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

They tried, but Luis Gil and his family didn't want to move.

 

Once you get a kid into a country legally, it isn't hard to get them a passport...

Gil wasn't an immigration issue, but rather Gil rejecting the offer from Arsenal.

Good point, but my overall point in the post is that when you're dealing with a minor, it isn't that hard to get the kid into the country legally and then, subsequently, getting them residency in the country.

 

Uhh....that's not true. How long does it take to get UK citizenship? Unless there's a passport vending machine somewhere to which only the Big Four have access, it's not that easy.

 

It's a hell of a lot easier and quicker than getting a US citizenship. European teams can also "fast track" citizenship for players they think are worth it, which isn't something you can do in the US.

 

It's easier, but even a few years is an eternity for a young soccer player. It's also a lot of bureaucracy and paperwork; how many young American players merit that kind of commitment from a club like Arsenal?

The point remains that very few players will be able to move to Arsenal due barriers of entry on the field and off. These "initiatives" and the like are pure money-grabs until proven otherwise.

 

I agree that the likelihood of the academy paying dividends as far as player recruitment for Arsenal goes is very low, just saying it isn't a lost cause. I would also agree that it's more than likely a money grab than anything.

 

SMH at all of you who don't want this because Arsenal would "take away our talent"... What talent? All we produce is average and mediocre players. We should hope Arsenal comes and finds the Steve Nash of soccer.

 

Why would we want Arsenal to find a short, talented Canadian?

 

This is old news. The Richmond Strikers were chosen by arsenal in their first step toward a official training academy in the US. Their north american scout Danny Karbassayoon (sp?) has relocated to Richmond and Steve Morrow is there frequently.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-announce-richmond-strikers-project

http://www.richmondstrikers.com/Travel/479399.html

 

This basically means nothing...how many American players are good enough for Arsenals academy anyways let lone limiting it to a small area in which they are gonna be set up at.

I think the bigger question from all this is, does Kronke know the Rapids have an academy? And if so why wouldn't he try to combine the academy, wherever it is, that way the player can reap double the benefits as well as him.

 

How can this NOT be viewed as a good thing? We've got 300,000.000 people!

 

You mean the one where the red teams get all the best players and the rest of the Texans teams pay extra for all the scholarships on the red teams? In this setup does the Arsenal team get the players and the Rapids pay the dough?

 

Imagine Bayern Munich opening up an academy in England. How do you think Prem fans would perceive that??? It's very, very easy to see how this COULD be a bad thing.

But with the rules as they are, it's just a "weird" thing. If it was a German club, yeah, that would probably suck, because Germany is an "open" league with no restrictions on players, so a well-run Bayern Munich academy in, say, the NYC area would hoover up alot of talent. Ajax opening up an academy in SoCal would kinda suck.

This? Just weird.

 

You're gonna have to show your work there, chief. Baseball teams do it because they can sign the kids without restrictions. That obviously does NOT apply here.

Source/link?

Source/link?

 

Eat your heart out!

 

I don't understand the people who are okay or want this to happen. Regardless of the citizenship issues at hand, do you really want your local club academy to have the competition? Look at it this way: Arsenal has their academy in... I don't know, let's say Arizona. A young promising player in LA is about to join the Galaxy's academy. Arsenal's academy swoops in and picks him up from under LA because they're Arsenal. What soccer-knowing kid wouldn't go there instead?

Now, normally, a kid graduating from LA's academy would go into the Galaxy's roster as they get first right of refusal, if the kid's any good. However, if that kid graduates from Arsenal's academy then he can go to any team he wants.

Basically, it just seems to throw a wrench into our current system altogether.

And to those of you saying: "there's 300,000,000 of us!" No, there isn't. There's an extremely tiny fraction of those 300,000,000 who actually want to make an honest attempt at professional soccer. We are not an "untapped" market. Were as tapped as the sport's popularity will allow at this time.

I'm not going to make this out to be a huge issue, but I wouldn't welcome it either... if Arsenal's true intention is to sign and train youth players and not just expand their brand, as others have already noted.

 

I'm not pissed that Inter signed a training agreement with a local USDA team, why should I care if Arsenal does the same thing, or starts their own USDA club in the area. If my club can't get the best talent in the area, then I'm going to be pissed at my club and its POS academy system, not Arsenal. More power to Arsenal, IMHO. If it raises the game of MLS's academy systems, I welcome the competition.

 

Nash is 6'3".

 

It's bad for MLS but not for US soccer. What do you guys value more?

 

You hit it on the head.

For me, MLS.

 

This type of thing has been done to to death in the states. Teams like Crystal Palace, Ajax and such. One thing MLS must stress to these players who may opt to enter such academy is that the chances of them playing first team football before their 20th birthday are relatively slim. As well as their chances to play in England before their 22nd. Unless Arsenal can work around Work Permit issues for academy players then they have accomplished nothing.

For people who are saying this is simply to increase Arsenal's brand then I'm pretty sure you're lowering the status of a world renowned club. Selling shirts and making money off of camps? This is the United States, even if they sell a few shirts they wont be making the kind of money that most teams have losing on academies in America for years.

This is a probably the brainchild of Kroenke, but also Arsene himself. Wenger has often spoke highly of America's abilities to produce athletes and sang praise of Landon Donovan for the weeks after he shredded Traore to pieces.

Arsenal want to see what they can develop in America. I can't see it hurting MLS unless Arsenal can manage to convince top talent that waiting until their early 20's to even have a shot on the team is a good thing. I also can't see how most people would deny the right of a business wanting to develop in professional talent.

A lot of people fail to recognize just how many "big 4" youth products end up being the rank and file players of the EPL. Manchester United are a great example of how a big clubs development of players often leads to improving the overall standard of the league.

 

Competition is good in general. If we are worried about kids preferring Arsenal Academy over MLS Academies, we need to improve our academies, not keep good development systems out. .

I think having other academies will help us improve. I am sure the presence of Audis and Volvos plays a role in pushing Ford and GM to improve their product.

Usually, Competition will give you better product on the field than protectionism.

 

Isn't Steve Nash the Steve Nash of soccer?