The best dribblers in the UEFA Youth League:1. 🇺🇸Konrad de la Fuente (Barcelona) - 38 successful dribbles2. 🇫🇷Rayan Cherki (Lyon) - 353. 🇳🇱Jayden Braaf (Man City) - 34Three extremely spectacular players. pic.twitter.com/RoMzTTiPET— Football Talent Scout - Jacek Kulig (@FTalentScout) February 14, 2020
not to be a wet blanket but konrad as 1100+ uefa youth league minutes vs those other guys neither of whom have over 400
https://www.internationalchampionsc...who-looks-to-be-fc-barcelona-s-first-american The future is bright for Konrad de la Fuente and he’s on the path to being the first American to ever play for FC Barcelona. Um, sure.
soon to sign and be a full time barca B player. worth noting that he's out for anthoer 2 weeks with an injury Konrad will sign his new deal with Barcelona. Will be a full-time member of Barca B. https://t.co/5kQA2XBtyW— Daniel (@DanielSmith1022) February 27, 2020
Of course he is.... At any rate, not sure this is the fastest path to senior team success.... but if he plays well at Barca 2 there will be plenty of suitors for a loan. He will make the senior Barca team when hell freezes over.
Dude, or dudette!! you are like a junior Suyuntuy with all the negativity. Odds are you are right, but there is some reason to be hopeful. Barca cared enough to promote and resign him. If he was garbage I doubt they would have done that. That doesn't mean they see a path to the first team for him, but they see enough to make him worth the additional investment, and would be expecting some additional returns commensurate with their investment. I think that means they see upside still. I am content to to think that real professionals see enough upside to sign him to a extended more competitive contract, prior to the expiration of his previous deal.
The short of it is that Barca is not a charity that throws away money on players they expect a return if they resigned him.
When it comes to US players abroad being injured... yeah, I am all negativity at this point. I am literally sick to death of it. That being said, I am certainly not doubting his talent. I like what I have seen and think that signing to play with Barca 2 isn't necessarily a bad path towards senior team time... just don't think it will be with the Barca senior team. How many players do they promote each year? It isn't many... and at an offensive position like that? Nah, playing for Barca 2 will give him a springboard to demo his skills for other teams around Europe. If he does well he will get offers.... In short, not negative about the player at all... but injuries are a .... sore subject
Absosuletly agree with injuries. Apart of me tries not to follow Reyna so closely now that he has made it, simply because, you know the injury day is close...
Thank you for responding with a nice tone even though I was a bit of a prick. I feel you on the injuries, but all these guys are young and for the first time in a generation we have multiple very promising young Euro players. I haven't seen much of the kid at all, but I am just associating, Barca youth academy, home of serious prospects, with another possibly very talented player capable of contributing to a CL side. We have enough top professionals now, that one if them is likely to always be injured. I think, (wish,hope, pray, stand on one leg and throw salt over my shoulder) that we are experiencing extreme statistical variance, and we will soon revert to the mean. I don't necessarily accept it as a given that he will never make the Barca first team. I agree it is unlikely from an analytics POV, but he has survived another cut line. It is also noteworthy to me that Barca postured like they were ready to play hardball if he didn't take the deal. It wasn't a sentimental our academy player deal, it was a, we realize other folks want you and we will pay you commensurate with their offer(s?), but we can't offer you first team football just yet. I think that makes his chances significantly more than "hell freezing over."
Konrad de la Fuente has signed an extension with Barcelona. https://t.co/kzj9q9kaJI— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) April 18, 2020
It would be interesting if COVID-19 resulted in fewer transfers and more promotions of academy players to first teams like Konrad de la Fuente.
That is an interesting thought. It's definitely the cost effective route to take, if team's finances are a mess.
USMNT, Barcelona youth De La Fuente: I want to be football's LeBron James https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-...-de-la-fuente-lebron-a-bigger-star-than-messi snip: Despite being close to the record Ballon d'Or winner -- and a self-professed fan of Ronaldinho -- De la Fuente counts LeBron as his biggest sporting idol and says he would love to be the Lebron of the soccer world. "My favourite player is LeBron," he said. "He's my idol. "I'm just a LeBron fan, probably the biggest fan in the world. I play basketball as a hobby, and I'm not that good at it, but it's incredible how much I like him. "I just like the way he plays, his work ethic, how he is off the field, his ambition to improve even though he is the best. It's incredible and I really admire it. "Even though I am not a basketball player, but I want to be like that in the soccer world. In that sense, [he's a bigger influence than Messi for me]."
I suppose if you aren't going to be confident in yourself, nobody will be. Problem is when that delusion seeps into your unawareness of current limitations to be able to address them. At least he acknowledges a lot of improvement is required to become the LeBron James of football. He's closer to Bartles & Jaymes right now.
That's my impression of his comments as well. He's talking about Lebron James and winning the World Cup when he should be talking about practice. Yes, I'm talking about practice. Not a game. Not a game. Not a game. Practice.
I get the feeling that Konrad is shaping up to be a perfectly average La Liga player, which for USA is quite good.
People....KDLF is 18 years old. Take everything he says with a grain of salt. He’s a damn kid. Kids have very little perspective. He can barely wipe his own ass. With that said, the kid has potential and is getting a very good football education. At some point he has to put that education to use. Will it be at Barca or will he head out on loan? That’s the million dollar question especially when you factor in COVID and the transfer market. Nonetheless, the next 12-18 months are HUGE for his development and needs to get first team football in the first or second division in Spain sooner than later.
I remember thinking Sergino Dest was one of our worst players in the U-17 World Cup. You never know when a kid will come good.
I would take Barça’s Nick Young if I’m USA fans. That development track would still result in him being one of the best players in the pool currently.