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

So...you're saying they're going to milk us for talent?

 

US Soccer Development Academy.

But they are more likely to milk the families of those teams of cash rather than the US of soccer talent. They might get a few players out of the relationships, but it shouldn't compare to the numbers MLS teams should be able to get out of it.

 

One that doesn't want to leave home at 15? One that is informed about the work permit rules? And if he does go, it's still an American kid getting training, and still an American kid who could end up in MLS or choose to try to go to Europe, but probably not England. And LA will have an open spot to train some other kid.

A kid out of Arsenal's academy who wanted to go into MLS would not be able to go to any team he wants; he would go into the draft. And it's not like a kid coming out of LA's academy can't spurn LA and MLS and sign with a European club instead.

 

Because we are not communist China.

 

Are they not, in the end, the same thing. US soccer cannot grow if MLS does not get better. Without MLS, US soccer will stagnate. Without US based academies, US soccer will stagnate. Unless, all of a sudden 10 -20 top Euro teams decide to plop down academies in the US catering for 400-500 youth players, MLS and other local youth soccer networks will take care of this for them.

In Canada, TFC, VW and Montreal in the next five years will achieve more for Canadian youth soccer than the sum of anything preceding it. MLS clubs in America will do the same. Investment in coaching is key. Bring the coaches up and over and teach the locals how to do it to the best of their abilities.

It's a blend but in no way can it be a bad thing.

 

i dont see how this is bad for MLS.... if placed within 75 miles of the Rapids, he could ultimately use them as an Affiliate club and draw in Home Grown players. If its opened up in Florida, who gives a rat's *ss??

 

So is this Arsenal's fault or Soccer Mom Sally?

 

I thought Martin Nash was the Steve Nash of soccer?

People are making WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much of a big deal of this Arsenal Academy thing. They're not going to start hoovering up hordes of young American players & transfer them to England. Not gonna happen.

And even if they take 5 kids a year (which is waaaaay beyond the realm of all reason during to work permit restrictions, etc.), MLS would still have more than enough talent to use. One thing the MLS academies have shown me is that there's young talent out there like Najar, Hamid, Luna, etc. that's available for mining. The talent pool we're drawing from is enormous.

And if there's an obvious elite Arsenal-level youth talent out there.......would he sign with MLS anyway? Or would he go the Joseph Gyau, Charles Renken, Sebastian Lletget, Adrian Ruelas, Boss route........and skip MLS altogether? A good number of them would do just that.

In fact with the increased amount of scouting being conducted in the states by European, Mexican, and even South American scouts..........I do expect a "talent drain." Remember that MLS academy kids that haven't signed MLS contracts as homegrown players........are available to any club in the world on a free transfer. So are all the Bradenton kids, and development academy kids. And NCAA kids.

I don't know why people have their panties in a bunch about Arsenal, when 99.9% of kids in this country under the age of 17 are available to anybody. Happy shopping Bayern Munich and Club America. If MLS wants to compete, they better up their game.

 

Um no, why do people keep throwing this number out? 1/2 our population if not more is female so for matter of the mens team both club and country they are discounted. Everyone over the age of 30 is discounted. And remember this isn't the only sport and not the most popular in the states. So Soccer has to compete with Baseball, Basketball, American Football and Hockey (plus all the other niche sports). And in the end a lot of the people who do choose soccer either won't be good enough or just won't commit to it. So that 300,000,000 number sounds pretty but if we had a pool of 30,000,000 I would be surprised.

^ This.

 

Well if a kid in High School has to choose between Basketball, Tackle Football and Football Soccer, most now in days will chose the first two everything else being equal.

Arsenal could be giving those kids another chance. Go to College for one/three years to play Football or Basketball, or turn pro and move to England (or go on loan to smaller league). That is the thing about soccer, it is a global market, MLS can not stop that.

I am not a fan on the whole thing about MLS teams dividing territory, there should be an open competition for talent, if the other 18 MLS teams want to open academies in Chicago they should have the right, just like teams in other countries. It would be fantastic if Chicago had 100 Football soccer academies all over the city.

 

And once they move to England, what are they going to do unless they have an EU passport or have somehow managed to get a college degree via the last known loophole to the Home Office permit?

 

1. Territorial rights are the standard in England, at least. I wonder if it's standard throughout the world?
2. I can't foresee MLS allowing, for example, the Gals to open up an academy in Chicago. But I'll be surprised if, in 10 years, MLS still allows one club exclusive rights to, for example, Las Vegas. I suspect this is (another) intermediate steps. If you step back and look at this historically, it's clear the direction MLS is moving.

You've forgotten that FIFA has a rule against the international transfer of children.

But on your general point I agree...even if this is a true player development scheme, and not an exercise in branding, it's not a big deal for MLS as a whole.

But if Arsenal puts their academy in, for example, Chicago, and assuming it's about player development, then it's a big deal for the Fire. That's obvious.

 

Then the Fire will need to up their game. Competition is a good thing. And there's ALREADY a lot of competition in these big markets.

Take down here in DFW just as an example. In the 2009 Soccer America youth club rankings.........3 of the top 8 clubs were in the DFW metroplex. [Note that one of them wasn't the FCD acaddmy]

1. Baltimore Casa Mia Bays Maryland
2. Dallas Texans North Texas
3. Andromeda North Texas
4. Arsenal FC California South
5. Chicago Magic Illinois
6. Real So Cal California South
7. FC Delco Eastern Pennsylvania
8. Solar FC North Texas

I don't know if people know this but Solar down there in 8th signed an agreement with Chelsea.

http://dallassolar.net/news.php?id=360

And the Dallas Texans have an agreement with Manchester United. Chelsea and Man United aren't setting up agreements with these youth clubs as a method of wasting their time and money. It's one big scouting network

I expect this Arsenal academy (if it happens) to be no different, except the name of the club will be Arsenal............as opposed to Solar. Since we just discussed the reasons why Arsenal can't sign most Americans even if they wanted to (work permit, etc.)............then this would be no different than any other training academy in the states. If MLS clubs are worried this Arsenal academy would take players from them (which would be no different than Solar in Dallas having Alfred Koroma really)........then they need to up their game.

 

Good God!!! Yeah, we get it. The topic is, why would anyone be against this. The answer is, if Arsenal does this in the right way in the backyard of YOUR team, you're not gonna like it.

Guys, this is just ********ing obvious. It's bullheadedness to pretend otherwise. If not for Liverpool, Steven Gerrard would be a Toffee. How good would Arsenal be if all those West Ham products, Joe Cole, Carrick, Rio, Lampard, had been theirs to begin with? Ooooh, Arsenal, you need to up your game. Well, no shit Sherlock. But Arsenal is supposed to LIKE that????

 

This remaind me, I do not really know shit about English Football.

MLS, FMF and Barca are good enogh for me.

 

You keep saying this. MLS IS upping their game. But it doesn't happen overnight. Best way to prevent competition in business - and soccer is a business - is to squash competitive efforts when they are getting started.

Let MLS teams continue to establish their academies.

By they way I disagree that competition in training academies is best for the game. IMO soccer is one sport where the skill levels of everyone on the training field has to be equivalent for all to progress (unlike the other main US sports). It is better to have all skilled players in a region on the same field then spread among several different teams.

 

A couple of points the way I see it.

First, 300,000,000 people, another academy won't hurt MLS or USSF. In fact, in a weird way it will likely affect the other sports more than soccer! Think about it, here you have an outlet for a sports oriented, physically gifted kid. If he/she and his parents see an academy with a big name on it, and the kid liked the sport, it might be that the kid gets pushed in to that realm and not basketball or football.

The other thing is that names don't mean anything. Yes, Arsenal has a great academy in England. Starting something up over here doesn't automatically translate in to success. While the branding and the name will help, it is the organization and people putting the effort into it to become a success, just like everything else in life.

At the moment, DCUnited's youth team is far out ahead of everyone in this game. Hell, they're the only people around that can point and say, "Our youth team guy just won MLS's Rookie of the Year." It doesn't matter that 2010 was the first year that was even possible. At least for now, DCUnited is likely winning the award for drawing attention to its program within the soccer world of the USA.



On the other hand, with a quick scan through the previous posts, everyone seems to think that Arsenal is setting up the academy to have players go to England. Why?

If I'm Kroenke, I use that academy as a training base to transfer players to MLS teams. If they get the one great prospect, like Andy Najar (odd coincidence that he's expected to train with Arsenal in the next couple of weeks), then they put him with the big club across the pond. However, for the vast majority, why not develop them and either draft them to Colorado or sell them off to other MLS squads?

With all the quirky rules in MLS the latter might not even be possible, that's why it's only a feasibility study at the moment. However, no one has tried it yet, so it can't be illegal.

 

Are you saying that only because of Najar or is there more to it? If so explain and if you know what is your ranking of the other clubs and why.

 

Very true. In soccer we hurt ourselves big time by not doing this.

 

Right now it is just bragging rights. I'm not claiming DC United has anything above the other clubs, just they can go out and say, "Look at Andy Najar." Also, I think the league will beat it to death next year as a marketing tool.

On the other hand, DC United also has Hamid as GK. Assuming he gets over his shoulder injury, I would recommend you watch him when United is on TV. His is that good, and barring serious injury, could end up on the National Team eventually.

Finally, they've just signed Evan White who went through their academy, spent a year at Univ of MD, and is now in the league as a homegrown player. I'm assuming he'll be a decent defender if he's given time to develop.

Also, look for their other youth player, Conor Shanosky. He's a 6'4", 180 pound, stringy kid with Najar-like skills, but isn't afraid to get stuck in - granted it was against other kids. Again, given the right development from here on in, and DC United isn't that good with young players - Adu, Convey, Quaranta, J.Mapp, Eliseo Quintanilla (playmaker, El Salvador Team Capt now) - he could be the next Sharlie Joseph in 3-4 years.

All of them are products of the DC United youth set up. That's a fair start in terms of marketing.

I don't know the other team's youth systems. I'm sure anyone could shoot down DC United in a heart-beat (please do!). Again, it is just something DC United can point to as a "success."

 

I think anyone playing for these traitor academies should be deported. HELL YES AMERICA

 

Didn't figure there would be any Tea Baggers in San Jose

 

Excellent point that I haven't thought of. I've always wondered what would have become of Chris Albright, Fullback, if he had had to compete against good players earlier. If he converts from forward to fullback at age 20, how good does he become?

 

Except that you can't just hire a non-EU citizen if there are qualified Europeans interested in the job. And Britain has a cap on non-EU migrants. But other than that it's so easy!

What's next? Sign the kid up as an au pair?

 

Yeah, that ********ing Home Office and shit.