In a game from March 18, Gent's U-21s won 4-1 away to Anderlecht. Lederman started, wore the number 10, and set up two goals.
Looking for a new home. Ben Lederman is leaving Gent. NAC Breda is testing the American midfielder who spent 7yrs in the Youth Academy of FC Barcelona. Ben Lederman staat op het punt te vertrekken bij KAA Gent. De Amerikaanse middenvelder speelde tot zijn 19 bij Barça en test nu bij NAC. #KAAGent pic.twitter.com/AaNGjtFAyf— KAA Gent News (@KaaGentNews) July 5, 2019
Highlights from last season: Some NAC fans on Twitter said that he had a good trial. Still, he doesn't seem to have signed with them, so we'll see where he ends up.
Wonder what his limitations, as far as these clubs are concerned, are. Anyone with any inside dope???
What's up with Ben? He should give up on Europe at this point and give MLS a try. Otherwise he should try for a lower tier euro league like Denmark, Sweden, or even Israel.
Trained with Beitar Jerusalem a couple of weeks ago: Other than a photo of Gadi Kinda at Ben Gurion Airport, presumably to fly to Kansas City today, the interesting note from this @ONE_CO_IL article is that American teenager Ben Lederman (yes, that one) trained with Beitar Jerusalem on Saturday. https://t.co/aLthripF0R— Daniel Karell 🎗️ (@DanielKarell) January 20, 2020 However, it says that he’s unlikely to continue training with Beitar. It’s possible he could be on his way out of Belgium.— Daniel Karell 🎗️ (@DanielKarell) January 20, 2020 Not sure if the second tweet implies that he did end up returning to Gent II. The big point is that he's still looking for a new place to play.
I find his tale so fascinating and chilling at the same time. To drop this fast seems almost unprecedented.
Oooouuuuey. I dont even know what that means...lol 3. israel??? Wttttf? By signing, you mean he is paying his monthly membership dues?
Shocking, really. I can't imagine that a 19 year old with Barcelona and Gent on his resume couldn't find any takers at some level higher than this. Maybe he just wanted to move to Israel and figure some things out.
Interesting point. Maybe he needs that break. Again, as you say, given his resume/background, you'd assume someone, somewhere, at some decent level in Europe would be intrigued at the least to give him a shot...
Someone did. Gent are one of Belgium's Big 5 but they didn't rate him and nobody in Israel's Premier League was interested in him either (training with Beitar doesn't mean he was given a trial). Top youth prospects fail to live up to their potential all the time, sadly: the body doesn't develop, it breaks down, the soccer IQ doesn't mature, the pressure becomes too much, etc. Let's hope he can work his way back up.
I don't think it's unprecedented at all. It would be a precipitous fall if Lederman were a highly rated prospect, but it was clear that he wasn't particularly valued at La Masia and the US U17s also showed little interest in him. Lesser academy players at big clubs fall off the face of the earth all the time. Go on Transfermarkt and look up the U19 rosters for big Bundesliga clubs from 7-10 years ago. You'll find all sorts of guys who fall off the face of the earth.
Sure, I was a bit over the top there, but still, the impression I had was he was still a top talent. The article about his stint at Gent made it clear he has the skill level, and it hinted his chances at the club were decent. So, to go from that to this, within, what, a year or so, maybe less, is pretty sobering.
Hakoah Maccabi Amidar/Ramat Gan 0-1 Maccabi Sha'arayim Rehovot Ben started and went 65 minutes in his first available match. Appears that they used a copy of the picture in his Israeli passport for his player card. This is what appears on the IFA website. Next match is "on the road" at Or Yehuda. Say this in quotes because Or Yehuda is less than five miles from Ramat Gan but this is not a derby. Mind you. The whole country is smaller than New Jersey.
Now he's in line for a promotion to YA? My how things change quickly around here. So correcting an earlier tweet...According to transfermarkt, Ben Lederman was on the books of Israeli third tier side Hakoah Amidar, but now it looks like Lederman has signed with Polish top flight side Rakow Częstochowa. #usmnt— Jeff Carlisle (@JeffreyCarlisle) February 25, 2020 ❗️ 💣 Ben Lederman nowym piłkarzem Rakowa! 🔴🔵➡️ https://t.co/pu1rGXcbjh pic.twitter.com/Ld6Bfeh5vJ— Raków Częstochowa 🥇 (@Rakow1921) February 25, 2020
That explains why he did not start the game last weekend. I couldn't even find him on the bench. Feel bad for the Hakoah fans. On their Facebook page, they seemed pretty excited for him to join.