Luis Gil: Your thoughts?

Read the active thread about our new signing Sebastian Jaime. Lots of conversation about him there. He's a bit controversial, mostly because of the expectations around his salary I believe?

 

He's a promising young talent that is wildly inconsistent. There are many theories around why this is the case with no real definitive answer.

Your claim that he would thrive in the #10 spot can be argued after games like he had against Tijuana. It could also be said that he wouldn't based upon his performances when Javi was out for an extended period of time last year.

In the end, the kid has the tools to be something very special. I think he is a victim of the system, as @UPinSLC pointed out, because being on the outside of the diamond means you have to cover a shit ton of ground and have loads of defensive responsibilities. I also feel he doesn't assert himself into games enough. This made sense when he was younger, but by now he should be a guy demanding the ball. Too often he seems to want to just play in the flow of the game instead of putting his mark on it. This wasn't the case against Tijuana and I hope that is a sign of things to come

 

Conversation on the other thread had a lot of back and forth on who to keep and who to drop between Findley and Gil. At 20 years old Gil is clearly a player RSL should keep.

 

No doubt, if you held a gun to my head and said you have to keep one $250k/yr player, pick Findley or Gil, I'd dump Findley in a heart beat. No offense to Findley, he's done great things for this club in the past, but it's clear his better days are behind him. Gil is a young (under 21 still) player with partially realized potential. He's seen minutes with the USMNT, he's had successes and failures with RSL, he's going to grow and develop more. I think RSL fans have just been jaded by the fact that we've had him for so long now, I mean he's been here for FOUR years already. Your average MLS player really doesn't last with one team that long, let alone a young guy like Gil. Yes, he makes a lot of money (I can only imagine what I'd have been like at 18-21 years old with a contract like that, yikes), and he has consistency problems, but I think we've seen way too much good from him to just cast him aside. This isn't even touching on the idea that certain players just don't stand out in our system and when they move on to another team/system they become much more consistent and visible. Gil is more than likely in that same scenario with RSL, Javi, Kyle, Sabo....they all cast HUGE shadows and it's hard for guys to get out from behind those.

Gil will stay with RSL until a bigger team scoops him up, he's had pretty good success with various U teams in tournaments and he's been visible with RSL for a few years now. IMO it's only a matter of time (maybe 1-2 more years) before a much bigger club makes a play for him. Hopefully RSL gets a nice fat check (Seattle just got a rumored $4 Million transfer for Yedlin) that they can cash for all the time and money they've spent developing him.

 

I really doubt that Luis Gil will become this self fulfilling prophecy that many seem to be predicting. He's a good player with what seems to be less and less potential. Yea, he had a good game against TJ but he has not been consistent overall.

I sure hope he lives up to the "hyper hype" but I wouldn't put any money on it. And for those pronouncing him a sure thing on the next world cup team might are dreaming as well.

From what I can see the "real" gem in the bunch is Salcedo. That kid is going to go places.

 

If we're going to place expectations off of one game, then Justin Glad is actually the most promising player for us.
Kid was lights out against TJ