There is an article about it on the league page now La Roca, from Northern Utah, was part of the Development Academy league. They are not part of this one. RSL has it's academy in Herriman and RSL Arizona.
A good read. What David Kerr says about RSL more or less corresponds to what has been said here: historically has produced good talent; in recent years the production has lessened; the organization needs to do better integrating the Academy with the Monarchs roster.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020...tmf13uX6V9c-Vc0bPGVPhm01_LlYMvoDEa2qM9wG8vVU4 Former Real Salt Lake academy standout Sebastian Soto signs with Norwich City July 28, 202010:47AM EDT
Did he really say that? I mean with all his background in managing pro teams you think he would be better at this...
Well Martinez and others “graduated” but they weren’t academy players. Probably the problem right there.
yes, I cant remember the year of the townhall. Either 1 or 2 seasons ago. It was shortly after Soto and Ledezma had left. The irony was that the very next question was about those two.
I'm an owner with FCPS and was told he's working/consulting for the team. I believe he was given ~125k shares. The going rate for shares is $10... Not sure how I feel about any of that
Hey, Zach Booth article on mlssoccer.com I guess he holds an Italian passport. Mentions that older brother Taylor is in the reserve squad for Bayern Munich in central midfield. They won't amount to anything. Not a lot of real talent has come through our academy.
With all that has come out regarding DLH, I wonder if that line was something Waibel believed, or was it one he was spouting because DLH wouldn’t sell the academy players?
You'd think for being someone about money, DLH would've been more keen to sell on players. Maybe he just thought he could low ball everyone and they'd just stick with the club setup since 'we're family' Hopefully with new owners, we'll see the club structure give a more clear path for talent to rise up.
I still don't think Waibel did that great of a job with us, but I now feel a lot less upset about his job performance. If he was giving an honest assessment, that speaks a lot to a large blindspot as a GM. If he was saying it with conviction to do damage to DLH's business venture, then I'm very conflicted about that. Pretty self-centered action.
This is just more evidence (along with all the money he did spend) that DLH was not just "about money." He was inept at micromanaging the team, he hired terrible people in key positions, he personally damaged important relationships in and around the team, but it's not clear that an unwillingness to spend money was a key factor in his awful ownership.
I was always impressed with DLH's willingness to spend money on the team. That's why I cut him so much slack. Having financial stability in this league can be a luxury. I had hoped that over time he would get tired of how the team was performing and hire actual soccer folks to run the team for him. Turns out, with what has come out about him and the leadership style and hires he put in charge, that there was no way on God's green earth that that was ever going to happen. A bit of a devils bargain we endured. Lots of money with more ineptitude than money could buy. I'm very sorry that DLH turned out to be who many thought and knew him to be. Fingers crossed that new ownership creates the team and culture we all deserve.
https://www.nesoccerjournal.com/pearse-obrien-joins-real-salt-lake-u-19-team-departs-oakwood/ Pearse O’Brien (West Hartford, Conn.) will join Real Salt Lake’s U-19 team in January 2021. O’Brien, who’s part of Ireland’s youth national team setup, holds a European passport through his dad’s side of the family. That led to trials overseas alongside interest from numerous other Major League Soccer academies, but RSL eventually won out.
there was a really good article in The Athletic recently about academy territories in MLS. I'm a bit perplexed that this kid isn't part of another territory being from Connecticut. Anyways... I really hope the league sees the value in not restricting players to only go to one team from an area*. It's moronic. *The club can make a "payment" for the rights to the kid, but that's absurd when you think about what we're saying. A club, with no interest in the kid, needs to be paid for another team that wants to develop him? Just straight stupid.
That article helped me understand the problems with the system. It might mean a local player in SLC signs elsewhere, but the idea that only a handful of fifteen year olds in a metropolitan area can be signed by an MLS team because of exclusivity is nuts.
Exactly Paris has a population of just under 11 million. Damn near every team in France, as well as most any decent sized club in Europe, has scouts that go into Paris to scout kids for their academy. PSG doesn't have exclusive rights to these kids. Other clubs don't have to pay a fee to PSG for a kid they didn't ever scout. On the flip side, NY has a population of nearly 19 million. LA a population of 12.5 million. MLS has decided that, for our top league, the only clubs that have access to those kids are NYCFC, NYRB, LAG, and LAFC. If another club wants to come into that "area" then they have to be sure to pay a fee to whichever club that kid happened to live in the boundaries of. LAG is notorious for not giving a shit about their academy during the Bruce years. We essentially let that area go under/non-scouted for then. And even if LAG is fully committed, they only fill about 20 kids in an academy class. You're telling me the 21st best kid in LA should be completely out of MLS academies? Thats ********ing insane. That this league has shown, with even a halfway decent academy system, they can crank out talent in this country (and Canada) should only incentivize this more. Open the doors to competition. Let clubs sell their club to the kid and their family.