Once again — this is why no one here takes you seriously. Everything you post comes from the expectation that the only function of MLS is to get good players OUT OF MLS. That MLS is awful, and so they should be trying to help players further their non-MLS careers rather than try to run a league. And I’m laughing at the idea of a bidding war for 22-year-olds coming out of the Mountain West.
well yeah there are more than 10 national leagues that are better than MLS....so yeah...for player development gettting the best americans out of MLS should be a goal. long term, the league can get to the point where that is the case...but it hasnt happened yet. i have no sympathy for MLS wanting to keep players in the league becasue thy dont prioritize level of play and improving the quality. 3 dps and limited salary cap just isnt enough to challenge even smaller euro leagues like netherlands belgium etc bidding war between mls clubs for college players makes you laugh? lol what does mls trading players that want to leave the league to each other do for you??? thats more ridiculous
The are probably 8 players a year worth "bidding" for. Last years #1 draft pick made $99k. #2 made $96k. Here are some college grad average starting salaries: Computer engineering: $85,996 Chemical engineering: $72,713 Petroleum engineering: $87,989 Computer and information science: $78,603 Overall $55,260 By the way neither was American so I guess they could have signed for clubs in their domestic leagues, but they choose to come to the states, play college soccer and enter the MLS draft.
Are there? I mean, everyone says and assumes this, but when you really start to think about it its fairly close. I'd might give you 10, but I'm not sure I'd give you 15. There's obviously the big 5. After that though you've got leagues where there are individual teams better than anything in MLS, but the average of the league top to bottom? We see good teams in leagues like the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, etc. buying good but not necessarily top MLS players and having them play regularly. That indicates to me that there's not a ton of difference in the caliber of play.
Again... remember what forum you're in. YOU think that MLS should be shipping players out because it's better for the players. YOU think that they're not interested in quality of play because there's a salary cap that doesn't let teams run away with the league. YOU think everyone would be better off if players left for greener pastures. Even if you're right -- even if the best thing for an individual player's career is to leave MLS. You haven't offered any reason why MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER would be motivated to enable any of this. Everything you're suggesting has an end game of improving the national team by making individual players better, but it leaves a talent void in MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER. Even your claim that the league would be able to make more money in transfer fees by simply abolishing the draft is specious at best. Even in this thread, you bemoan how bad MLS is and how low the level of play is, but you also think that bidding wars for unproven, just-drafted 22-year-old amateurs is somehow going to raise that level? Look. This thread was started eight years ago. Eight. Years. Ago. A lot has changed over those eight years. The draft has, in fact, become less and less relevant. I'm a lot more willing to listen to arguments from MLS fans about whether or not it's still necessary in its current form, or if there's a better way to integrate the college guys into the league. It's not absurd. It's just that you do a crappy job of making the case for it, because every potential upside you list has nothing to do with actually making the league or the individual clubs better. It's all about -- as is everything else you talk about -- the national team. It's about your belief that it's MLS' first and greatest responsibility to help the USMNT be competitive on the world stage. Good for you. You're delusional, but good for you.
mexico, brazil, argentina, portugal, spain, france, germany, epl, netherlands, belgium, italy, then a bunch of other leagues that probably better but hard to be sure... im not the one who is going off topic....the response to my posts are veering off consistentlly...im just then responding to what other people are saying how about convincing more kids in the us to play soccer? how about convincing all the 12 year olds that do play soccer that they can make it to the top of the sport by going through the american system? this recent explosion of tranfsers out of the league is big time. why do you think MLS is doing this? its a decision they have made as a league but in my opinion...it is just the tip of the iceberg the country has a lot of talent to export and develop convincing the best athletes in the country will go a long way to making MLS better than it is right now and opening things up and really making things player friendly is the way towards that goal MLS' attitude towards players is petty and vindictive imo....its penny wise pound foolish....and it is costing the league years of retarded development....
As I mentioned, if good but not top tier MLS players are going to top teams in Belgium and the Netherlands and succeeding, its evidence that those leagues may not be obviously better than MLS. Specifically just from Colorado, Sam Vines to Royal Antwerp and Cole Bassett to Feyenoord (he hasn't succeeded yet, obviously, but there's nothing that suggests he won't).
the coach of feyenoord said he will need a year or so just to acclimate and doesnt expect him to play this season - kinda indicates that there is a significant gap in quality between netherlands and MLS in my opinion i dont hate mls ....but theres a lot abut the league that is cringe/not ideal/etc for one, i dont think that quality of play is a real priority for the league which is ludicrous in a gloabl sport......theyve reached this comfortable status quo mediocrity which i dont quite understand how they are so comfortable with having a draft and not abolishing it also in my opinion is not about quality of play at all but player control squeezing labor as much as possible in all ways
If you think the US system is bad you really don't understand how soccer works elsewhere. It wasn't long ago that players in England were paid $60 per week by the government because football teams weren't willing to pay kids. Then there are all the African teenagers that get lost in the European lower leagues. There are the academy dropouts that don't get a decent education because their focused on football. That varies by country but they don't get a second chance. The ones you see playing at the top level are the ones that survived a very tough and cutthroat system. The Superdraft is not the only choice for college players as mentioned and the number of homegrowns is growing every season. Miles Robinson is where he wants to be and in the next two years he'll get his chance to play in Europe or he'll be a free agent. They just need to turn on NBC, or ESPN+, or Paramount+ or beIN sports on a Saturday morning or weekday afternoon where they can watch Pulisic, Reyna, McKennie, Hoppe, Cannon, Aaronson, Reynolds, Dike, Steffen, Ream, Weah, Yedlin, Richards, Sargent, Ledezma, Paredes, Pepi, Busio, Tessman, Bassett, Clark, Gomez, De La Fuente, Pefok, Sands, Mueller, Horvarth. Soto and coming soon Bello and Turner. And just looking at those players you can see the variety of options open to American players, from MLS academies to pay to play, to college, to moving directly to Europe at 16 or 18 depending on nationality.
He's 20 years old. He's playing for one of the top teams in Holland. He wasn't even starting every match for Colorado. Of course it's going to take him time to adjust.
Do you have a cite for the "year or so just to acclimate"? I've seen his comments about not being a big part of the picture the rest of this season, but that's not a surprise when joining mid-year. From what I read it sounded like they expect to work him into the team over the course of the rest of this season and expect him to be competing for starting minutes next season.
it is a surprise when players like kyle duncan and james sands start right away and kyle duncan makes team of the week in belgium immediately sands got poor reviews and now isnt starting bc lack of tactical awareness which is the same reason the feyenoord coach said bassett wont play this season - he apparently needs to get up to spped tactially despite impressing a lot physically MLS doesnt prepare these players tactically very well - you see it with the mls players in the usmnt too there are simply higher levels of play beyond MLS which for the us player pool as a whole it is imperative that as many players can get into that environment as possible
And yet The Athletic credits James Sands as ‘tactically outstanding’. It's understandable because he played in the Manchester City academy system, the one that helped develop Gio Reyna and Joe Scally who made their BL debuts at 17 and 18 respectively. In other news Tyler Adams signed for RB Leipzig in January 2019 and sat out one match before starting. So going from MLS to starting in a top 5 league is not that unusual.
Fansided did an analysis of former college players in MLS in the 2020 season. https://mlsmultiplex.com/2021/01/29/college-soccer-mls-season/
Early in the thread it started with his assumption that foreign MLS players and players in foreign leagues have a lot more leverage than they actually have, and only got worse from there.
Can youth players even move between academies in other countries? IE, if a kid lives in Liverpool, can Liverpool recruit a kid that is a standout in Tranmere’s academy (assuming they have one, of course)? Doesn’t FIFA have anti-tamper rules that prevents a bigger club from poaching youth players?
In England the Football League gave higher clubs the opportunity to poach their academy players for a fixed fee in return for TV money. It's called the Elite Player Performance Plan. An example of the impact was that in the early 2000s Notts County got £1.2 million from Tottenham for a 15 year- old Jermaine Pennant. Under EPPP we would probably have received £40,000. So yes Liverpool could poach a kid from Tranmere for a fixed fee. Before EPPP kid had to live within 90 minutes of their academy but that has gone. In France and Spain I think they have residential academies where kids get an high quality education as well as soccer training. Again before EPPP Notts had a full-time academy. Now I think it's a couple of evenings a week after school.
BTW, Bassett suited up for Feyenoord this morning but didn't get subbed in. That's seems a lot closer to playing than "doesnt expect him to play this season", even if the plan is to only use him in 5-10 minute appearances a handful of times this season.
well great. I am a fan of bassett and think he is destined for big things....but I read quotes from the coach somewhere that indicated he wouldnt play this season. so, all the better if he forces the coach to reconsider
The quote from Slot I saw was that "he's one for the future". He's a 20 year-old, who started in 2/3 of the Rapids' games last season, who's moved to a top 3 Eredivisie team that regularly competes in the Europa League. So it is quite a step up. Anyway I suspect he was signed by te Kloese, who an ex-MLS GM should be looking westward for young talent. As far as the draft is concerned, well a decade or so ago Bassett would probably have still been an amateur playing college soccer.
So here's an inspiring tale. Sam Rogers was at Seattle Sounders academy. He was offered a scholarship by Villanova but turned it down to join Seattle Sounders 2. He then joined OKC Energy before joining a club in the Norwegian second division on loan. The club won promotion. He's just joined first division Rosenberg who are regulars in the Champions and Europa Leagues (though not next season).