I just wonder if we'll see Chris Richards get a taste of first team soccer at the end of this season. Probably all depends on Bayern's place in the table down the stretch. 1213095908352634881 is not a valid tweet id
I highly doubt it. I think a lot of people purport their own opinions of Richards onto Bayern’s opinion of him. They’ve had CB injuries all season and they lack depth at the position, anyway. They’ve instead used a LB out of position instead of any young CB’s, and Mai is ahead of Richards in the pecking order, if one was to get some minutes.
No Gloster. Can confirm Ledezma will join PSV's first team in Qatar for winter training. So Richards, Ledezma, Reyna all confirmed with their 1st teams this month. Strongly suspect Gloster too.These are the 4 youngsters most likely to break out in Europe in 2020.— scuffed (@scuffedpod) January 3, 2020 1213121216229380103 is not a valid tweet id Nick Taitague (FINALLY!) will take part in Schalke 1st team winter training!🙌😊 https://t.co/oKvoMw7o8T— Bundimericans (@bundimericans) January 3, 2020
He's looked so good for US teams but you're right that Bayern have been decimated defensively by injuries and he hasn't played a minute. They played a younger player (Davies) at left back so it's not an age thing. So far they just aren't that into him. If he doesn't get minutes this spring he needs to move or get a loan so that he doesn't suffer the Julian Green hanging around to long for nothing fate. The one that deprived him of a couple of years of starting for a team that wanted him.
🇺🇸 Nicholas Gioacchini (19) continues to impress over in France! 🔥✍️ Signs pro contract with @SMCaen in a couple weeks ago⚽️ Scores today in his 1st game of 2020 v. FC Guichen3 goals in 7 starts so far this season for the striker! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/oInvVgocMp— Football Wonderkids (@fbwonderkids) January 4, 2020
Yeah, I said pretty much the same thing in one of the other myriad threads around here. They clearly rate somewhat, since he's starting for the reserves and gets first team training time, but the same could have been said for Green. I understand that players are pulled in by the allure of playing for one of the super clubs, but (and I said this about De la Fuente too) I don't really see the downside in transferring to a mid-table club while still young. If Richards transfers to, say, Hertha and becomes a stud CB for them over the next couple years, Bayern (or some other super club) will absolutely come back around and buy him back when he's 23-24.
Not just the players get lured in by the allure but also many U.S. fans who tend to evaluate youth players primarily by their club affiliation. Look at the top 20 youth prospect lists made here in Big Soccer from two or three years ago and you can definitely see it. I am not saying anything specific about Richards in this case, but it does seem to be an almost uniquely American phenomena. I didn't experience anything quite like it when I was living in Europe or South America, but then we tend to obsess on the NATS as opposed to club ball (myself included in that!).
Indiana Vassilev was on Aston Villa’s bench at start of FA Cup loss to Fulham but he got time in second half
I wouldn’t really even credit Vancouver that much. Davies just has it naturally. Incredible athleticism with good enough skill on the ball can take you so far.
European clubs are always given credit for the talented players that they poach from other clubs in their early teens, so I don't see why the Whitecaps shouldn't get theirs. After all, part of successful youth development is simply not screwing up the talented players who come your way.
there a lot of posters who get very defensive about MLS so I figured it’s better to give them the benefit of the doubt. At the very least, they identified a talented player and provided him a good path to the majors - that’s worth quite a bit IMO. we’ll see how good Vancouver’s actually program is by the total amount of talent they send to the major leagues over the next half dozen years or so.
davies was undeniably good enough to play for a super club in his teens. how many mls clubs have kids good enough to play only for a better club in a stronger international league stuck to the bench behind a wily veteran?
The '00 strikers are starting to look like the '97 CB's (Sargent, Weah, Soto, Ferreira, Gioacchini). Niko Gioacchini's goal in the French Cup yesterday -- his 4th in all competitions since his pro debut on Oct. 25 https://t.co/Dkp0aOfgJI— scuffed (@scuffedpod) January 5, 2020
I agree with all that. The only caveat is that it doesn't necessarily have to do with talent alone. Boateng is making tons of money. Hard to sit him for Mai or Richards. Same with most of the first team. If money was not a factor, things might have been handled differently. Bayern will probably sign a CB or two in the window. They might sell Boateng. All the more obvious that it is probably time to loan Richards. Like most Bayern players, he will get first team, first league minutes, for another club at first.
The problem of being at a super club is that if you aren't top 15 in the world at your position they'll bring in someone who is. Chris may actually break into the first team but it is super unlikely, they brought him to preseason in America two summers ago and them he went straight to the u19's. Chris needs to be loaned to a lower bundesliga club this window or in the summer. He is too good to get 3 bundesliga minutes and rotting on the first team bench will do him no good (refer to Julian Green or Junior Flores as to why).
Yup. I'd argue that the best scenario here is for Chris that he gets some good exposure for the rest of this season. Maybe a garbage time debut for the first team at the end of the season. Then a nice loan next season......................and it'll go from there. If he does really well out on loan, then who knows how things progress? Neven Subotic did very well as a youngster of this age with Mainz in the 2nd Bundesliga. That got him a move to Dortmund. CHris Richards could be the best centerback in the history of the USMNT and still not meet the standards of Bayern Munich.
Bayern do have a tendency to promote german players first and then outside of that you have to essentially be a golden boy finalist level player to get consistent minutes there. Any other club in Germany would love to have him. Maybe he could join Josh Sargent at Bremen who's defense is abysmal.
I meant to say that Bremen’s defense is bad. Josh Sargent’s dad’s best friend is my boss and he gets more insight than all of us (has been there for literally every step of that kids career since he was 3). Apparently Bremen tell their attacking players that the game plan for every game is that they have to bang in 3-4 goals a game because they know that their defense is going to be awful every game and and give up a minimum of 3 per game. They need someone like Chris Richards.
Hopefully your boss doesn't read BS. Otherwise you might start looking for another boss unless you are authorized to post it here.
We're all good. I've said the same thing on twitter and he saw it on there and thought it was hilarious. While on the topic of Josh Sargent we need to be expecting him to have a big season next year. Bremen's plan for him the first two seasons was to get acclimated to the bundesliga and then start scoring here and there and really hit his stride in the third season. They want to make a profit off of him.
Everyone expects the Pulisic timeline for every player. If anyone is not getting 2000 minutes and starting almost every game by 18, they are "struggling" or "failing". Certain positions skew younger in soccer and conversely, certain positions skew older. If the USA is having a wave of new talent, the first to hit will be wingers and then fullbacks. Next will be CMs, especially defensive ones, then strikers, CBs, and GKs. That is what we are seeing, as the breakout players have been defensive midfielders, wingers, and fullbacks. Sargent is getting Bundesliga goals at an age where Dempsey was still in college. Sargent is getting goals at a level Altidore never scored at. Richards, CCV, Miazga, EPB, these guys are still young. MIazga is the oldest, but is only 24. Cameron didn't even move to Stoke until he was 27. People are clamouring for Richards to move, he is 20 at a position that doesn't peak until 28.