Gary Kleiban is an agent. People need to keep that in mind when reading Kleiban's posts about Mendez, Llanez, or these other kids. I mean, Cory Gibbs does the same thing. Hypes up Chris Richards on twitter, congratulates him on performances and milestones. Gary Kleiban is not a neutral witness. What I dislike is the negativity from Kleiban. At some point that's bad for business if you're an agent. What one sees from Cory Gibbs is only positive messages about his own clients, MLS, the USSF, etc. 1168894504797163532 is not a valid tweet id
Not to dive too far into conspiracy theories but if Kleiban represents Mendez, Llanez and possibly Perez, who is to say he won't guide them towards Mexico over the US? Kleiban doesn't seem to have much affinity for the US Fed ( can be understandable at times) and his brother is an out of work coach that Mexico could possibly hire. Would be interesting if we lose any players Kleiban represents. At any rate, it looks like the US camp is at the same time as the U16 Mexico Camp and Johnathan Gomez from FCD chose the US over Mexico so that is a good sign.
Ever read Kleibans thoughts on Paxton? one of the best up and coming US players and he bags on him and constantly tears him down. Your right on the negatively front.
What if Paxton or Carleton or one of these other kids is looking for an agent to help them get to Europe? Its just bad for business. And I have no doubt that Gary's antics have recently been a big reason that his brother lost his job with the Galaxy. That was implied by Te Kloese if not outright stated. Whatever we might think of the mouthpiece (Gary), the actual coach (Brian Kleiban) has produced good players and prospects of late. Its a real shame that he's not currently working with more youngsters in MLS or DA academy. If I was an MLS club like Houston desperately needing help in the academy, I'd immediately reach out to Brian. Or hell, what about the new club in Austin? And tell him he needs to leave his brother behind............................
Reyna in UEFA Youth League against Barcelona today. Hello................... 1173980700497850368 is not a valid tweet id It appears Konrad de la Fuente lined up for Barca in this game, but I haven't seen anything online regarding his performance. 1173953950623703040 is not a valid tweet id
Regardless of what you think the substance of his opinions, Gary Kleiban is clearly a giant ahole. I wouldn't want him anywhere near my organization. As long as there's a situation where Gary is going to have regular contact with my players through Brian -- or Brian is going to outright push them to Gary, which I don't know that he does -- there's no point in hiring Brian. There are lots of good academy coaches out there. No matter how good Brian is, you can have one that basically tells players not to sign with you under any circumstance. The same people that rant on MLS-USSF conflict of interest have no issue with this conflict of interest, but it's massive, has a detrimental effect and is completely avoidable.
A lot us (myself included) were justifiably down on him after his lackluster U-20 WC, but he has a natural ability to glide past defenders that few Americans have. I doubt he'll make it at Barca, and he might not make it as a top level player in general, but there's still something there and worth keeping an eye on.
I like to temper my negative view of the performance w/an acknowledgement that he was about 18-24 months younger than his opponents and trained well enough to get starting run despite clearly not being at Llanez's level. To me, temper the disappointment w/an understanding that in '21, he'll be the age of most of the opponents he matched up with four months ago, so, still time for him to improve, right now, he's clearly no more than a hold, but at that age, that ain't bad.
The obvious irony is that you and other primarily MLS/USSF supporters have a problem with this perceived “conflict of interest” but no issue or belief in the MLS/USSF one. Even more hypocritical, you then call out others for mirroring your actions/beliefs.
Apologies for being an old dope but when I looked up Kleiban on Twitter, it only had stuff from 2009. What’s his handle?
He hides behind the 3four3 twitter handle now. Just a dope. Here's a very recent tweet. As if the community here didn't know about Efra or Uly or Alex a hell of a long time ago. No. ONLY HE KNEW! I found all of it kind of amusing before it came to light that he was the agent of these players. Now its taken on a different tone for me....................... Jonathan Perez, the best 2003 in the US.I have spoken.If u come at me with stats or pedigree of other 2003’s, well ... you just don’t know (like u didn’t know about Alex or Uly or Efra, ...). You’re just one of those who necessarily has to wait to see.https://t.co/emASXstUVB— 3four3 (@3four3) September 17, 2019 Its one thing when just a fan is saying this sort of stuff. Remember, this is the agent of a group of our best prospects. It really is disconcerting. And there is no question whatsoever, no question whatsoever...................this Gary's mouth and actions have directly effected the career prospects of one our best youth coaches. Cuz Brian Kleiban does seem to know what he's doing. There's a reason that Gary is increasingly lashing out against the establishment. Its because they want nothing to do with him. He desperately wants to be part of the community and an insider. The more the community rejects him, the more he lashes out. Anyone who's been saying Berhalter has "a system", "an identity", a "style of play" ...is full of shit.— 3four3 (@3four3) September 12, 2019
I don't want this thread to go off track into a discussion of the Kleiban Bros., but in fairness to Brian, whatever one might think of his brother or of his behavior, I think we should recognize and give him props for the players he has developed. Of the kids he had from an early age, say U10, here is a short list of where they are now. This doesn't include an additional number now playing NCAA Div 1, some of whom may eventually play professionally. Alex Mendez- Ajax Uly Llanez- Wolfsburg Efrain Alvarez- LA Galaxy John "Xuxuh" Hilton - Volendam (Netherlands) After coming to the LA Galaxy Kleiban then worked with other players, & helped develop them: Leonardo Sepulveda- Salamanca (Spain) Zico Bailey- Kalmar (Allsvenskan, Sweden) And also worked with Mauricio Cuevas, LAG II & Kobe Hernandez-Foster ??? I've watched his teams play and I have no doubt he was instrumental in developing these players as well as others who may eventually be heard from. That's what's so damn disheartening about what's happened. Here is a very good coach who, for reasons only he knows, got swept up in his brother's machinations.
Zico Bailey's actually with FC Helsingør now. That's the Jordan Gardner-owned club in the third division of Danish league football.
I think Lederman trained with him briefly at Real So Cal before Kleiban moved to FC Barcelona (now TFA) and started coaching the U10 team there, which included Mendez, Llanez, Hilton, and later Alvarez. FWIW, as much as some view Lederman as a "failure" because he didn't make it at Barcelona, he's still in the game, in the reserves, at KAA Gent (Belgium).
Here's a German-American (according to the DFB) who joined Werder Bremen's U17s this summer. https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/tom-kanowski-at-werder-bremen.2106410/
The Efra and Uly calls were pretty obvious, and Efra's stock has probably decreased in comparison to his '02 counterparts since then, while Uly's has probably gone up. You gotta give him credit with the Mendez call, though. I still don't think he's the best '00, but he's at least in the conversation, and none of us believed that when he said it.
Why stop at Pynadath? Everyone is ahead of a player who didn’t do that well at a youth tournament against older players.