong and that he starts racking up appearences/starts, but from the looks of things that's just not going to happen.

Bello, on the other hand... Tata loves him as a player and even had him traveling and training with the first team last season. He would let him sit on the bench and 'dress' but not actually be in the 18. We're so thin at LB that I could really see him actually getting a breakthrough and holding that position down like Cannon is doing at RB for FCD. Bello has leapfrogged Jose Hernandez (Venezuela u20 international LB) who is 4 years older than him so that's a sign that the coaching staff is really looking to phase him in soon.

 

I absolutely do not trust Pareja to make judgments about young Americans. Talks a big game. Very little to show for it. Had Grana been a 24 year old Argentine on a 4 year contract instead of a 33 year old on a one year contract, I think Cannon would have maybe 200-300 minutes right now. In a sense, he got lucky. Thats to take nothing away from him. Look how good Cannon has done when given the starting spot. Thats because we knew he was a good player, and he just needed some games to get into the rhythm of things.

The same would likely apply for Pomykal. 0 minutes for Servania (international), Richards will be sold to Bayern without ever appearing for the first team, Ferreira has two appearances in two years, Reynolds is turned into a RB to help the #'s in practice. I don't trust the coach here to deal with the situations of young Americans.

 

Durkin on the bench again.

With three games in 9 days it will be frustrating if he doesn’t crack the lineup Sunday.

 

Moreno starting over Durkin is a joke.

 

Of course DC played well today, although both Canouse and Moreno played 90min.

I could still see DC going with a one man DM like Durkin has been playing but with Moreno.

 

Lennon is playing on the wing today, and Acosta still didn't play. Herrera stayed at LB, and 28 year old Shawn Berry played right back.

It's halftime and Berry already has a yellow so I won't be surprised if Acosta comes on, but it's still pretty mystifying.

 

It doesn't even matter if he misses a few weeks of games. He doesn't exactly need an extra game or two like most young players in the league do. He's already one of the best at his position in MLS. Probably needs to leave to Europe after the season, if anything.

RSL keeps losing themselves points, and with one of their best players on the bench. Why hasn't Petke been made to answer for this?

 

I've seen this reported in a couple of places now. RSL offered Sebastian Soto a very lucrative deal to stay. Same as previous kids that went abroad like McKennie. We can't say anymore that kids are heading overseas due to the financial aspects. MLS is ponying up the cash to get them to stay. FCD, for instance, is paying Chris Richards $125k this year to play for Bayern Munich!

1029930628098080768 is not a valid tweet id

 

RSL is getting raided in a major way right now. Booth and Soto are gone, Ledezma looks like he has at least one foot out the door, and Ochoa is trialing overseas

RSL also started five academy players last night, which is fairly typical for them. The oldest of the five is Corey Baird, who is 22.

Hopefully RSL can take the long view — that this as an advertisement for their academy and all the facilities and infrastructure they've built in Utah. I do want them to start reaping more of a return soon, though. We need success stories for other clubs in MLS to model.

 

Yup. As USMNT fans we can be happy about the pipeline to Europe.

However, what is RSL's incentive to continue churning out talented young players if they all head overseas?

This isn't RSL's fault. There's nothing they can do about it other than to try to lobby the USSF, MLSPU, etc.

And people can keep trashing the quality of MLS development, but it sure seems like they're churning out prospects that big Euro clubs want.

 

Bingo. ROI needs to be tangible for MLS academies to put forth the effort. Big bummer for RSL

 

something else to consider....
MLS, as a whole, has a rep as a league where young players do not get a fair chance and there is evidence to support this claim. Europe has a rp as a place that is good for young Americans to develop. I don't really see any evidence of this being true. (actual results) I expect that to change but not universally. A few teams will be good for

What do the current top young US players in Europe all have in common? (Pulisic, McKennie, Weah, Sargent). I would say that all of them demonstrated that they were ready or almost ready for the big time immediately off the plane. Who have we ever had that went to Europe at a young age and was developed there before finding success? JOB. Wood. Who else? The jury is still out on several players at Shalke and other clubs but we will see. MLS needs to improve in many ways but Europe still needs to prove they can do the developing also (just comes with time). I have no doubt that some teams like Shalke, Dortmund and others can do that but Europe also has it's own rapids.

 

If this attrition continues, MLS academies might have to consider reserving their best developmental opportunities (playing up in USL, practicing with the first team, etc.) for players that actually commit to them. Most of these players can't move to Europe until 18, and given that MLS by and large has geographical monopolies on pro youth development, I doubt the next best club team option is nearly as appealing.

My three point strategy would probably be something like 1) try to sign top prospects on the younger side (15 or 16), 2) hire a top notch developmental coach for my USL team and sell early pro experience, and 3) play hard ball with the prospects with limited options and say either commit or try to make it on your own in a lesser developmental environment.

I'm generally thrilled that we are producing so many prospects that are capable of heading to Europe but it's got to be sustainable for the MLS clubs that are doing most of the investing. That said, I'm more optimistic than most that it will work itself out - MLS will get more sophisticated in closing these prospects, especially as the league continues to improve; the quality and quantity of prospects will get better in time; and lastly, USSF and the MLS league office have a lot of available levers to subsidize and encourage this type of development.

 

The problem is MLS teams do not give young midfield or attacking players a realistic chance with the exception of a couple of teams. The clubs spend money then ride that money regardless of outcomes. See Coleman in dallas. These top kids are all friends and go to YNT camps together, abd if you don’t think they talk your crazy.

I’m hopeful to see the talent stay in MLS abd things change, but what would you do?

 

And yes the academies here can compete with anyone in the world as they have proven in competition. So what they are doing is correct.

 

RSL is an interesting case. They definitely play young players and are very good at the DA and USL level. However, are they developing players at the MLS level? They can lose guys at 18 if they can develop one Glad and sell him at 21. In MLS, your Academy probably pays off if you can simply have a handful of HG players on your roster.

But at the MLS level, the team seems to have zero plan. Watching the game last night, Petke has lots of young guys out there but they didn't seem to have any idea what to do. Compare RSL in this regard to NYRB, when they bring a guy from NYRB2, he has a clear understanding of his role and has been playing that role in USL.

The Monarchs are one of the best USL teams, is RSL simply playing differently? Or is Petke just winging it game to game? Why can't they approach their Home form at all, Away?

Great that they are playing all these young Americans. But I'm not sure any of them are learning anything or getting better.

 

The problem is if MLS does something about players leaving their academies for Europe then we have more situations like Pax and Carleton, and fewer like McKennie.

The only reasonable way I can see this changing is MLS expanding the # of HG slots and having a portion of those not impacting roster cap. Meaning if the cap is 30 players now, a # of HGs don’t count towards that 30.

Unless the min salary increases considerably then some MLS teams would easily be able afford to sign more HG players that likely will never see first team minutes.

 

The simple solution here is solidarity payments.

If the MLS academies are getting something for their developmental efforts, then losing these kids to European clubs becomes far less a big deal.

 

This is the best option. Even if a player does not sign the HG, the MLS club still gets a payment, smaller than transfer but still something for the effort. However, these payments should also go from the MLS clubs to the non-MLS clubs when they poach a local kid as well. It would help soccer overall in the US.

The MLS does not have enough to offer to the top level players that now have a realistic chance to get to Europe. There is no comparison in signing with Dortmund or being a HG at RSL. It seems the best players realize that and are making the moves.

The MLS will still have plenty of kids coming through their academies they can sign to HG deals and try to develop in the MLS. This will more than likely be the second tier of the players in the academy that either can't get an offer in Europe or just want to stay in the states. ( there is something to be said for a kid that just wants to stay at home in a familiar environment and still live with his family instead of going overseas). These kids will be there for the HG contracts.

There is little benefit for a true top level USYNT player to choose MLS over a team in a top league in Europe if he has both options. Trying to strongarm them into staying won't work.

 

It'll certainly help, but I don't think token solidarity payments are nearly enough. Youth development is similar to venture capital or drug development in that a small percentage of the investments yield nearly all of the return. Taking pennies on the dollar for those investments won't provide sufficient ROI.

What's happening with MLS right now is akin to AbbVie spending billions to develop a portfolio of drugs and then Bayer coming in at the end and taking their blockbuster Humira from them for free. For MLS, signing or selling a Pulisic or McKennie type is what makes it worth spending millions per year on hundreds of players that never make a meaningful impact.

As I wrote a few posts up, MLS needs to produce more top prospects (which will probably happen) as well as get more sophisticated about increasing and exploiting the leverage it has in the 15-18 year old age range. You basically want the delta between what a 15-18 year old prospect can get from you versus other options to be as big as possible, and then you make the case that they're risking their careers by not signing with you.

 

It's the same in hockey for Russian kids. If you are a stud young Russian prospect the KHL will pay you a lot of money to stick around, and some do. But the natural inclination to being an athlete is a competitive fire and the desire to test yourself against the best. Just as the young European hockey players are almost always going to come to north America to prove themselves, most young soccer players are going to want to go to Europe to make their careers.

 

I know what you are trying to say, but just FYI: the payments received for losing an academy prospect for free are called training compensation. Solidarity payments are something else.

Training compensation payments are triggered only before a players' 23rd birthday, when he signs his first contract and every time he changes clubs (transfer or free). Training compensation is distributed in a proportionate manner to the clubs that had the player from age 12-21. The size of the compensation is calculated based on the training costs of the club signing the player. The specifics of how this is done are unclear to me, but the gist of it is that a club in Germany would have to pay a lot more in TC than a club in the Central African Republic.

Solidarity payments are distributed when a player is sold, no matter the player's age. The total solidarity payment is 5% of the fee, and it's distributed in a proportionate manner among his clubs from age 12-23.