Arsenal training academy in US - bad for MLS homegrown intiative?

It certainly makes the partnership with the Rapids pretty meaningless. Why not just combine the two operations?

 

as if Kroenke wasnt a big enough douche

"hey my Rapids just won MLS Cup so to reward them im going to open up an academy for Arsenal"

 

Hopefully they'll put it in Denver as well

 

In a country of 300 million and 22 million registered player. This isn't a problem. American players going to the Arsenal 1st team.....is not a problem. the sky is not falling.

Besides, we're already signing a few arsenal rejects...ryan smith and that fullback portland just signed. So a few more players who aren't good enough for the EPL but plenty good for MLS, is a good thing imo.

 

Can someone explain why they think this is a bad thing?

 

F*ck you Kroenke.

Why, exactly are English clubs allowed to open an academy here?

 

I think MLS should open academies in England. Chicago Fire North Umberland has a nice ring to it.

 

I think the idea is that it would sap all the homegrown talent and bypass MLS. But the market is so completely untapped that I don't think it's a problem. Reading through the article, I'm not sure they are doing it outside of the Rapids like I had originally assumed.

 

Not good or bad. More likely meaningless, just like all the other acadamy attempts in the past.

The routine is simple. Make statements about looking for talent/growing game here.

Then sell a lot of shirts and take a lot of money for camps while expanding the Euro clubs brand name. It's been done to death.

 

This ^

Unless there is a youth squad called Arsenal Rapids, or Colorado Arsenal. Maybe a setup like the Texans White and Red. If it increases the partnership between his teams I can't see it being anything but positive. Anything else though, probably means nothing but marketing and rich parents dumping money.

 

Mexican clubs have been doing this for a while now.
This can only help USMNT, maybe MLS academies in competitive matched.
Arsenal already has an academy in Altaloma, CA that plays development league.
Gerson Mayen came from that academy before coming to Chivas USA U18s.

 

I have no clue why anyone is fretting over this. It's like they've completely forgotten about the EPL's national team requirement for non-EU players.

Yeah, there's quite a few immigrant kids here in the US that would be able to get around that barrier. But, seriously, exactly how many players in the next ten years will this academy develop that would go to Arsenal before ending up in MLS? One? Two?

 

I fail to see how competition in youth development in the United States is a bad thing...

 

I'm sure it's a horrible thing that Inter Milan signed an agreement with a USDA team near Seattle...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/soundersfcblog/2013419791_crossfire_premier_partners_wit.html

As noted earlier, I doubt it means anything other than an opportunity to sell more shirts and market the team in the US. If they get a player out of the agreement, yippee, but it's just gravy, IMHO.

 

If a kid doesn't have an EU passport, he can't play for Arsenal. It's that simple.

Maybe Arsenal will dig one kid who is good enough for Arsenal and eligible for a work permit. Maybe.

It's about expanding the brand and joining in on money-making enterprise of US youth soccer. It's almost entirely irrelevant to MLS youth development.

 

If the kid is good, all they have to do is give one of the kid's parents a job somewhere in their organization and move them to England. It's not that hard to get around that England's immigration rules when you're dealing with a minor.

 

Right now, MLS youth development academies exist to transfer players abroad to bigger leagues anyway. That's where the return on investment is.

The fact that they will also produce some career MLS players who are mildly better than what the youth system produced before, and will have a mild impact on the win loss records of the more successful MLS clubs in terms of their youth development, is just a nice byproduct.

So even if you believe that Kroenke is serious and can pull it off, not much changes, except that it would probably be more resources put into the program (meaning its outcome is probably good).

 

Oh, is that all you have to do?

 

Well, all I'm going to say is that there do seem to be a lot of S. Americans and Africans appearing in European youth academies.

 

The same reason every baseball team has academies in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, etc.

Plus, I don't see any harm an Arsenal academy could possibly have in the states. We're afraid Arsenal might train and develop some top notch American kids.........and then steal them to play for Arsenal? THE HORROR! OH THE HUMANITY!!

 

No, that's what you have to do to transfer before the age of 18.

If you want the professional contract, you need the EU passport. That's why any initiative by any English club is always going to be small potatoes.

 

Then why didn't they do this with Luis Gil's family? A player they wanted to sign.

 

Except for the part (AIUI) where there's a FIFA rule specifically preventing that...