Maah I am still pulling for him. Soccer is not linear. Let's give him some time before he cards from memory.
sadly its not fair either and it looks more likely that josh will be a fancy juggler at half time of a basketball game nutmegged by old man ronaldinho type
Jay demerit. All sorts go through phases. Hope he doesn't give up. I guess we will have to regularly check linked in....
Did he sign a contract at any point? I’m sure he wouldn’t turn his nose up at a scholarship to a Stanford or Duke if one was out there.
People said the same thing about Lederman before he signed with Gent. Perhaps not a terrific career arc, but he signed a deal with a solid club after not even having the resume of Pynadath. I'm sure that Pynadath - who already has played 8 times against adults in a second-tier that fills pages of BigSoccer threads for players older than him - can find a professional contract at some level if he really wanted to. Probably just looking for the right opportunity. Not having an EU passport likely hurts him some. But unless he is going out on his own terms, I expect that we will see him reemerge.
great question and is exactly what I would do if it's still a possibility. Really curious what his next move is.
Proof of life: Joshua Pynadath formerly of Ajax has been on trial at Chelsea #CFC— CarefreeYouth (@CarefreeYouth) September 21, 2021 A work permit may be a tough ask. He was able to stay in Europe because his mother transferred there. But he's 20 now and the UK isn't part of the EU.
This might also just be a "shop window" thing. Pynadath's resume is surely enough to get him into training more or less wherever -- still just 19, played at Ajax and Real Madrid -- so it's low stakes for Chelsea and will probably generate a few headlines for the player and club. From there who knows.
I'm told that 19-year-old Joshua Pynadath. formerly with Ajax academy, has been with Chelsea's reserve team since March 2021 as the club continues to work on obtaining him a work permit. pic.twitter.com/n5uvv80L3a— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) September 21, 2021 "The London club - where former Ajax player Hakim Ziyech is also under contract - would like to sign Pynadath, but is still awaiting a work permit. As soon as this permit is finalized, Pynadath will permanently move to Chelsea." https://t.co/owV1TCjJL7— Daniel (@DanielSmith1022) September 21, 2021 Umm...what?
I feel like this addressed somewhere on the thread, but he's of Indian descent isn't he? Does that affect his ability to work in the UK?
His father came to the US from India (or a previous generation did), but the UK doesn't really grant any special privileges to Commonwealth countries. There is some level of immigration, but it isn't granted based on Indian citizenship. Plus, India doesn't recognize dual citizenship. He wouldn't be considered an Indian citizen in most cases (but an "NRI" - non-resident Indian). His parents have been working in the Netherlands for the last 5-7 years (mom moved first).
This is another case where it's so important for a young player to have a sensible agent and a realistic assessment of where they're at presently. Because washing out at Ajax doesn't project to catching on at Chelsea in perception or reality. He should humble himself, and take a step down, before trying to build back up. Instead he's taking a wild stab at it that he's now good enough for an even bigger club and will get a chance there even in the oft-chance he actually is. I could see the allure for Chelsea to take a flyer on him and pay his expenses for a couple years. He had good raw talent. But I'm sure the investment is practically nothing by their standards. And from our standpoint it'd be nice to know what he was doing to work on his weaknesses of his frail frame and tunnel vision in his time off. Maybe this is all b.s., he has connections there, and this is all a ploy to get him to Bengal Tiger FC, by raising his status, meanwhile knowing he could never join Chelsea because of the WP issue.
Of course, the other obvious possibility is that Pynadath wants to sign Chelsea and is just trying work out the paperwork. But surely you inferred that from my previous post.
I'm just not understanding how a guy who couldn't get a minute for the Ajax first team (which would have been a significant milestone anyway) could be wanted by Chelsea...at least, for anything other than the Matt Miazga treatment. We've already read that book, and the writing was pretty piss poor.
It's always interesting to note that Mitchel Bakker couldn't break into Ajax from Jong Ajax, left on a free at 19, and ended up in PSG's first-team the very next season. Free or cheap transfers of young, unproven players have little relative risk for the club and plenty of upside provided they have the cash to spend and some avenue to at least get them some game tape - whether that be reserves, loan army, or whatever. And it's not like there aren't young, unproven Americans playing in the PL2 right now. Hell, who could even forget that Kyle Scott hung around for years on this very same Chelsea reserve team that Pynadath would almost certainty start on? These types of signings for the big clubs - those that may not necessarily be for the first team right away, if ever - happen all of the time. These clubs have tons of leverage in these deals because of their brand, which allows them to attract plenty of players in contracts which sees many without meaningful minutes for years on end as they risk wallowing their prime developmental years away. But really, both sides are (should be?) aware of what they're getting: -The player is given an opportunity to put a big name on the resume and told they have an opportunity to work/play their way into the first team (which you know players love to hear, but in reality it's a slim chance because of how often big clubs spend big money when attempting to fill their immediate needs) -The club takes low-risk, high-reward fliers on these players to start on their youth/reserve/loan army teams fully knowing that few of these relatively small investments will work out, but those that do have the potential to cash in big and more than make up for the other losses Naturally, there will be way more like Marc Pelosi than Mitchel Bakker. With that said, Pynadath still would have a great opportunity to progress his career. Maybe he forces his way into moving up the ladder quicker than some imagine. Though, of course it's ironic that the big-club development path isn't always the most direct to playing for the big clubs, but it's there for him to do something with it. Now, would it have been wiser to go straight to a Dutch, Belgian, etc. first-team instead? I would say yes, most of you will probably say yes, and yeah, the answer is probably yes. Perhaps he could have had that opportunity with a Sparta or Antwerp or something. However, this is clearly the direction he wanted to take when he left Jong Ajax. He's clearly quite ambitious with his eyes set on the bright lights, earned the kind of opportunity he wanted, and now let's see what he can make of it, if it does even end up happening. If not it's all good press for wherever he does end up. Lastly, that brings up another point. The lunancy of that certain BigSoccer fatalism strikes again. Ledermen leaves Barcelona and cries flood his thread about how he's due to ride off into the sunset and hopefully has good enough grades to get into college. He signs with Gent and turns into a starter for a solid Polish team. Pynadath gets minutes with Jong Ajax (surely someone will bring up that they had other players missing, but do you really think a club like Jong Ajax wastes professional minutes? Seriously??), decides not to sign a new contract, and there's absurdism about how he's "not good enough to play pro soccer" or whatever despite him literally having already played in professional soccer matches at one of the top developmental clubs on the planet (while still 17/18 years old). Whatever Pynadath's case may be in the end, I'm sure that we're all happy to see his name pop up again and curious towards where it goes.
This is a good point. However, Josh Pynadath hasn't played in any game recorded by transfermarkt since February of 2020. Mitchell Bakker (who I had never heard of previously) was much closer to breaking through for Ajax than Pynadath ever was. By the same stage of his career (and just before he transferred to PSG) he had played a bunch of games in the 2nd Division in the Netherlands for Ajax (listed as their u-21 team--is this "Jong Ajax"?), made the bench for a Champions League game, made the bench for a league game, played in a couple of cup games for the senior team. The closest Pynadath got was 8 games for the same U-21 team, for a total of 185 minutes. There is a path for guys who haven't made the jump to senior Ajax, but Pynadath's case doesn't seem particularly close to the player you use as an example here.
Bakker was a unique situation and nothing like Pynadath. Bakker wanted to play. Tagliafico was blocking him -- and didn't leave like people thought he would so Bakker decided to leave when his contract came up. He hired Raiola who engineered the move to PSG. I don't think Bakker is good enough to start for Ajax-- but he absolutely would have been given a chance and gotten a new contract. Also LB is a position it seems like is void of talent in general vs. winger. Jong Ajax gives minutes to filler all the time. It is an important note that he only played when everyone else was gone. People here act like playing at Jong Ajax means anything-- it doesn't. A majority of the guys who play there never play at higher than lower tier Eredivisie teams. All that said -- his dribbling ability is absolutely insane. It's a potential world class skill. The problem is he has nothing else (as of when I watched him a few times). I actually think Chelsea and their loan program is by far the best. They get guys into good spots, sell them, have had some serious stars go through it. They seem to actually have a plan for guys. I think it would be a fantastic move for him. They're motivated to get him into the right spot to develop and eventually sell.