Time will tell. There was a group in Dallas that touted its ties first to one EPL club and then, a year or so later, to another. If you have a serious, fully funded (no pay for play) effort with qulaified coaches, that is one thing. If it turns out to be yet another shortlived franchise aimed at marketing that is quite another. I mean, my son played "Little League Baseball" for the New York Yankees. For some reason Joe Torre never came to any of his games *grin*
Wasnt Celtic supposed to open 30 academies?? These things are just made up....nothing will ever come of them. With MLS academies establishing themselves and hopefully becoming free
I think this has a little more merit. Arsenal has an agreement with the Rapids. I wouldn't be surprised to see Crystal Palace open something as well.
I am not sure what you mean but I was just trying to say I wouldn't be surprised to see any of the England based clubs to open academies in the cities of their American club partners.
I think it's fine. Shouldn't hurt to have Arsenal recruiting our kids to make MLS get serious about it's own player development. I also think it will happen as this is a logical output of their affiliation with the Rapids.
I believe that Celtic run more than one "real" academy in Europe in locations scattered throughout Scotland, Ireland, England and in at least one Scandinavian country. Celtic also run various clinics and camps throughout the UK but they are more about PR and money making than they are about identifying talent. Celtic also run day and overnight camps in Scotland. Celtic recently partnered with a group called GEG to launch camps in 15 North American cities. I seriously doubt that these have anything to do with identifying talent but more to do with marketing the brand and trying to make a few bucks. More power to them. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Celtic to run a real Academy here in the USA. An academy in th eUS might be a waste of money - Celtic might spend lots of time developing a US player and find that most of them couldn't get a UK work permit to play for the club in Scotland.
So is Arsenal only gonna sign kids with, or eligible for, EU passports for their academy? Will it be free? Will it only be for kids in Denver or have a national - or larger - reach? If so, will they provide housing and schooling besides just soccer?
Most U.S. kids can't qualify for an English work permit and are thus worthless to Arsenal. The ones who can, are available for a song ... Man U signed young Spector for just about nothing, even the most hyped and expensive U.S. teenager ever in Freddy Adu, cost pocket change by Arsenal standards. So there's no logic to Arsenal establishing a youth Academy here, aside from the same logic that led Chelsea to sponsor the Disney Classic youth soccer tournament -- brand marketing to rich Yanks.
Just because they can't sign them to Arsenal doesn't mean this won't happen. They could charge teams a fee for scouting services or even sign the kids and loan them to the Rapids or some other team. There are more than one ways to skin a cat so to speak.
Mebbe. I remember Ajax America. I remember Liverpool's alleged Academies. I remember Everton (or was it Charlton?) Arizona. If this takes root, it will be the first.
Seriously. There is no reason to get excited about this. It's just to promote Arsenal's brand in America.