Good luck to him, hope he does better than the last 2 seasons. #Calciomercato: dal Borussia Dortmund arriva il difensore classe '94 Jeremy #Toljan!Il comunicato ufficiale è su https://t.co/2y2d10F165#ForzaSasol 🖤💚 pic.twitter.com/THtyiX4qQC— U.S. Sassuolo (@SassuoloUS) July 11, 2019
Toljan started at RB in a recent friendly. US Soccer needs to get him a passport. http://www.sassuolocalcio.it/articles/?id=9&aid=5346/sassuolo-sudtirol
so he should get a passport due to having started a preseason friendly instead of waiting on his club form during the actual season?
Every 6 months we rehash the same discussion RE: Toljan. He had no relationship with his now deceased American father and has little interest in joining the USMNT. He’d also have to jump through some hoops (finding dad’s paperwork, etc) to acquire citizenship. The US seems to be a pretty distant third in his mind after Germany and Croatia, and on his current trajectory (poor stints at Dortmund and Celtic) it doesn’t look like he’ll be good enough for any of the three.
It's clear he won't be good enough for Germany and Croatia. For USMNT...he would definitely be in the conversation. (Don't tell me Yedlin, Lima, and Cannon are all ahead of him, or will be for next four years.)
As someone who follows BVB and the Earthquakes, I can that Toljan is better than Lima, but not dramatically. As a USMNT fan, I am not particularly excited to see either of them called for the national team. Yedlin is obviously better. Hopefully Robinson pans out. Should we be changing the thread title to "on loan at Sassuolo"?
Yedlin is ahead of him and, barring ACL injuries, will be for this WC cycle and likely the next. Toljan would be ahead of the others though. As @Gcam32 said, Ajax Amsterdam's dual-national reserve RB Sergino Dest is the one to be crossing finers (and toes ) for: he made his pro debut this weekend in the Dutch Super Cup against PSV and went 90, at LB to boot. Both teams played near full-strength sides.
Toljan can play left or right capably. That said, it's just nice to have someone to track in Italy on the off-chance he decides he wants to wear the stars and stripes. And if anyone thinks he doesn't deserve a look if he wants one ... our depth options at wing back from the Gold Cup should indicate a lot.
Sorry, I should have been clear. I meant that targeting our starting pairing as Yedlin+Robinson. One of each, better than Toljan, in the "already old enough to be a top of depth chart starter". I think the 24-year-old and older bin is now known, and we need to look for more players in the younger bins. Of course any player can suddenly show better, so the coaches should keep an open mind, but it isn't likely.
I also wonder why people like @keller4president and many others are so interested in a player who wasn't even interested, at all, in the USMNT when either the USMNT head coach (who was a German legend) or American media asked him about it. I get the USMNT isn't in the best of shape.. but this guy was so indifferent to the USMNT, it would be more interesting to see the fans rally behind players who were willing to show up in the first place. Yedlin, Ream, Lichaj, Cannon, Dest, Lima, Araujo, Robinson. etc IMHO, the international game is different than the club game. The international game is in a much more limited duration but requires a lot of commitment and passion. It's unlikely a player is going to be at his best in the international game unless he really wants to be there
No need to call me out personally. I've never seen that interview/article with Toljan where he indicated disinterest in USMNT. All I saw was one or two tweets from you. Seems you interviewed him in 2013, which was quite a long time ago - opinions change. He was only 18 then, playing for German youth national teams, and probably thought he had a good chance to play for senior German team. (Based on how bad a coach Jurgen was, I don't blame him for not wanting to play for him either.) Six years later, it's clear he won't play for Germany, and unlikely he'd play major role for Croatia either, save for a sub appearance here or there. For us, he could be a starter. So maybe he's changed his mind. Maybe you could interview him again and find out? If the answer is still no, that's fine, but at least the coach should give him a call if he plays well in Italy. No need to rule him out categorically - we're not that good.
Consider me rallied around Lichaj... he has been done wrong. A competent player who has played at a good level and can play across the backline.
starts in Coppa Italia. #SassuoloSpezia: neroverdi in campo così ⬇️(4-3-3) Consigli; Toljan, Gravillon, Ferrari, Rogerio; Traorè, Obiang, Locatelli; Berardi, Caputo, Boga#ForzaSasol 🖤💚 #CoppaItalia pic.twitter.com/O44jlDitVy— U.S. Sassuolo (@SassuoloUS) August 18, 2019
Started at right back in season opener. https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2019/08/25/italy/serie-a/torino-fc/us-sassuolo-calcio/3111708/
Jeremy starts at right back again in 3-0 victory. Sassulo in 8th place in Serie A after 4 games. https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2019/09/22/italy/serie-a/us-sassuolo-calcio/spal-1907/3111738/
Continues to start, scored a goal in last game. https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2019/11/03/italy/serie-a/us-lecce/us-sassuolo-calcio/3111805/
He rejected Croatia as well at that time - there are multiple news stories (in Croatian) providing quotes from Croatian FA officials where they say they reached out to him and that he responded that he feels German and that he is not interested in playing for Croatia. As for our chances, I think there was a story that his American father either passed away or wasn't in the picture when Jeremy was growing up. Under those circumstances, his link to the US seems to be very thin. If he comes to the realization that he has no shot with Germany, I think Croatia would have the upper chance on gettin him in the fold over us.
LOL i will say it now.. he has no shot at ever playing for Germany. There are way too many players that are valued over him in their player pool.