Came off the bench late for B today: 🚨Le banc est composé de Ivan Cardoso 🇵🇹, Rodrigo Fernandes 🇵🇹, Vasco Sousa 🇵🇹, Rodrigo Ferreira 🇵🇹, Diogo Abreu 🇵🇹, Peglow 🇧🇷, Sebastian Soto 🇺🇸, Diogo Ressurreição 🇵🇹 et Wesley 🇧🇷.— Crack FC Porto (@CrackPorto) November 7, 2021 85’🔄C’est au tour de Sebastian Soto 🇺🇸 et de Peglow 🇧🇷 d’entrées en jeu !Danny Loader 🏴 et Bernardo Folha 🇵🇹 sont remplacés.— Crack FC Porto (@CrackPorto) November 7, 2021
i knew he probably aimed too high getting loaned to Porto but I assumed he would be a consistent starter for their reserve team in the second division
Why? I’m being serious. Soto is the epitome of hanging on to a youth performance, U20 WC, for way to long. Other than knocking in a few goals in the Dutch 2nd division he has never impressed again. Poor career decisions aside.
"Never impressed anyone" is, of course, a bit OTT as they guy has been signed up by a few decent teams. He obviously shows something in spurts, but also has some kind of serious consistency or work ethic issues or some kind of self-defeating issues.
Well, I said never impressed again, not anyone. I can see why you responded like that however. Outside of the U20 I haven’t seen it with him. Even at Telestar when he scored a bit I just never was to impressed overall. His game seems to be pure poacher/in the box player and you better be poaching a lot if you want to make it like that. Those off the shoulder runs he made in the U20’s never materialized against grown ups. Yeah, “self defeating issues” does seem to ring true here. Of course, I have watched KDLF at Barca live and believe something is there, but I am cognizant of the fact that it could be nostalgic bias on my part also. There are strong arguments to be made that he is limited with regards to the mental side of the game and he doesn’t have the physical burst. I’ll wait another 2 years until he is Soto’s age to remark more conclusively. Soto has had enough eyes on him now. Portuguese clubs are also notorious for churning and burning through youth players. They took a flier, and may already be done with him the way they work QH. If it ain’t there they move on quick.
It is interesting as Norwich signed him just over a year ago (it's possible Norwich just have the worst scouts in England, I guess) and he did have a bit of low-level interest in Germany... so it's not like he's a complete dead fish in training/try outs. And he shows bright spots. But there's something off about his inability to consistently impress at the moment.
Why? Because before he joined Porto he had just recently went on a good scoring run in the Dutch 2nd division had some decent performances with the USMNT. It think it would be safe to assume at the time he could replicate the success he had in the Dutch 2nd division in the Portuguese 2nd division.
Portugal and Spain are the last two countries you want a young Yank who has not yet established himself going, if we're being honest.
I get this. It’s just the way my gut feels about him. Not very metric oriented on my part. Just the decisions, and the way he has handled his career leave questions for me. Never a fan of the big three burn and churn in Portugal either.
Spain and Portugal have the most radically different style with respect to the reputation of American players. The consequence is that they get very little rope (which they're likely to need, adapting to such a different view of the sport) even if they're good and have room to grow. Which may or may not be the case with Soto. After all, he's a product of the American youth system.
Not a stellar season: 🇺🇸 Soto was an unused sub todaycouple of nice moments but generally a season to forget for Sebastian so far pic.twitter.com/TZhBCueaEA— 🇺🇸 ⚽ east (@eastdeflection) December 19, 2021
On the bench for the B team: Quant au banc, il est composé avec les noms de :Ivan Cardoso 🇵🇹, Samba Koné 🇲🇱, Diogo Abreu 🇵🇹, Peglow 🇧🇷, Sebastian Soto 🇺🇸, Diogo Ressurreição 🇵🇹, Wesley 🇧🇷, Levi Faustino 🇵🇹 et de Leonardo Borges 🇧🇷.— Crack FC Porto (@CrackPorto) December 23, 2021
What's his contract situation? I could be wrong, but seems to me that Soto needs to come to MLS to get his career going.
On loan to Porto, who have an option to buy him, until June from Norwich where he's contracted until June 2023. Given his lack of impact, - 215 minutes of play in 8 appearances from of 15 games up to today - it's safe to say that Porto won't be exercising that option and he'll be back in East Anglia in July, by which time he'll be turning 22. The situation does not look good at all and, yes, he needs to take up any option to restart his career, but why MLS? There's nothing in his record to suggest that anywhere near that standard.
It's always possible that some MLS club takes a flyer on him with favorable loan-to-buy terms, but I think that you're right. It seems more likely to me that he gets a shot with some 2nd division club in a decent European soccer country (like Netherlands or Belgium).
Wow! I am not familiar with the situation there other than he is not playing. There are 6 non Portuguese on the team. 1 non Portuguese is starting. Hopefully he is getting great, and I. mean great, training reps there. Another youth player with either bad guidance or homesickness.