Gedion is 21 already, can't wait two years to be noticed. He better gets a loan somewhere, anywhere, and performs better playing soccer than bringing the Gatorade.
Jorge Bird article yesterday on GZ. Nothing new in it, but still. https://news.arseblog.com/2018/05/rejuvenated-zelalem-ready-for-crucial-pre-season/
Good news. Per Jeorge Bird tweet: Gedion Zelalem is back in full training with the U23s. 3:15 PM · Jul 3, 2018
Does this mean he's being given a shot to impress Unai, or that he's not? For a 21 year old who was seen as a first team prospect to be assigned to the U-23s (he turns 22 midseason, after all. That is the last possible year to be U-23 i'd think) sounds like a mixed bag. Maybe Unai is different than most new managers in high pressure situations, and he will be focused on long term growth etc. But if he is not all about 2020 and beyond, this could be an out of sight, out of mind solution.
He’s given the “opportunity” in the sense that he’s openly training within the reserve/youth system, but it seems more that they are doing him a solid to help him recover from a bad injury than giving him a look. Even pre-injury, he’s shown himself to be nowhere near an EPL talent.
That's what I thought, though I'm not sure this is much of a favor, but more of a see what your agent can find.
We'll know next summer. At this point he's going to need a few months to recover match fitness, and only next summer we'll know what his chances are, depending on where he goes on a loan.
The U23, Premier League 2 is used by some clubs, it seems, and not others. Everton is big on it as a development tool, for instance while the Manchester clubs more to park reserve players (but not real prospects). Arsenal is in flux as a club but has generally played prospects there. It does seem that if you are good in the PL2, you can get a loan to the Championship and do well there.
This post is surely out of place in a Yanks Abroad thread, but if Gedion Zelalem can stay healthy AND get his club career on track as an effective player, he could be a pretty good fit long-term in a USMNT 4-3-3 with a midfield that includes guys like Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie. One of Zelalem's criticisms is that he's a bit of a luxury player who doesn't cover enough ground or get stuck in enough defensively to meet the demands of the modern game, nor does he provide enough goalscoring or chance creation. Both Adams and McKennie have high motors and cover a ton of ground, and their activity level could provide ample cover for a guy like Zelalem in a line-up that looks like this, particularly if you slot Zelalem on the same side of the field as a winger who contributes defensively like Kenny Saief or Paul Arriola. Saief/Arriola------ST--------Pulisic -------Zelalem--------Adams------ --------------McKennie--------------- LWB------------------------------RWB -------------CB--------CB------------- --------------------GK------------------
Parks, Tillman, Weah, Roldan, Durkin, JP Torres, Amon, Reyna, even Green, Hyndman, etc. No reason to be putting all your eggs in one basket like that. We have a number of young, promising prospects, any one that pans out will be a boon.
There were so many qualifiers in his post that I'm hard-pressed to believe that he's putting any eggs in a basket, much less all of them.
Right, I agree. I was making more of a comment about stylistic fit for Zelalem if he were to develop into a player worth capping on the national team. I'd argue that a player like Zelalem benefits from having central midfield partners like Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie (both runner-types who have high engines and cover a lot of ground). Exactly - all of the eggs are being juggled in my hands in this metaphor.
Let's get the kid some first-team minutes in a decent league before we start penciling him into national team formations. Besides, everyone knows he'll be best for the US as a late-game advanced central midfield creative type! You know, unless we give that role to Keaton.
I'll say this: it's more fun imagining positive and silly-speculative outcomes while we wait to see what happens than it is to read self-proclaimed expert scouts peddling hindsight "smarts" in every damn thread.
Page 6 bump.... Check out @DMVsoccer96’s Tweet: Great to see local, Gedion Zelalem, fit and playing after a year out, post ACL tear & surgery. Zelalem is currently taking part on the @Arsenal U23’s tour of Germany for preseason as he looks to get back to fitness and get some quality playing time!#RepDMV | #DMVAbroad pic.twitter.com/4i4p67DTdV— DMV Soccer (@DMVSoccer96) July 24, 2018
He definitely looks bigger than I remember him at the U-20 World Cup, especially his chest and shoulders. He's either been hitting the weights or he's starting to get his man body, or both.
Honestly not sure who would want to take on a rehab project for a player who hasn't succeeded in a decent league. Like, I can see someone in MLS signing Giuseppe Rossi, but not Zelalem.