C'mon, Sargent was never going to play in KC. For EPB, that's a good call out. In some ways, KC did a lot to move him along. In particular, trying to get him a deal in Portugal. Last year, tough to find minutes as Ike was having a career year and Besler is, well, Besler. Generally, there are young players who can see the field for Vermes. Inca pointed those out well. The Andrew Carleton angst in ATL right now is probably the biggest play against them at this point.
A warm welcome 😄 #CityOfFontas pic.twitter.com/YMz6kpqLXv— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) August 17, 2018
https://www.kansascity.com/sports/mls/sporting-kc/article217785055.html Two year contract extensions for both, and Zusi appears to be close to resigning as well.
These are core players and some of the very best in the league at their position. Glad to see them re-signed. Especially the three that have been with us since the CAB days. The days of red card Roger and shaved head Zusi seem like a long forgotten era. Glad they are still with us.
So the piece on this says he has already signed, but won't be added to the roster until 2019. It is odd, a four year deal (option for a fifth) that keeps him in KC until he's 20. Jeebus, but a very good sign.
They did this with Busio too (and maybe Lindsay?). They were signed and not added to the roster until the start of the next year. I assume it's allowed because anyone can sign a "pre-contract" of sorts 6 months prior to their existing contract ending, so this is somewhat similar?
That seems like a very club friendly deal to be locking in until 20. But maybe good for the player as well since, unless be absolutely blows up in the next few years, could likely use the stability of knowing he's with the club for a while.
If he blows up, a la Davies, I assume we'll sell him to Bmunch for a crap ton, as well. I don't think I expressed myself well enough. My shock is that at the end of a five year contract he will still be a very young player. I mean, he'd be able to sign a new contract and play a year and still be included in the MLS 22 under 22 list, as a six year veteran player. As far as is it fair to the player, he can't move overseas until he's 18 anyway, so the issue is the range below Davies superstardom and above Kuzan, then, a player who really could benefit from a move over to a monster club but is locked into kc? That's kind of the EPB zone, and it worked out well for him, though. And SKC has been really good with with the young guys aside from EPB ( i believe they were quite good with EPB as well, I mean, he did develop with us), from Salloi to Busio.
I think it's almost more interesting to look at the Wilson Harris kid as a comparable player. I believe both are "forwards" which could mean central or wide in our system. I think Harris (a transplant from LA) scored more USSDA goals than Freeman, both have been USYNT call ups ... one got a SPR contract and one got a SKC contract. Both are likely to play for SPR next year (Freeman likely still plays some with the academy as well). My question is does the club view them as different caliber (justified by the different contracts), was Harris not with SKC long enough to fall into the "MLS Homegrown" status and chose to sign with SPR instead ... it's very interesting and I think it will be fun to watch them both grow along side of our other young players. If we're going to sign younger and younger players to SPR and SKC contracts, does it make sense to move SPR down to USL League One which would allow them to move back to Swope Park instead of playing in the big stadium.
It can be pretty simple. Long time back i used to hang with a guy who was cut by ManU despite being, in the youth setup a co-captain with Becks. But, the club tested them, beyond just watching them play, and determined his foot speed/quickness was such that he was probably at or very near his peak performance, so he was not offered a contract, while Becks, with much faster feet, went on to be Becks. FTR, the guy absolutely agreed ManU made the right call. He bumped along in conference for a couple years, but it was clear that was his level. Maybe they just see more upside in Freeman?
Considering we hired one of the rules experts from the league to help our technical staff, I'm pretty sure we're as adept at playing all the angles to make as many potential MLS level players from our academy system locked into our organization as possible. HGP when necessary, sign by SPR to prevent poaching from other organizations when necessary.
I have no doubt about that and think we do a better job than most others in making sure we're making the "right" moves. I'm just curious as to what goes into it. Do kids sometimes request/negotiate for the SKC contract vs the SPR one for "optics" reasons and sometimes they get it and other times they don't? Just curious and thought those two players would be good to track going forward (granted, Freeman is at least a couple years younger). Heck, I know MLS's required (4 years ... 2 plus 2 options years) contract length keeps some players from signing. Wonder if some kids prefer the USL contract that could be shorter in length in order to keep their options open and become free to sign elsewhere at an earlier age.
If you need a Thanksgiving laugh, we've been linked (by the Sun) with 33 year old Celtic captain, Scott Brown for a DP contract. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/3522242/celtic-scott-brown-targeted-mls-kansas-city/