I would say extremely important (worldwide...not just MLS). I don't think it is possible to put a number on it but it is extremely important. I don't think Yedlin is near where he is without his speed. I wouldn't put Cannon's athelticsm at the level of the above players...very god but not great. As it is, there is a great deal of debate over who is better (Yedlin or Cannon) but if Cannon had a bit more speed (or Yedlin was a bit slower) I don't think the argument would exist. An interesting question (unanswerable imo) is where would Pulisic, Adams and and Davies be without elite athleticism? I don't think Pulisic would be anywhere near Chelsea right now, but where would he be? Lewis might fit into that category? I don't see his upside near that of the players above but he is pretty fast from what I have seen (not that much I admit).
Good point: I think the key unknown question is whether two MLS teams were simply lucky in having two truly exceptional athletes coming through their system at a similar time and their experience is more a function of randomness (the US will produce its share of exceptional athletes and hopefully more with choose our sport) than something that we can extrapolate a trend. I hope that we see Pomykal, Cannon and Tessman (and others) transfer shortly and perform at the highest levels as that would be best for the USMNT. I am not counting on it though and I'm not sure history is on our side.
Elite soccer athleticism translates well from league to league. It's the 'blue chip investment' in the recruitment of youth-age pros. Current players w're to this thread are: Tessman Cannon Pomykal Araujo Aaronson Duncan I'd rate Cannon as a better fb than Yedlin. Yedlin's lack of lateral quickness makes him pretty vulnerable on defense. His speed is truly elite, though. Would use him as a deep-lying winger, which was what Berhalter subbed him in as against Canada.
I thought the general perspective is that your listed guys are good athletes but not “truly elite” or “exceptional”. Let’s see how they are valued by major leagues teams - right now, it appears that they aren’t valuing Cannon at a starting player level (or that FCD views him as a top tier major leaguers and won’t accept the going rate).
My suggestions of the players' elite soccer-athletic abilities are a matter of personal opinion. Whether a major league team 'values' a player often comes down to happenstance, especially as MLS is a fairly minor league, and especially in the instance of defenders.
whether one team values a player is happenstance: when multiple teams have similar values, it’s the market clearing price. It may be proven wrong later but that the current market value. my simple point is that the two key soup-to-nuts MLS success stories both involved players who are exceptional athletes. Hopefully, there are either more Americans who are at that same level of athleticism or MLS develops a lengthy track record of developing players who are merely good athletes rather than exceptional. Right now, there is no track record of that.
Adams was picked up by a Red Bull team. Davies showed early dominance as an attacker with the Canadian youth teams. The World Cup got Yedlin his transfer. Happenstance. Busio isn't a super athlete, but he has that Italian passport. Fiorentina made a bid for him. Is he the best youngster in the pool. Nope. Happenstance. What we can do is identify and discuss the pool. Who gets where is more complicated.
So it’s not skill, athletic ability and drive, it’s happenstance. what happened to Weston? What’s happening to Cannon - he can get a work permit due to USMNT caps? Same with Long. What happened to Yedlin - he got purchased and sent down market and then proved himself. the best teams want young exceptionally athletic talent wherever they can get it - to say its happenstance is silly - which happenstance Americans in MLS are good enough to start for a major league team over multiple seasons?
Weston was an academy player picked up on a free. WTF does he have to do with Cannon? Scouting is an imperfect business. That's why most young players fail. That's why it's extremely stupid to hang your hat on who is with wut fcking club.
you were saying that getting picked up by an elite team is happenstance and I think that is total crap. Weston is an excellent example of a kid with no passport and no World Cup performance who made it a high level as a teenager not because of happenstance but because of skill, athletic ability and drive. Conversely, it appears that there is limited demand for Cannon or FCD has priced him as if he’s already proven himself as a major league player and neither he nor FCD have earned the respect from buying teams to get paid for that. I fully agree that scouting is imperfect in all sports but to say that looking at the track record of a team/league in developing elite players is “extremely stupid” is, well, extremely stupid. It’s a data point and a fairly important one. the purpose of this thread is to discuss the success of the only two players who have gone from MLS Academies to playing in MLS to playing for a UCL knockout team. More specifically, what characteristics do they share and who are the emerging MLS players who possess similar characteristics. if your point is that it’s all randomness and there is nothing to be learned, this is the wrong thread for you.
clearly there are paths that are easier (euro passport) but I don’t think the friction costs are anywhere near insurmountable although I fervently hope that we get rid of homegrown territories and 3+2 contracts for you. I also will continue my quixotic quest to remove the 18 year old constraints for youth player in G7 countries. as an aside to everyone, could a country simply decide not to follow FIFA’s ban on 16-17 year old players from joining clubs in other countries like MLS simply refuses to follow FIFA’s contract length limits for youth players? What’s the difference?
Almost forgot, there was top-5 interest in Cannon. Yes, definitely. Two EPL/Champ clubs reportedly inquired about him over the winter. Questions are 1) meeting work permit requirements and 2) usual challenge of finding balance between financial security and freedom of movement over the next couple years— Charles Boehm (@cboehm) February 20, 2020
If players are good, they go. What's so hard to figure out? Why do we need 17 different threads on this topic?
Note that we also didn't know how good he was until he made his debut in the BL. Some of the people who think he was under-sold are also the ones would have qualified any claim to his ability with "yes but it's only MLS".
I think it's a fair qualification as before him there was zero history of a DA to MLS starter player being able to step into a UCL team. That's why i like a low cash price but a high sell-on clause. It aligns interests and is cognizant that other teams have a better track record of developing elite players while paying MLS handsomely for what they've done.
Reggie Cannon's 4 year deal is so generous that Dallas is incentivized to sell him in the next couple of transfer windows. Also Cannon will get a bonus based on his transfer fee. Note that Dallas' TD has a background of selling Brazilian players to the top leagues in Europe. https://theathletic.com/1659931/202...s-fc-dallas-to-sell-him?source=shared-article Cannon’s new deal includes bonuses for the homegrown right back tied directly to his sale. The larger the transfer fee, the bigger the reward for Cannon. On the flip side of that arrangement, Dallas increased its leverage in negotiations by locking Cannon down for four seasons while also keeping his base salary static at the 2019 level this year for cap purposes, allowing the club to keep a key player for 2020 without pushing them closer to the league’s $4.9 million salary cap. The deal includes a significant jump in salary next year and deferred bonuses that kick in if Cannon is still on the FC Dallas roster by a certain deadline. And it is those payment increases that incentivize Dallas to sell Cannon before the 2021 season kicks off.
With RBL being so good, whats the incentive to move beyond better weather maybe? Too bad they didn't keep Haaland in-house.