YNT-eligible NASL/USL players -- 2017 In-season thread

I know Luca Mendes, the 2016 national HS player of the year, late of DCU's academy and UVa, was on-trial with the Cosmos. Does anyone know if he signed or not?

 

We talked about this in the off-season thread, but here's a good article about the "loophole" that some MLS teams with their own USL clubs are using to acquire talent, including YNT players and college underclassmen.

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/us/featu...urce=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_m_medium=t

 

This should have been an easily anticipated outcome of this USL Priority Player designation.

It really has the potential to do a lot of damage to the MLS policy of no free agency for almost everybody and especially amateurs joining the league.

Nobody really high profile has gone this route, but it can't be long before MLS clubs with USL team start lobbing contracts at non-MLS-affiliated U17s like George Acosta, for example.

 

Robbie Robinson '98 signs an amateur contract with Charleston.

http://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/772413?referrer_id=2333971

 

NYRB II sign '97 Andrew Lombard.

http://www.newyorkredbulls.com/post/2017/03/21/new-york-red-bulls-ii-sign-andrew-lombard

 

I think he's played RB and CB in the past; at 5'9" I'd imagine that RB is his professional future.

This is definitely a signing that doesn't happen three years ago in a world without USL reserve teams.

 

This is 100% speculation but word was that Lombard was negotiating a HG deal during winter break, but it never materialized. It could it be that the Red Bulls like the possibility of loaning him to the first team, which is another absolutely huge benefit of the USL team since he wouldn't occupy a first team roster spot.

 

I don't think signing youth players to your USL Team will become an issue that MLS until teams really take advantage of it by signing a Christian Pulisic or Nick Taitague type talent.

Right now teams the bulk of the signings are mostly signing foreign young players. Nothing wrong with that at all. Some will pan out and some will bust, but it is the right way to approach building a USL Team.

The handful of US Youth Prospects are still pretty risky investments. None are super high end players that are ready to start in MLS right away plus you don't get the benefit of the HG roster relief. Most are likely getting paid low to mid level USL type contracts.

De Silva is a smart buy, but teams are not going to get into a bidding war to sign those type of players.

 

I agree. But now that teams are finding that they can sign lower-profile YNT players like Ryley Kraft and interesting-but-not-big-name college underclassmen like Lamar Batista, someone is going to try to push the envelope a little farther and it's going to happen sooner rather than later.

Is there any sort of max salary in the USL? Because if not, giving a prospect a relatively fat USL deal would be a nice way to entice him to join your organization without even wasting MLS roster or salary cap space. Then you move him up via the USL Priority Player rule when ready.

 

Agreed. Eventually someone is going to swing for the fences on a Josh Sargent or Gordon Wild type player and either another team will bitch to the league and MLS will close the loophole (my guess) or the teams will recognize this is better for them all in the long run if they do their homework and are proactive and the rule stands pat.

I thought I read or was told or somehow it entered my brain a couple years ago that the USL players (on the MLS 2 teams) couldn't make more than the MLS minimum. Not sure if that's accurate or still the case.

 

It appears that Tyler Feeley (Orange County) and Diego Garcia (San Antonio) have moved on from their clubs.

 

I think Boise is a great USL market but their travel costs will be pretty high. It's 5 hours to Salt Lake City and 6.5 to Portland but after that, they are looking at a lot of flights. Could Spokane, WA, Bend, OR or Jackson, WY support a USL team?

 

How many USYNT-eligible players are on non-MLS USL and NASL teams right now?

I know about Devin Vega in San Antonio and Alexis Valela and Eric Calvillo with the Cosmos. Anyone else?

 

I believe the five players the two of you mentioned make up the full list so far.

Richmond and Charleston have each registered an amateur player on their teams, which they have been doing for at least several years. However, that's not the same thing and if history is any guide these guys won't get more than a cup of coffee.

 

I sort of disagree. It's actually rather centrally located and that usually makes travel costs cheaper if you can do the road trip comfortably in a day. I think Seattle, Reno and Sacramento are also within range. So five cities total by bus. The other five by plane.

 

Boise's MSA is 675k.

I believe the smallest market with a pro team in recent times was Wilmington, NC with an MSA population of around 275k. Of course, they dropped out of the USL after putting up a good fight for a long time. I don't think the NASL or USL would be wise to ever put a team in a market that small again.

Bend MSA is 175k, way too small. The entirety of Teton County, WY has a population of 21,294.

At 550k, the Spokane MSA is at the smaller end of viable. They also have nearby Coeur d'Alene for another ~150k. I am sure Coeur d'Alene is chock full of soccer-loving, fancy coffee-drinking hipsters...

I believe the smallest pro market right now is Reno (MSA: 450k). At that size, you have to play your cards right. Reno has a relationship with San Jose which I'm guessing allows them to cut costs in certain areas.

If I'm the USL, I'd consider a Boise or Spokane if the proposal was really well put together with good ownership and all the pieces in place, but I don't know if I'd try all that hard. There are many much larger markets with no pro team. If Seattle (Spokane) or Portland (Boise) are willing to make the trade offs necessary to move their USL operations (>attendance, but reserves can't easily train with the first team and academy players can't easily train with the reserves), that strengthens the financial proposition for those markets.

In the Pacific & Mountain West cities like San Diego and Las Vegas are obviously more enticing, but even places like Tucson, Albuquerque, Fresno and Bakersfield are considerably larger. I'd also be intrigued to see someone take a crack at the Inland Empire, which is fairly well removed from LA and is nearly 1m bigger than the Minneapolis metro area.

 

Latest NYRB II roster is here:

http://www.newyorkredbulls.com/post...ces-24-man-roster-adds-seven-mls-players-loan

It includes four amateur academy players

- GK Sam Ilin '00
- DF Kevin O'Toole '98
- MF Ben Mines '00
- FW Zach Ryan '99

O'Toole played nearly 600 minutes for NYRB II last season, while Mines had a series of late sub appearances. Ilin was an unused sub a few times. I don't think Ryan had any involvement in 2016.

Tyler Adams is not included among the seven loanees from the MLS roster.