Yep. Zelalem didn't get paid anything in KC and isn't getting paid in NY. It's a flier, and I'm sure De La Torre could get that. But I don't know why he'd come back to the US to get paid like $70k with no guarantees of PT. Parks and Hyndman both came back on loans which is not a bad way to do it.
All I'm saying in this regard is that I suspect Luca de la Torre will get a higher salary offer from Djugardens. Let's be clear. We're talking about soon-to-be 22 year old bench player in the English Championship that's played 10 career first team games. We're not talking about Tyler Adams or Weston McKennie here. If the reigning Swedish champions want to sign him, he should jump at that opportunity. He also holds a Spanish passport, so other options may be available to him as opposed to other American players his age. We'll see. Oh.................I think we agree that de la Torre would be able to find a club if he came back to the states. I don't think that would be an issue. MLS plays hardball when some of these kids that spurn MLS return, though. I remember the case of Lee Nguyen when he wanted to come back to the states from Denmark. He was training/trialing with his hometown team, FC Dallas. But the league REALLY lowballed him on his salary, and he went to the V-league instead. Another kid that REALLY stands out for me in this regard as well is Stuart Holden. He came back from Sunderland, and basically played for minimum wage. He was on like $40k a year (don't remember the exact figure). And, by the way, he was on that contract for his entire MLS career. Instead of re-signing on a more lucrative contract, he just let it expire in order to head to Bolton.
Hyndman is in another tier than DLT and showed it after getting loaned to Atlanta. Zelalem got signed but that is the most optimistic approach to it as he barely played for SKC and will likely not play very much for NYCFC unless there are a lot of injuries. DLT could absolutely find a team in MLS to sign him but him getting good playing time is far from a guarantee.
Hyndman showed it after moving, but what does that mean? Someone still took him and he wasn't cheap. The better argument is that Hyndman was a fringe EPL player (on the first team but rarely in the 18), while LDLT is a fringe Championship player. Fringe EPL players have been coming to MLS as TAM players or max charge players. Brad Smith and Josh Sims the two recent examples.
Hyndman was a pretty big player for Fulham when he was there and DLT is a fringe player that is the difference. Hyndman made a move to the next level to a team who did not use him (when he was healthy) and he proved them wrong when he went to Atlanta. DLT was an alright player for his age group while Emerson was a top 3 talent for his.
Ledezma's struggled for productivity this season, but he scored two goals yesterday. Very good to see. 1218302653710716928 is not a valid tweet id
Adams start from this weekend. https://streamable.com/112h7 Another start for Durkin. He's now started three in a row. Two Americans will face each other in Belgium’s top flight today when Kortrijk hosts St. Truiden. Colorado’s own Brendan Hines-Ike starts in central defense for Kortrijk while Virginia native Chris Durkin starts in defensive midfield for St Truiden. 2pm ET kickoff— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) January 18, 2020
AC Milan reportedly are ready to go on signing Antonee Robinson to replace Ricardo Rodriguez who is leaving for PSV. Rodriguez leaving for PSV will bury Gloster's hopes of a first team debut this season but if this transfer happens then Robinson should be written in pen in our starting lineup as left back. AC Milan are currently ranked 8th and are only 4 points away from a Europa League spot. With Zlatan there they will no doubt get that spot.
An obstacle for Robinson at Milan will be Theo Hernandez who is in red hot form. But if Hernandez keeps playing like this then he will probably be sold to a bigger club in the summer opening up that spot for Antonee to take
Basically. AC Milan are looking for a new backup left back. Their current one is going to PSV which is bad for Chris Gloster. Antonee will now likely be Theo Hernandez's injury backup and could become the starter if Theo moves to a bigger club in the summer. Overall this is great for Antonee in my opinion and very bad for Gloster.
He might not stick and I definitely have no idea if he will since I haven't watched him since his U17 World Cup, but I've gotta say that if Indiana Vassilev gets a premier league start tomorrow then you've gotta think that's arguably one of the biggest markers of progress we've seen. He's really just been a fringe guy that no one was ever that excited for. It seems like there's a full roster full of guys coming each birth year that are at least comparable to his promise. It'll be really cool to see how the national team and MLS change as these talented groups get older and older.
I hate to be negative, but I'm getting Lynden Gooch PL appearances vibes from Vassilev Good chance they get relegated too
Indy is there because of injury problems in the Villa first team. In reality, he does not have the first touch or the skill for the premier league right now. If Villa gets relegated he needs to stay because he is a Championship level player and if they don't get relegated he will probably get loaned. Vassilev may be a solution to the unknown striker role that we currently have for the u20's. Him, Kelman, and Pepi are probably the front runners for this spot. Vassilev still has some work to do before we give him a USMNT or even a moderately full strength u23 call up. For 2001 prospects he is still behind Llanez, Konrad, Booth, Otasowie, Araujo, Harper, and Bassett who are all in a tier above him. He slots into the second tier 01 bucket for me with guys like Sousa, Tessmann, Kelman, Akanyirige, Gallegos, Milijevic, Roberts, Ritaccio, Haak, Hoppe and Palomino who are still great players and u20 candidates but not the guys with truly elite potential.
Hey Tessman can hit field goals with both feet from at least 50 and maybe 65 with his right. That sure sounds elite to me!
So great to have our second rate 2001 prospect praised for his play at EPL. Can't even imagine what our first rate prospects would do to that lousy league.
He has lost the ball more than kept it and his one meaningful contribution was an off the ball run. Until we see that he is able to keep possession and positively combine with teammates the hype train needs to cool off a little bit. When Villa are back to full strength we don't know if Vassilev will see the field again. It is a very different situation than Gio Reyna breaking into a fully healthy BVB side in a game that was not decided yet. Don't set yourself up for disappointment if he ends up being like Lyndon Gooch and Johan Smith.
Vassilev's stock is no doubt on the rise. It is positive to see him getting minutes in the PL regardless of circumstances. These cameo appearances in and of themselves shouldn't catapult him up the depth chart. Definitely want to see him provide more than just a motor and energy before getting too excited, but at least Vassilev is providing something to be excited about which I doubt anybody expected when he went over to West Ham.
I think this is getting tired. Why not get excited? What harm does it do? We have so many players popping up all over northern Europe that if Indy doesn't hit, you just move on to the next hot thing. Have some fun! I don't think this is like 2015, when if Shea didn't make it, we wouldn't see another player make it anywhere for years. Even when the players, "make it", everyone is told to calm down. "Pulisic is on the bench, Lampard hates him, maybe he can get a loan to Bournemouth in January!!!!" It is so silly. Nobody is ever supposed to get excited or utter the optimistic possibility. Meanwhile, the opposite with the USMNT. Come on, get excited for Roldan and Zardes and look at them form a triangle and almost complete two passes. Wow, we beat Canada and looked great in 20 minutes versus Mexico, wheeeee.