If this was the decision Tanner wanted then its great for him. And it was good to see FCD recognize the error of their ways in trying to get kids to buy into the Academy to USL to MLS route. Tanner will kill it in MLS. As a fan of the USMNT, I think this is a bad move. I don't want to see Tanner in the MLS in 5 years as an MLS All-Star. I would prefer, for our senior national teams sake, to see him at Dortmund or Roma or Juventus playing in Champions League games. FCD has no history of getting it done when it comes to selling HG to Europe. Richards is the one and only. Best case scenario Pax, Tanner, Roberts are all in Champion's League teams and can help the Senior National team in five years but history doesn't' support that. Time will tell.
I think the front page ESPN has more do with it being Clemson and Dabo and not so much to do with Tanner. Football is and will always be the life blood of US sports. Another reason why our young guys need to get to Germany, England, Spain and Italy where soccer is a revered sport.
He may be the first big time prospect at Football and Soccer that chose soccer. The first that chose soccer over Basketball was Jay Heaps. That was as a pro though as he played at Duke for both programs. He gave up a lot of money at least initially (I think) when he went to MLS over the NBA.
It will be an interesting test case. Usually as you said the competition at clubs in Europe make a player fight for a spot every week. With Pax, Tanner, Roberts, Cerrillo, Servania, Ferreira and the two foreign players Acosta and Santos there will be intense (at least for MLS) competition for spots each week. is that enough to replicate a good Euro team? WAFO (watch and find out).
Not sure if you're serious, but Jay Heaps was nowhere near a NBA caliber player. Hell, he took 6 total shots and probably didn't play 75 minutes in his NCAA basketball career.
Let's see him succeed in MLS first before worrying about Roma, Juventus, etc. MLS is a higher level than folks give it credit for. If Tanner starts getting playing time in MLS, then he's playing at a higher level than Chris Richards. The highest level Chris has played at is a team in the bottom half of the German 3rd division. One spot below KFC Uerdingen, a team I know well from my time living in Germany.
that misses my point. I would rather Tanner at Bayern with Chris than in Frisco for the sake of the senior team. Chris is being exposed to and developing in an environment that will potentially prepare him to play at a Juventus or Roma. Tanner isn't and won't be. Chris is practicing against the Bayern team attackers of Phillipe Coutinho, Robert Lewandoski and Thomas Mueller. He is learning from Jerome Boateng. Tanner will be going up against Reto Ziegler and Hollingshead in practice and learning from Acosta. As much heartache as Berhaler gets around here, even he gets it at times. Uly Llanez is in the senior team and the highest he has played is U19 ( but it was in Europe). That would be like Berhalter giving a kid from a U19DA team a starting spot on the senior team. Even he respects what these young kids going over are facing in comparison to MLS. Tanner is one undisputed one of the top 10 players born in 2001 we have in the US. Let's see where is in 5 years after spending his formative years in MLS compared to Uly. May not be the most fair comparison as they are different type of players and play different positions, but its a general guideline.
I hope your are right and waiting to see. But I think it is more than just the competition for spots. It's about being in a culture that appreciates football, going toe to toe with the best in the world and playing/ feeling what its like to play in front of 70K crazy fans on a cold night in November. There was a clip of Puilisic talking about what he learned from those things and how it made him grow as a player and person. I would rather a kid that came up in the system described above be the one standing across from Mbappe or Pogba in the WC with 100K fans watching and yelling, instead of the kid that came up in a 3rd tier league with 12k in the stands and no one recognizes him or puts any pressure on him when he leaves the stadium.
Tessmen isn’t a big time football prospect though given that he has never played football. His football prospect status is 100% related to the fact that his parents are best friends with Swinney. I wouldn’t be shocked if the Clemson signing wasn’t primarily a leverage play.
Agree. Add to that he is a kicker. If he was a top 10 QB or Line backer and chose soccer that would be newsworthy.
Really hard to know if it was a ploy but the coach said he was one of the best athletes he'd ever seen and that he could play basketball of wide receiver and was really fast. Looking forward to see how his athleticism shows on the soccer field.
well, to add to that, a friend of mine has his son doing fitness, agility, strength training here with some coaches in frisco and Tanner trains there as well. NFL guys train there in the offseason and to get ready for the combine. Apparently these coaches said Tanner was the best athlete they have ever seen and that includes some current NFL guys.
Not necessary for a great kicker. Kicking is 90% mental anyway. World is full of wonderful athletes that can kick 50 yarders with no pressure. Then one should do it when 300 lbs monsters run at you and coach going to kick you off the team for a miss.
Agree but I think it speaks to his overall athletic ability if he could compare to guys that play in the NFL(field players)....not kickers. Carli Lloyd will show us all what an nfl kicker is made of in a few years.
He's getting guaranteed money right now versus maybe money in the future. Several soccer players have gone on to kick if they can't make it in soccer. So Tessmann has that option in the future but his technical skills married with this athleticism and size almost certainly mean an MLS career at worst, assuming he stays healthy. If the drive to leave home at 14 is still there and he works at it he can certainly make a career for himself somewhere in Europe for good to possibly great coin in the future. As much as Dabo may rave there's no guarantee he even gets to the NFL let alone excels to where he can really cash in.
Sure, I hope she has good medical insurance. And life insurance too. And being a good soccer player + amazing (by soccer standards ) athlete makes somebody very high floor - unknown ceiling prospect. Being novice kicker + very good ( by NFL standards) athlete makes one no floor - unknown ceiling suspect. Let's put it this way no personal ties - no football scholarship.
I'm going to argue that maybe one of those guys is good enough for that. Pax not balling out for BMG, Wolfsburg, Leverkusen etc next season isn't necessarily an indictment on FCD. It takes a special player to do that and it takes a really good agent to get the kid in that place where he's needed and wanted and believed in to make that opportunity even happen. Roberts trialed all over Germany this Fall and didn't get an offer. He's got to prove he's good enough and he hasn't done so yet. Pax can't stay healthy and we'll see on Tessmann. I think all 3 can play abroad but Adams is the exception, not the rule.
Can we really use this argument after what has happened after the lost generation where we sent a lot of prospects to europe who all became busts? There is no correlation between Europe or MLS being better for an american youth's chances at becoming a good pro as it all depends on the individual player and not the league/club they are at. Some players are better off starting in Europe (Pulisic, McKennie, Sargent...maybe) and some players are better off starting out in MLS (Adams, Davies, Busio). Stop ********ing trying to force the idea that there is one path that is guarenteed to be better or would you like to be referred back to the graveyard of USMNT hopefuls who have flamed out in Europe. I personally do not think that Tessmann would make it in Europe in a major league because I do not think he is that good of a prospect. I think MLS is the right level for him to start at.
I disagree with you in the context of USNT. If they were busts, then we learned they were not up for it and shouldn't have been on the senior national team. I don't think the MLS is the right first stop for any kid over a top level environment in Europe, if the kid has high level potential. We are not taking about U8 and starting soccer. We are talking about 18 year old pros being locked down until they are 25 in 3rd rate league where we don't want our National Team players to be. (at least I don't) If Tanner wouldn't make it in Europe,( I dont' agree here but hopefully we get a chance to find out) then I don't want him on the USNT playing in World Cups in a few years. Simple as that. I don't want MLS lifers on the Senior national team, I don't want the Will Trapps of the world to ever see a US Jersey if we are moving forward.
Lletget wasted good 3-4 extra years, Akale ruined his career, DLT is in the process. What do you think would have happened to Donovan if he stuck in Germany? Major depression? Not even sure that Pulisic would be a success without his dad negotiating himself and the cousin being around for the first year. I also don't see Wes/Adams/Weah as great success stories as long as they are perpetually injured. Not sure that EPB or Miazga are any better as players than they were 3-4 years ago. Will take MRobinson, Long over them. The only unprecedented success is Davis whose unprecedented talent was obvious since age of 15.
I think Runhard has a point here and it's because of the rapidly improving prospects we have. A few years ago David Kerr would be correct in that plenty of our national team players didn't make it in the best Euro leagues or evr go in the first place but were able to return or stay their whole life in MLS and contribute on the national team. There are so many more and better prospects now that the best ones won't wash out. They will be like Pulisic, Adams, McKennie, Sargent , Dest etc. They will start young and do what it takes through good and bad times to keep getting better and climbing the ladder. MLS will contribute by training the very best in their academies before they move on at 16-18 and the next level after playing a couple of years and moving from 18-22.
Do you really want Lleget on the National team or Akale of DLT. If Donavan stays in Germany maybe he plays for Bayner and wins Champions leagues. But he gets a pass as possibly the best or second best we have ever had. Having said that, our US National Team has never really competed for a WC title. We need to get players that can compete for a title, not sing and dance when we get out of group play. The Miazgas, EPBs etc are not the players we are looking for.
The truth is that "elite Champions League" level talents are rare birds. They're rare birds for much bigger clubs in this hemisphere than FC Dallas. When it comes to Tessman, let's see how he does against adult professionals in MLS........................ The truth is that Weston McKennie is the exception (he's played in the Champions League). Most FCD kids that head abroad turn into Shaft Brewer. He left FCD for RB Leipzig in 2017. As far as I can tell he's without a club right now. Would you rather by Bryan Reynolds or Shaft Brewer today? I understand the concept of "reaching for the stars." But in some sense I think folks forget that the "failure rate" of kids in European academies is extremely high. We see that from the kids from Texas that go over. Blaine Ferri is back in USL League One two years after left for Germany. McKinze Gaines from Austin went over to a bigger club (Wolfsburg) than Blaine. His career is hanging on by a thread. I look at a player like Nico Carrera and wonder who is advising him. Did people not watch Nico Carrera with the U17s? Did people not watch Nico Carrera for the FCD U19s? Who watched that and thought "Yeah, he should leave FCD immediately for elite European soccer?" I don't get it. People who know more about the sport than I ever will................didn't pick Jonathan Gomez for the US U17s. Oh yeah, he should leave immediately for elite European soccer.