Youth Yanks Abroad, '97-'00 YOBs: 2018/19 Thread

When will hear that Bayern has permanently acquired Richards?
Transfer option included in this loan deal.....................................

[Bayern isn't going to muck this up like Porto with EPB.]

A day with Chris Richards at FC Bayern Campus #FCDallas https://t.co/hAyO05bQ9j (can't recall if I shared this before or not.)

— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) September 12, 2018

 

Double for Soto. He's up to four league goals.

 

Just curious, what's the difference between the two YA threads we have in the YNT forum and the Yanks Abroad Academy forum?

 

I don't post there. I don't like the Yanks Abroad section.

 

I think it's useful to have a clearinghouse thread here for YNT players in general. Obviously, in YA there are many single-player threads.

Also, YA mods don't like a lot of NT chatter in individual threads, so this is the place to talk about that.

 

Goal - Amon

 

1040973895002718209 is not a valid tweet id

 

Maybe I'm late to this rumor.......................
Blaine's 18th birthday is Sept. 29th.
After all this time in the wilderness, maybe the end is in sight?

Slideline rumor: Blaine Ferri is going to sign with SpVgg Greuther Fürth in Bundesliga 2.

— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) September 15, 2018

 

If you went to the Yanks Abroad forum you'd be more hip to this info

But it's good to post it here regardless, people have been pretty high on him as a player so it'll be good for him to develop at a good academy like Furth (well good academy for the lower German leagues).

 

That is an interesting move. Shows that every 16-18 yr old in this country really wants to get to Europe and not get stuck in MLS. Probably shows that agents and kids are getting more savvy about how they are doing it. This is not signing with Arsenal or even Schalke. This is a much easier path to the first team if you are any good. Or maybe nobody else wanted to sign him and he fell into it.

Pulisic and McKennie showed the path. Sargent put a twist on it by going to a non-glamorous (for Americans) club where his path was easier/quicker. Feel Soto and Gloster have done the same. Plenty also going for the name, especially the Bayern Munich name. It is probably just every club in Germany now trying to mine our free talent gold mine and that is including 2.Bund teams now.

MLS needs to sell Adams and probably Durkin this next window if they hope to have any chance to sign any of the current 16 yr olds.

Heard a prominent Mexico NT journalist really bemoan the fact our kids are getting to Europe in huge numbers and theirs are staying in LigaMX because the money is good. Funny thing is this is not a design by USSF/MLS but more of a backfire of their plans.

 

I don't know that we can call hanging around Dallas without a professional club to play at for years.........................savvy.

 

This is better than if he signed with FC Dallas. This team is more likely to give a young player minutes and scouts have more interest in 2. Bundesliga players than MLS players (for two similar level leagues).

 

That actually describes 90% of the HG players Dallas has signed

 

When Andrew Carleton goes to Europe and doesn't play alot watch out!!!!

 

This seems to be a pretty broad conclusion to draw from a player going abroad who everybody has assumed would go abroad for years especially considering the last two youth prospects to sign contracts signed with Philly.

 

Fair enough. MLS can certainly be a path; but we haven't seen it yet. It is very murky how these HG things work. Most players seem locked in for 5 years, but others (Durkin, Adams) seem to have an escape clause of some kind. Others can sign with USL. We just don't have enough information.

"All" was certainly a poor choice of words. I'm sure there are 16 yr olds out there that would like to be nothing more than Landon Donovan or Chris Wondolowski and be a mostly MLS lifer with all the longevity records and the big pay days and endorsements. But, every serious 10-16 yr old soccer player I know, is very tuned into European football and you have to think the dream is to start for Real Madrid or Liverpool in a UCL Final. 99.9% will never get close to there, but that has to be the dream right?

 

UEFA Youth League has some Yanks in it, which is always interesting. I remember watching Dest and Weah squaring off on Youtube last season.

Today Zyen Jones went 55 in a 3-0 loss to Porto and Konrad de la Fuente had a nice game against PSV (Highlights are in his YA thread). Brandon Austin got the start for Tottenham in a 1-1 draw with Inter while Armando Shashoua stayed on the bench.

Tomorrow, CJ dos Santos will probably start for Benfica and Sergiño Dest will probably play for Ajax. Games are often on Youtube, 8 AM EST.

 

Right....................but what has he been doing the last two years while the kids in Europe have been progressing and developing?

From this point onward I'm happy he's at a good club in the 2. Bundesliga. Why wouldn't I be? But the last two years have been a virtual waste.

He didn't need to "sign" for FC Dallas. He could have gone there to train, and then left the way Weston McKennie did. Instead he played once in a while for a club with inferior coaching, inferior facilities, inferior exposure opportunities, inferior teammates, etc.....................than a club literally down the street from him. Why? To make a point?

I'm fine with the kids leaving for Europe. The question is how you maximize development opportunities domestically until the European opportunity arises. In this case the system failed. But more importantly, Ferri's advisers failed him. Unlike a kid in Montana, there was an elite domestic academy down the effing street! Its the old Junior Flores trap......................

 

I take the opposite approach and say Ferris' advisors did a great service to him by not having him sign with FCD or really get anywhere near the place. He has been playing with the US youth teams on a regular basis over the last few years and been on numerous training stints over to Europe, so much so he hasn't been around Texas very much. That has been much better than hanging out as practice fodder at the FCD pro team or the U19DA team at FCD.

Rumor has it FCD offered Blaine a deal similar to Paxton where Blaine was stuck here past 18 years old. He was pretty smart to turn that down if that was the case. It hasn't worked out well for Paxton and I bet he wishes he was in Blaines situation right now instead of stuck watching from the stands at FCD on game day.

Still yet to be seen how it turns out for Blaine, Pax, Robert, Reynolds and the host of others yet to sign from the Metroplex but we know it worked out for Weston much better than anything he would have done at FCD by getting out of here at 18.

 

Its interesting some on here would think an elite youth in the US would shoot for the MLS as their top destination. Its possible I guess based upon family situation, kids maturity etc, but by the time the kid has risen to the level of an elite US youth player, he knows where the top players in the world play.

the fact you mentioned about the Mexico Journalist proves the point even more. The more kids in Europe for the US the better it makes it for the USNT and the rivalry with Mex if their youth mainly stay in Liga MX. Dos a Cero for the foreseeable future.

 

I didn't say he should sign with FC Dallas..................
That's a different discussion based on available opportunities.
I don't know what opportunities Paxton or Reynolds or Ferreira or Roberts or Jesse Gonzalez (etc.) had other than FCD.

I said that's where Blaine should have been training for the past two years.
Over the last two seasons Ferri should have been..................playing at an elite youth level in the Champions Division of the GenAd Cup and the Supergroup of the Dallas Cup and the playoffs of the development academy and taking trips to face Liga MX competition and training in the same facility as Mauro Diaz and Oscar Pareja and others. REALLY challenging himself...............

Its not like he had to move to do this. It was down the street. This isnt' a kid in Alabama having to move around in order to find a better level. [See Chris Richards.]

I dont' say this as an FCD apologist. I say the same thing right now about Taylor Booth, and whatever he's been doing over the past calendar year while Soto and Ledesma were training at a high level. All got to Europe. One has been sittin' around waiting while the other two have been competing and developing.

 

No one will argue Solar is a better academy in wins and losses than FCD. FCD has the resources, facilities and MLS backing to gather up most of the players it wants in NTX and beyond. Although it could be argued Reggie was developed at Solar and its pretty clear the other DA club in North Texas (DT) has developed far more influential pros than FCD ( Dempsey, Lee Ngyen, Omar Gonzalez) but times have changed and FCD does have the best youth teams.

If Blaine is hanging around FCD the last two years he would be under tremendous pressure to sign a HG with them and if that is not what he want's no reason to go there. He made a cameo appearance with the Solar U18 team in Florida last December but I think most of his time has been with the various US National team camps and training stints in Europe.

I will edit this this to add that if FCD would have allowed him simply to be on their teams for the Dallas Cup and GA Cup but still be allowed to seek any and all training opportunities in Europe, that would have been a good thing. But with the training he had in Europe and the fact he has ssecured a place, I don't think it will matter that much. All that matters is what he does the opportunity now, as with all these young guys.

Blaine is similar to Weston in that he said "no thanks" to an MLS deal and is striking out in Europe instead, similar to many other guys in his age range. The cat is out of the bag on the MLS playing younger guys. This is a good thing for US National team.

 

CE - Can one train with FCD without signing with them? Are they starting to play hardball (as I think you suggested they do)? Thanks.