Roberts has always been a guy I've considered very inconsistent. He shows some flashes, and then has some games where you aren't sure he's on the pitch. He's not the same top-tier type of talent they've had recently with Pomykal, Ferreira, Pepi. He's going to have to work hard to improve, and I still think there's a good chance he's a contributor for the FCD first team, but he might not be a player we speak about for the USMNT eventually. That also shouldn't be considered a problem. Not every player that an academy produces will be a senior international. Getting a good contributor is a great ROI.
Shrug.....you are right on Roberts not playing great and as of right now, I doubt anyone is clamoring for him to be getting minutes in the first team, assuming they ever get to play. However, if the assertion is correct that Luchi does not favor him, it may not be a fair fight in terms of playing time. We all know coaches pick players they like and dislike for whatever reason and the one they like gets the time. For example, if Roberts and Pomykal were producing the same output in goals, assists and looked about the same, we know Luchi would play Pomykal over Thomas based upon the info we learned. Sure that is conjecture, but so is most of this forum. If Roberts is in fact in the doghouse with his coach, then his play may not matter. Not that he has done anything to earn first team minutes yet. But I think we all agree, he needs to dominate when he does get moved to USL so Luchi can't refuse the people saying TR needs to be given a chance in the first team. As for europe, who knows. He had a few good stints at Bayern we were told, but yes I guess no offers yet, or none that are known or FCD would sell him for. I would suggest his agent should be on the phone trying to get him out if possible, as FCD has too many center mids as it is and sitting around in Frisco for a few years may put an end to any real pro career. If he is good enough to have a good pro career which is still yet to be seen.
On a broader subject, some reports out there suggest that USL St. Louis might not be back next year. MLS St. Louis is scheduled to hit the grass in 2023; it looks like they're announcing their name/colors/crest on Thursday.
The notion that Luchi "doesn't favor him" is internet conjecture. He did show confidence in him by using him last year as an 18 year old in 7 games. The whole conversation is maddening. I suspect (but can't prove) that Roberts would have gotten plenty of minutes this season. They traded Jacori Hayes, who had 1000 minutes last season. They didn't bring in any other 8/10-type players other than homegrown Tessman, so those minutes were there for the taking. Add on to that issue, the fact that Pomykal, Servania, and Ferreira (who can fill in a midfield role) could all have been gone for a long time for the CONCACAF U23 Championships followed by Olympics. Add on inevitable injuries and suspensions. If it weren't for COVID................they were going to need Roberts and Tessman to take many minutes this season. They were going to need Thomas to step up. That's why this whole conversation to me sorta makes no sense. Is it possible that Luchi prefers the playing style or attitude of Tanner Tessman? Sure, I guess so. I have no idea. But the club sure as hell had a plan this season for Thomas Roberts to get a chance. It would have been up to him to grab the bull by the horns and take it. But he can't play the way I've been seeing for NTSC.
This discussion of Roberts reminds me a little of the Pomykal discussion before he broke out. The narrative was that he wasn't very good in his lone MLS start against Minnesota in 2018. Some marginalized him as a prospect, and then he had a stellar CONCACAF U20 tournament. He followed that up with a great start to MLS in 2019 and a very good U20 World Cup. The narrative around Paxton is very different now.... I am really high on Roberts, and I think he very well could have been on a similar timeline -- although I know nothing about this supposed feud between him and Luchi.
Someone has to want him in Europe first. Roberts went and trialed at BM last summer. They weren't interested. Two other teams, including one B2 whose name I don't remember, also brought him in. He extended his Germany stay to trial and there was speculation he'd sign with one of those other German teams but no offers were made and he came home. It's up to Roberts now to improve and ask for a way out. Perhaps Pareja and Orlando can come in for him because he and Cerillo are barely afterthoughts and more than just Pomykal will have to be sold to get them first team minutes.
This is why 3 year HG plus 2 option year contracts are killers for unproven youth players. In a perfect world Roberts could move to a U23 or reserve team abroad and start fresh trying to make the first team. Or he could move to a USL Championship or even another MLS team that isn't so stacked in the center of midfield. Now, Roberts has to make a decision to give up a salary that is overpaying him or stay and battle it out in USL League One...which might end up being his level.
It’s easy for me to say, but this type of situation is why I want to see more deals like the Durkin one. Cheap-ish fees for our inbetween prospects to middle tier leagues. Getting $500k or whatever to sell someone to Denmark that was barely going to see the field for you is better than nothing. Not all of our players are going to walk into Leipzig or Bayern. Participate more in the global transfer market, not just with a couple leagues in Europe.
Agreed, but I would even take it a step farther. If you are a young player and have any desires to play in Europe within 5 years of a HG offer, you MUST put a release clause in your deal. If the club balks at a financial release clause, then use on that is based around xxx many minutes per season. This is easily done and the release number can escalate the more minutes you play. They are very common in Europe, but rumor has it MLS doesn't want to even discuss them.
That is interesting. MLS being MLS.....dumb. With USL teams getting more and more coverage via espn plus, having bigger stadiums and more notice, it may not matter to these kids to sign with MLS anymore if MLS is unreasonable. See Johnathan Gomez as exhibit A. Bypass the punitive FCD deal and sign with Louisville until 18. Then bolt for European soccer where you wanted to be the entire time. Its a roadmap for future players.
No doubt, but we have to be understanding to each kid and their families personal situation. It would be very difficult for any 16/17 year old kid to pass up a $190k per year HG deal, but much easier to pass up a $30k USL deal. Everyone has their own unique situation and we shouldn't criticize anyone for taking a deal that may be in the best interest of their family. That said, I think we will see more and more Gomez situations and they will be with USL clubs that aren't affiliated with MLS. These clubs can only afford to pay so much in salary, but can offer the player a percentage of any future transfer fee. There will be USL clubs that are simply bus stops for top players. Orange County is already a player in the game and I think more will join. I will be very interested to see MLS's response should more kids of Gomez's level go the USL route. It is such a huge miss by MLS, they will have to correct somehow.
Yeah, I've been saying for a while that release clauses seem like such an obvious solution to the problems young players have signing with MLS. The player gets the assurance that if a reasonable offer comes in, the club will let them go, and the club gets the assurance that they'll actually get something for the player instead of having the player leave the academy without signing a contract as soon as they're 18 (or younger if they can get a Euro passport). Is there some legal reason this can't work in MLS?
Good point. It wasn't just Arturo Rodriguez. Ronaldo Damus won the golden boot and what was their reward? Loan to a USL championship team and another year stuck in the USL-1 team respectively. Not a miserable minute even when FCD was in a bind for midfielders last summer? Come on, there's more to just "Roberts needs to tear it up in USL". Let's not fool ourselves.
190k is no pocket change. Would like to see what 16/17 yo in MLS is getting that amount. Definitely not at FCD. Also hard to predict how the Gomez situation will evolve as not everyone plays it as smoothly as Kayo and his agency did. I'm not convinced the Gomez deal will play out exactly as everyone expects it to. A sample of one is just not good enough for me.
Your statement is actually funny. Luchi didn't show any confidence in Roberts *maybe confidence over Arturo Rodriguez if that* He had no alternative but to use Roberts. The team had literally NO midfielders left either due to international duty (Cerrillo, Servania, Pomykal, Gruezo, Acosta and Aranguiz), or injuries. 6 appearances, 3 starts according to this in 2+ years of contract according to this. https://www.mlssoccer.com/players/thomas-roberts Maybe that's your whole point. If Roberts is the last guy in the pecking order, something has to change. He needs to find playing time somewhere. You seem to think that if he tears it up in USL opportunities will come. I personally don't think anything he does in USL will impact his playing time with FCD. However, if he's given *earns* some opportunity with FCD (a la Tessman) and performs, it'd be hard to argue not to continue having him on the 18 no matter how Luchi feels about him. I believe he's on his last year of his contract and this may be the whole reason he switched agencies (shares agent with Pomykal) last year. As for your conjecture about Roberts getting minutes this season pre-covid, let's not forget that he and Tessman were going to be gone for U20 international duty quite a bit too. That was going to be just too convenient for Luchi to keep him out of the 18 consistently. Hope you are right and we see him on the 18 tonight. BTW, there's a strong rumor that FCD has acquired an additional midfielder from Colombia. Add that to the mess. Maybe they will sell Paxton after all.
We created the FC Dallas Thread specifically so that we could have a designated place for all of the FC Dallas drama outside of the general-purpose YNT-in-MLS and YNT-in-USL threads.
pretty wide swath between roberts performances for ntsc and his personal relationships with members of the fc dallas hierarchy including luchi
Right, but the discussion is centered around the Real Housewives of FC Dallas stuff around who doesn't like whom, with a bit of Always Go To Europe Discourse. All of that is fine, but there was a separate thread for it because it's endlessly tedious.
NYRBII went down to 10 men in the 14' vs. Loudoun, but Caden Clark still had a few very good moments. Ku-DiPietro scored for Loudon right before HT.
Gallegos with what is quickly becoming a vintage performance for him playing on the left wing and beating players at will.
He's fallen off a little, but its not as if we have many options among '03 keepers. Height is his biggest issue at keeper. This lists him at 5'11. That's an inch or two taller than I would've expected. NEWS: Sporting II has added 17-year-old goalkeeper Gavin Krenecki to an Academy contract for the second year running 🔵— SKCII (@SportingKCII) August 13, 2020
Never seen him, but, probably, you are expected right, unfortunately. All MLS players listed at least an inch above their real heights, and keepers usually two inches.
Bajung Darboe is confirmed training with Forward Madison and is likely to sign an academy contract to be eligible for USL 1 games. At 13 the DA is almost already below his level so he needs to start getting USL minutes now. Physically he is similar to Dantouma Toure in the way that he has bloomed very early. The difference between Darboe and Toure is that Darboe has a much better soccer IQ and he can play effectively with both feet. If the 2006 age group was not star studded with Aaron Heard, Adrian Gill, Matthew Corcoran, and Ransford Gyan then I'd say Bajung is the best 06 but this age group has 5 players who I think are in the Pulisic/Reyna tier.
I think Darboe is too young to be playing USL games. 13 year olds should not be playing professional football. It's true that you want to make sure that your players are playing at a level that tests them physically and there aren't U-17 or U-19 DA games currently being played that Darboe could compete in, but I also think the mental maturity of these players is important to keep in mind. I don't think its healthy for a 13 year old for his peers to be grown men. It's a hard line to straddle. What is the age when a player can be thrown into the mix with the pros? I would usually say that at age 15 it's appropriate to let a player start training with the first team, and playing with the reserves (that could include pros in a pro league). At 16, I'm okay with allowing a player to suit up in games for the first team. I know it's all arbitrary and everyone has a different answer to this, but I think 13 is too young for a player to be involved in professional football.