The biggest negative for me and I've watched the last few matches on Paramount is that he tends to jog/drift about too much when he gets frustrated and expects the ball to be played to his feet consistently.. Coventry only have 1 or 2 midfielders capable of that and the better of those two has been injured for the last month or so. Saw glimpses of peak Haji a few times today when he tried running at defenders but just lacked to the confidence to take a shot or just bully through to goal.
He may be "not on it" but Lampard has redeployed him as an orthodox CF from where Robbins had him for the last 3 seasons; LW in a front three when in possession with a mandate to attack the ball or at least the box when balls came in from the right. He's not going to get too many chances to get on the ball and run at people like he used to and to great effect Haji's has never entirely convinced as a CF at higher levels so him having issues readjusting to leading the line shouldn't come as a surprise but he's still automatic first choice at CF for a team that's utterly dominating the league. For that, he has to be very effective even if he's not winning marks for aesthetics.
IMO the sweet spot for Haji is promotion in June, followed by a one-year extension and a good WC thereafter. Put a good season in the Prem on top of that and while he'd be too expensive (plus too old) for the Atletico Madrids to afford, there's a better than decent chance he's sold to an EL or at least a Conference side in the Prem. Clubs like Everton or maybe Brighton. Not bad for a guy who some Irish idiot was writing off in 2017-18
lol yeah most ppl wrote him off long ago; i hope he makes it to PL; that's movie book story (not like Jamie Vardy) but still good enough.
I think a young player coming through a MLS academy like Haji did has a better path to playing in a top league these days than Haji did. He probably lost 2 or 3 years after moving to the Cosmos. 47 appearances over the next 4 seasons including Schalke II.
Haji's tumultuous start to his career was entirely his own fault. There were plenty of opportunities to come out of MLS academies then, too. He and Tyler Adams joined MLS academies in the same year; when Haji bolted to the Cosmos, Adams played with NYRB II. By the time Haji was floundering on loan with Sandhausen, Adams was making his US debut. The Galaxy's youth development record to that point wasn't very good, but the Galaxy II team Haji would've joined still produced Daniel Steres, who had a nice MLS career, and Ariel Lassiter. It's worked out in the end, but his early-career decisions were bad with both foresight and hindsight.
I think Haji was badly advised. Also the whole academy program was still fairly new and some players didn't want to sign HGP contracts that would tie them to a club. Today there's more of a precedent for signing as a HGP and then getting a move to Europe.
He also was overhyped. Based on that he, and the family, probably thought "If Christian could do it in Germany, sure, I'll be able as well". There were some onortodox moves from his yonger brother too.
pffft you guys love blaming anyone who doesnt bow down to MLS BLAME MLS!!!!!!!!! they tie players down and dont let them leave!!!! Haji was smart to avoid MLS ...he'd probably be stuck there to this day
Maybe but I think k he was drawn to the fact that they would let him leave to Europe as soon as he was 18.
But, in his 9 months at Cosmos, he played only 80 league minutes in 3 matches and played 11 minutes in the Open Cup. He mostly played in NPSL during the season.
You mean like Tyler Adams, or James Sands, or Ricardo Pepi, or Aidan Morris, or Mark McKenzie, or Brenden Aaronson? They stayed in MLS long enough to get enough experience to walk straight into a European first team. Haji is finally getting recognition but he's in his late 20s.
It's not as if there was any other reason to join them, was there? They were splashing money right and left and were willing to give him a contract that released him him/expired oh his 18th birthday. That's it. The real mistake was to join a club that had become as completely dysfunctional as Schalke. If he'd gone to PSV, Dortmund or Freiburg, he may well have done a lot better. OTOH he could have ruptured his ACL and disappeared into the Allsvenskan and USL like Joe Gyau
He went from dysfunctional club to dysfunctional club - Galaxy academy to NY Cosmos to Schalke. I think there's something to the "badly advised" theory.
Not everything is bad. He mentioned he learned a thing or two under Raul when he was playing for Cosmos.
We can look back and critique his career choices, but the important thing is that he's ripening well at a good age to do so for his position.
Julian Araujo signed a home-grown contract at LA Galaxy, played 100+ games, got a move to Barcelona, where things didn't work out and is now in the EPL. That could have been Haji.
My opinion is it didn't matter where he was until he adjusted his mind and started banging back. like Kenny Cooper and Jozy to an extent a lot of big body forwards play more like wingers because the equally big or even bigger defenders will pound them until they move wide. It can't be easy as a 17-21 year old to bang with GAM's who have a decided strength and experience advantage. Some never get over that but Haji has and uses his strength well now. It just takes longer at CF and CD.