Breakout Youth Player in MLS/USL 2023 edition

I think the academies find families who host their academy players. It's a common arrangement.

 

Fair enough. That doesn't change my perspective (and I agree with @Eleven Bravo here) that he's still only 13 years old and he AND his parents might not feel comfortable/safe doing that. Do you remember life in middle school?

 

If I remember correctly, Sacramento is just outside of SJ's territory. I think........................

Like most MLS academies that aren't fully residential...............FCD kids can stay with host families. That's what Pepi did.

I'm OK with a 13 year old not moving across the country.

...................there's also zero reason for a 13 year old to sign a contract with a club. They could have not signed a contract, continued to have him train at Sacramento for a few years, and THEN make a decision.

That tells me they're ALREADY taking this seriously as a career path. So don't tell me its too early to take this seriously and not move to NYRB or Philly or a different academy. Signing a contract tells me he and his family are taking this seriously.

I also have no clue how good the player is as a prospect. I've never seen him. Maybe USL is the right level.

 

Anyone know if Sac Republics Academy is fully funded or if it's pay to play? By signing a contract, the club is committing to the player, and providing training at no cost to the family. With the added benefit of the Club paying the player to be there.

If Sacramento was going to have the player on scholarship (if pay to play), and they are confident that the player is going to reach their potential, one can see why they felt the need to sign him to a contract at such a young age. Sac Republic's Academy team plays in MLS Next, which "exposes" their players to MLS scouts, and Kimbrough has garnered the interest of Red Bulls and the Earthquakes thus far. Sacramento Republic is simply protecting their investment in this player. Why settle for training comp scraps when you could possibly get a transfer fee and sell on % down the road?

Now, Sac Republic making a big deal about the signing? That could be just them keeping their name out there for MLS HQ. Demonstrating that they have most of the attributes to be a future MLS Expansion Team. Especially in the wake of the San Diego MLS team announcement.

 

Indeed not everyone is ready for that at 13 and there’s nothing wrong with that or really any way indicative of their future prospects.

 

And I don’t know that they are necessarily getting paid a ton once they do go to Europe. I think what MLS is offering is extremely competitive with whatever they get in Europe. Though I think someone like Cavan Sullivan is probably the exception as I’m sure a Dortmund is probably making him a financial offer that’s much higher then other young Americans who are going over would get.

 

I think more broadly the developmental years those players are spending in USL are super important years for any player developmentally and at this current you’d be better off in the long run spending them with an MLS team (unless your locked into a team via homegrown territories who isn’t super interested in their academy). Longer term maybe that changes as USL continues to evolve and improve.

 

I’m sure most these players are also super confident in their own ability. You have to be to make it at the highest level. So of course they back themselves to make it in Europe.

 

To be fair on Mount Chelsea very much wanted to resign him but he refused to do so and they had no choice but to sell him.

Watching Pulisic with some of the other ex-Chelsea guys at AC Milan, I get the sense that the last few years at Chelsea was a very toxic environment and guys like Mount and Pulisic are very happy to be out of it.

 

It's the same point -- a few years ago the idea of Mount not being a Chelsea player for any reason was pretty much unthinkable. Now he's not.

Players look at these depth charts and think nothing will change, but soccer seems to change more rapidly than most sports.

 

I think with both the Rapids and San Jose it’s not terrible because they don’t spend big there’s tons of opportunities for young players to play for the first team. And the Rapids in particular have been very willing to move guys on to Europe.

The places to avoid are teams like Portland who don’t really have much interest in playing or integrating homegrown players.

 

Host families are not uncommon in elite sport and in exchange programs. And, of course, there's boarding school.

 

I get it. Happens all the time, though.

Its like all the young tennis players going to the academies in Bradenton, Florida. Bolletieri Tennis academy and whatnot. All the different sports that are at the IMG academy in Florida. Kids move all over the country at young ages to play there. Female gymnasts that go to elite academies at a very young age.

Its not for everyone. If you want a life outside of that sport, its not for you. But plenty of kids and families do it.

So yes, Ricardo Pepi moved from El Paso to FC Dallas' academy in Frisco to start in their U13 team. We don't think twice about it, but he did it. That's much farther away than people realize. Its a 9 hour drive in good traffic. Would I as a parent have done that? No, but they did.

 

San Jose has a coach with a proven track record of playing very young players and have had several go to Europe on big contracts. Not sure the reasoning on not trying to go there.

 

Busio lived with hosting family.

 

I was in that situation, my reaction was exactly like yours, the same from my girl. I know those who moved with or without families. Results vary: big upside (Olympic team, choice of Ivy league schools), huge downside. Really depends on the kid, families and luck. If I had a mature boy I might have made different decision.

 

Bradenton of course did this on scale. Soccer, tennis and other sports.

In other fields young prodigies go off for extended periods of special instruction.

 

It all depends on one's situation.

 

I think it depends on circumstances. People ship their kids to boarding schools all the time at that age on the east coast. Would I send my kids away at that age? Absolutely not. But I had plenty of friends in high school who were living at the school 5 or 7 days a week starting as a freshman or sophomore (though most of them hated it to be fair).

We had some boarding students from the Bronx and rougher areas of Boston at my high school. For them, the chance to attend a prep school was a life changing opportunity. If I was in that situation, I'd probably consider it.

 

That's why you see many kids of rich parents ie Hollywood celebrities, moguls, politicians etc in a lot of trouble throughout heir lives.

 

They do better on life metrics than the rest of the population Don't kid yourself over a few high profile cases.