1. he wouldnt take up an intl slot. 2. he played 21 appearances for rangers when they won the title....so its not like he has ZERO pedigree.....perry kitchen played for a worse team in the same league (and got benched) and got 600k from MLS..... 3. marc pelosi got scooped up sj. lletget, brooks lennon etc failed to make EPL teams and got into MLS...hell jay simpson got signed by philly...from what the 3rd div of england.....was josh gatt's pedigree really better than zelalem's is now when colorado/minnesota signed him? i could totally see an mls team being interested in zelelam...but the money might be an issue, imo. i couldnt see an mls team signing him as a DP...but if he was willing to play for lower $$$ i see no reason why not.
Kitchen played in the top division of Scotland and had already demonstrated an ability to play in MLS.
Zelalem played for Rangers when they won the Scottish second division title. Kitchen played for and captained Hearts in the first division, after having demonstrated that he was at least a competent MLS player before going abroad. Pelosi came on a full transfer and was a recent successful youth international, Lennon was a returning academy player and recent successful youth international, Simpson was a lolphilly signing. Lletget was odd. Gatt had won three Norwegian league titles and had two USMNT caps before he came to MLS, so, yeah, his pedigree was a whole ********in lot better than Zelalem's. Zelalem's most recent playing accolades are being a bench player on a second-division Dutch team and being a rotation player on second-division Scottish team. Nothing in that resume says that an MLS team is going to invest time, money, and energy in allowing a perpetually injured player to rehab. It's not a charity.
aight well...time will tell. personally i think MLS has (even somewhat recently) signed plenty of players with worse/equal pedigrees (and histories of injury to boot) than zelalem...you seem to disagree. I can see why you are skeptical of gedion...sure, things are not looking great at the moment... but I still have hope for him as a player....and if I was an MLS team with the chance to get him....(for not a lot of $) I would jump on it. bottomline, he is only 21 and counts as a domestic player.....how many college players would you sign before you signed him? MLS signs a bunch of college players every season with worse track records than he has....he also has u-usmnt experience where he has shown well....to me it's a no-brainer that if he doesnt find a place in EU...he will get an MLS chance...and that has nothing to do with charity. PS Gatt and pelosi were coming off huge injuries where they hadnt prvoen tehy had recovered but still got MLS deals....so their pedigrees shouldnt have meant much, imo....especially if you are going to hold zelalem's ijury history against him.
Didn't travel with the U23's yesterday on the trip to Bayern. "Gedion Zelalem remained in England as he continues to work his way back to full fitness."
This thread makes me depressed. Depressed at how much 2nd division Scottish football I watched a few years ago, and depressed about Gedion's outlook post ACL. Darn.
Gedion Zelalem made his comeback from injury in the U23s' friendly against Bournemouth last weekend. It was his first Arsenal appearance since January 2017 (via @gloriousgedi) pic.twitter.com/CmRQTnaME7— Jeorge Bird (@jeorgebird) August 9, 2018
Such great news! Cmon GZ...we need you now more than ever. I am fascinated to see how the next year or 2 play out for him.
I'd love for Gedion to get a loan out to a mid-table Eredivisie club, Belgian club, or a Norwegian or Swedish top division club or a German BL2 club to see if he can get some first-team playing time this year in a league that's not in England or Scotland.
For now his focus must be on not getting broken again. Even if he's a U-23 reserve player, that's still a lot better than rehab.
Don't think anyone wants a player who hasn't played a competitive game since Spring 2017. Missed all of last season in rehab. Not far from a year and a half being out injured. Guys who are in his spot usually are stuck in their current clubs and usually in the reserve team trying to get back into it again. Maybe if he impresses he can get a loan in Winter.
Maybe returning today... https://arseblog.news/2018/08/zelalem-could-return-as-arsenal-u23s-take-on-brighton/
At this point I’d be happy if he played with the U23’s and then got a move to a Championship or MLS side. We all had high hopes for this kid and there’s still potential he could live up to some of his hype, but it would be nice just to at least see him play on TV somewhere accessible.
Yeah, beyond our silly hopes and dreams there's a talented footballer who has worked for years now hoping his knee recovers enough that he gets another reasonable shot at his dream. I hope he gets some good, healthy, productive minutes in the short term. What his "new" top is, I'll leave to the soccer gods.
welp.. Three changes for Arsenal U23s. Ballard, Bramall and Nelson in for Bielik, Bola and Mavididi. Bola not in the squad. Sheaf still out. Zelalem not fit enough yet.— Jeorge Bird (@jeorgebird) August 20, 2018