Well if you include Canada, then OC is in the picture well before Papi. We had Larin, Miller, and Laraya all drafted.
It's not irrelevant, because Murrell could have a similar level of improvement, and sustain, in which case he'd be better than McGuire. He already had a good debut & built off it. The precedent for improvement's there. There's a class or two of player that's a higher tier than McGuire globally. Dempsey was that guy, out of college. It's still not very likely. That said, the biggest predictor for major success in the sport is early emergence. Late bloomers are more the exception than the rule. Murrell appears off to a good start, relative to the college pool prospects at least.
As a complete total aside, Georgetown could put together a decent team or recent players now with 4 players drafted (though only Murrell is certain to make a roster). GK Marcinkowski, Tomas Romero DF Dylan Mealis, Keegan Rosenberry, Josh Yaro, Sean Zawadski (CB/MF) MF Dante Polvara, Jack Panayotou, Will Sands, Chris Hegardt, Diego Latyf (current) (and Noel Buck's brother - current) W Achara, Alex Muyl, Jacob Montes F Murrell It's almost entirely borderline MLS players, but they are all currently playing, which for a college team is pretty impressive.
OCs pretty good. There are some organizations that are historically very good. New England consistently drafts guys that end up being good in the league. Senior internationals everywhere. First round picks by New England since 2018: Brandon Bye, Taj Buchanon, DeJuan Jones, Henry Kessler. It's almost an annual thing with them to get a contributor in the draft regardless of where they're picking. Clint Dempsey, Andrew Farrell, Pat Noonan, Michael Parkhurst, Taylor Twellman, Andy Dorman, Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz, Patrick Mullins, Kelyn Rowe, James Riley, Chris Tierney..........the list goes on and on and on. Who am I missing? Seth Sinovic, Rusty Pierce, Wells Thompson, blah, blah, blah. Of course fans up here in Boston insist that the Revs had have to rely on that historically as their owners don't splash the cash on a lot of impact foreign players. Even so, they have one hell of a track record. Some teams just have a plan with the types of positions they want to attack in the draft. You can go three deep on backlines that FCD has drafted. Top line? Hollingshead, Zimmerman, Hedges, and Moor...................with Dax McCarty ahead of them at the 6.
it'll be interesting to see if this has any effect on Philadelphia's youth pipeline. All of the guys who made Dallas' academy great left for bigger and better jobs. That's what we want. It's taken Dallas a little while to recover. It's easy to say "yeah, but the culture has been built and things will keep rolling in Philadelphia." Sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn't. Also, great news for Charlotte. They have Berchimas, but they need to work on building their academy and development pipeline. By hiring Wilson as their technical director, they should have a guy who wants to build the club in that manner. Two sources tell me that he is off to @CharlotteFC as their new Technical Director.#ForTheCrown | #doop | #MLS | #mlsnextpro | #youthsoccer@philaUnion|@PhilaUnionII|@phlunionacademy| @saintmirrenfc https://t.co/hFqkCrsnVo— José Roberto Nuñez (@JoserNunez91) January 13, 2024
A rundown of some of the new HG signings in the league. Burton, Beaudry, and Habroune headline recent first-team signings from MLS NEXT Pro | MLSNEXTPro.com
Sources: Philadelphia Union finalizing a deal to loan US youth int'l CB Brandan Craig to USL Championship side El Paso Locomotive.Craig, 19, to get key first team minutes. Has made one MLS appearance. Starter for the US at the U-20 World Cup. https://t.co/M22Xur4qjF— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) January 29, 2024 If nothing else should at least finally get regular playing time.
There have been a number of good young players going thru El Paso recently. Diego Luna, of course. That whole situation reminds of Erik Palmer-Brown. Just stuck behind two entrenched CBs. Need to find an opportunity for him. If he's a key starter in El Paso, that's a good opportunity. I'm sure they talked to some "bigger" clubs, but a starting job couldn't be guaranteed. I'm glad they're providing him with this opportunity as opposed to keeping him in Philly for depth.
According to our sources, #FCDallas is going to loan Antonio Carrera to a USL side. (He's in Spain with #DTID right now.)I'll have more on this on the podcast this week (it's a good thing). #SomosFCD pic.twitter.com/prycqFPaUA— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) January 30, 2024
Keep your eyes on the ball, and the name of that ball is Cavan Sullivan. 14 years old playing for Philly's reserve team. Cavan Sullivan earned his first minutes with the Union 2 in a match tonight. He entered the game in the second half of the victory over Florida Premier F.C.The highly sought-after US international is being courted by the likes of Manchester City.What a sight, huh?#doop… pic.twitter.com/GgbJjRETRz— José Roberto Nuñez (@JoserNunez91) February 7, 2024
Cade Cowell's brother training with the San Jose II training: CF, Tomo Allen (2007) 🇺🇸🇯🇵 & WING, Chance Cowell (2008) 🇲🇽🇺🇸 have been invited to second team preseason training for San Jose Earthquakes. Tomo Allen has been one of the biggest risers for me this year in MLS Next. 6-3 w/mobility, can play with back to goal and connect/hold up…— Marcus Chairez (@chai_asc) February 6, 2024
This yr @ OC I’m watching to see if Layola breaks out. Papi was very high on him last yr, but a health issue held him back. It doesn’t look like Williams has inspired any belief that he’s ready yet, as the club sent one starting CB away and replaced him with another. Holidays path back doesn’t look good as Thor turned into the leagues best RB when he had to cover Halliday’s spot when he got hurt (for the 2nd time last season.
I assume this doesn't bode well for Freeman, who you didn't even mention. This is where I'd like to see teams work out inter-league trades early. Matt Freese was never going to get much of an opportunity behind Andre Blake. Now he's looking great in NYC. Wish it had happened much sooner. It's a shame to see Kayden Pierre and Alex Freeman rot like they have.
Or inter-league loans. A one year stop gap to a team in need to get a promising player some seasoning. Odd how little it happens.
W/ inter-league trades, the prospective receiving team would have a long-term investment. They don't with loans. Those players would need to have immediate on-field benefit. They seldom do given they weren't playing for their prior team in the same parity-laden league. So I love these forms of trades, but not loans. But as of right now more loans are being accepted because these players have low salaries while the parent club wants to retain seller's rights. If things work out, they could enjoy a return on investment 50* more than they paid. It would behoove them to find a partner who can give them another long-term prospect at a position that's not actually roadblocked for the near future.
The incentives don't line up great. The player has to be good enough to get real time in USL, and the MLS team has to think development is stronger there than on an MLS bench where they have direct control and practice time. I'm just not sure either league is quite good enough for it to be commonplace for a young guy to be a difference maker for a USL team but not get minutes off an MLS bench. And I'm not sure USL is quite in a place to need someone else to pay salaries or MLS teams have to unload roster spots, etc. I think with Luna's success, that's going to start to change a bit.
Freeman got the start in our last preseason game during the week. I’m going to the game tomorrow against the Union. I’ll post back anything interesting. I will say the Halliday got minutes as the LB sub against Flamingo and Smith I think got the sub minutes as the RB. If Halliday gets pushed to the left.... that could open up an opportunity for Freeman.
I mean, if there's one coach who'll give young guy gives minutes if they earn them.............its Oscar Pareja. His track record in Colorado, Dallas, and Orlando speaks for itself. I haven't seen enough of Alex Freeman lately to have an opinion on him. Typically, intra-league loans don't work out. It sounds good, in theory. Brandon Craig going on loan from Philly to Austin last year is an example. MLS is such a league of parity. If you're deemed "not ready" by one team, you're not going to just walk into a starting XI for another team. Austin already had their own versions of Brandon Craig. Kip Keller, the 5th overall pick in the 2022 draft. etc. [Keller has subsequently been picked up by Cincinnati, where he'll sit behind Miazga and Robinson instead.] I really like the idea of USL Championship loans for players that won't benefit any longer from MLSNP minutes and not yet deemed ready for MLS first team action. Antonio Carrera at Dallas, for instance. He could start another year in MLSNP. But why? He is good enough to be 2nd string for the FCD first team. But would you rather have him start in El Paso or be the backup in Dallas. Start in El Paso.......................
So we played the Revs not the Union last night. Halliday was the only young US player to get minutes ( he started at RB and played 45 minutes).
Keeper is the hardest one to be a backup because of how few minutes you get. You have to go wherever you can get minutes. A big reason why College is a real option or keepers.
That loan of Carrera is still not official. Maybe FCD needs another domino to fall in order for that to happen. They'd need to pick up another keeper. If you're an FCD fan, you're hoping that's to sign Julian Eyestone. That guy announced his departure from Duke quite a long time ago, and we still haven't heard anything regarding his future. Re-signing Maurer made it seem like Eyestone wasn't in the cards, but if they loan Carrera out.................................