I posted this in the 2021 edition of this thread and realized it was time for the 2022 edition. For this year, I want to introduce a rating system. 5 star = Ready for a big money money abroad and to jump into the senior national team. (I.e. Pepi ~ 2021) 4 star = Ready to contend for a January Camp, MLS All-Star, and/or transfer abroad. (I.e. Paredes, Cowell ~ 2021) 3 star = Ready to become a MLS regular (I.e. Flach ~ 2021) 2 star = Ready to earn spotty minutes and show signs of promise (I.e. Sullivan ~ 2021) 1 star = Simply, worth continuing to monitor. Now, we can debate to include players who have already been called into camp or not. For now, I’ll mostly try to exclude those players. But we don’t have to do so. Furthermore, I’ll cut off the year at 2000 for 2022 to coincide with the MLS players under 22 theme. ....That said, my 23 for 2022 MLS/USL likely to have a breakout year .... Chris Brady, 2004, Goalkeeper, Chicago Fire ** Alex Rando, 2001, Goalkeeper, Las Vegas Lights ** Jeff Dewsnup, 2004, Goalkeeper, Real Monarchs ** Jaylin Lindsey, 2000, Right Back, Charlotte FC *** Michael Halliday, 2003, Right Back, Orlando City *** George Campbell, 2001, Center Back, Atlanta United ** Tayvon Gray, 2002, Center Back, New York City FC *** Jalen Neal, 2003, Center Back, LA Galaxy ** Caleb Wiley, 2004, Left Back, Atlanta United ** John Tolkin, 2002, Left Back, New York City FC ***** Jack McGlynn, 2003, Defensive Mid, Philadelphia Union **** Daniel Edelman, 2003, Defensive Mid, New York Red Bulls *** Moses Nyeman, 2003, Defensive Mid, DC United **** Leon Flach, 2001, Defensive Mid, Philadelphia Union **** Danny Leyva, 2003, Defensive Mid, Seattle Sounders *** Josh Atencio, 2002, Defensive Mid / Center Back, Seattle Sounders **** Paxten Aaronson, 2003, Attacking Mid, Philadelphia Union ***** Reed Baker-Whiting, 2005, Attacking Mid, Seattle Sounders **** Theodore Ku-Pietro, 2000, Attacking Mid, DC United *** Quinn Sullivan, 2004, Attacking Mid, Philadelphia Union **** Diego Luna, 2003, Attacking Mid, El Paso Locomotive *** Brian Gutierrez, 2003, Forward, Chicago Fire *** Indy Vassilev, 2001, Forward, Inter Miami *** Best XI with star rating.... —————(3*)Vassilev—————— (4*)Flach—(5*)Aaronson—(4*)Sullivan ——-(4*)Nyeman——(4*)McGlynn—— (5*)Tolkin————————(3*)Halliday ———(4*)Atencio——(3*)Gray————- ——————(2*)Brady——————— Honorable Mention: GK Antonio Carrera, 2004, FC Dallas * GK Damian Las, 2002, Austin FC ** GK Jonathan Mennell, 2003, DC United * GK Rocco Rios Novos, 2002, Atlanta United ** GK Hunter Sulte, 2002, Portland Timbers ** RB Cody Baker, 2004, Seattle Sounders * RB Kayden Pierre, 2003, Sporting Kansas City ** RB Ethan Dobbelaere, 2002, Seattle Sounders ** RB Sebastian Anderson, 2002, Colorado Rapids ** RB Collin Smith, 2003, FC Dallas * RB Nathan Harriel, 2001, Philadelphia Union ** RB Cameron Duke, 2001, Sporting Kansas City * CB Casey Walls, 2003, San Jose Earthquakes ** CB Thomas Williams, 2004, Orlando City ** CB Marcus Ferkranus, 2003, LA Galaxy * CB Brandon Craig, 2004, Philadelphia Union * CB Kaveh Rad, 2001, Sporting Kansas City * CB Noah Cobb, 2005, Atlanta United * LB Jacob Greene, 2003, DC United ** LB Curtis Ofori, 2005, NY Red Bulls ** LB Anthony Sorenson, 2003, Philadelphia Union * LB Noah Allen, 2004, Inter Miami * LB Chris Gloster, 2000, New York City FC * LB Adam Armour, 2002, Charlotte FC ** DM Jeremy Garay, 2003, DC United ** DM Jayvin Van Deventer, 2004, Sporting Kansas City * DM Sebastian Berhalter, 2001, Austin FC ** CM Noel Buck, 2005, New England Revolution ** CM Aiden Morris, 2001, Columbus Crew *** CM Ozzie Cisneros, 2004, Sporting Kansas City * CM Obed Vargas, 2005, Seattle Sounders * CM Edwin Cerrillo, 2000, FC Dallas ** CM Frankie Amaya, 2000, NY Red Bulls ** AM Juan Castilla, 2004, Houston Dynamo ** AM Matko Miljevic, 2001, CF Montreal ** AM Tyler Wolff, 2003, Atlanta United ** AM Benito Estrella, 2006, NY Red Bulls ** AM Javier Casas, 2003, Chicago Fire * WF Mario Penagos, 2002, Sacramento Republic ** WF Andres Jasson, 2002, New York City FC ** WF Leo Torres, 2004, Real Salt Lake * WF Griffin Yow, 2002, DC United ** WF Cameron Harper, 2001, NY Red Bulls ** FW Jordan Adebayo-Smith, 2001, TB Rowdies * FW Jake LaCava, 2001, NY Red Bulls * FW Jackson Conway, 2001, Atlanta United ** FW Daniel Sebathu, 2005, Atlanta United * FW Tyler Freeman, 2003, Sporting Kansas City * FW Missael Rodriguez, 2003, Chicago Fire * You could count: Gabriel Slonina (*****), John Pulskamp (**), Kobi Henry (***), Caden Clark (*****), and Cade Cowell (*****) if you want to. But they, technically, have been called into a USMNT camp. In short, my 5 star prospects from MLS/USL would be Gabriel Slonina, John Tolkin, Caden Clark, Cade Cowell, and Paxten Aaronson. My 4 star prospects are: Quinn Sullivan, Reed Baker-Whiting, Josh Atencio, Leon Flach, Moses Nyeman, and Jack McGlynn.
If folks want an under-the-radar USYNTer to follow in MLS Next Pro, one might be Aaron Heard of St. Louis. He left the Philly academy, and is being stashed in St. Louis until he can go to Germany at 18. He reportedly already has a move to Leverkusen lined up. St. Louis is smartly starting up its MLS Next Pro team early and bringing up-and-comers into the fold. Born in Virginia. A product of our @STLCITYAcademy. And a recent U-17 #USMNT call up. Welcome to the NEXT level, Aaron Heard 😤#STLCITY2 x #TheFutureIsNow pic.twitter.com/xPDl7jzHcz— St Louis CITY SC (@stlCITYsc) February 7, 2022
Quinn Sullivan has "it." Looking forward to seeing what he can do in 2022. After Slonina, probably the 04 I'm most intrigued by. Lone goal from last Monday's US U-20 win over FC Dallas. Scored by Quinn Sullivan('04). pic.twitter.com/39WtTERSBz— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) February 7, 2022
@bshredder 's new article on the topic... http://www.americansoccernow.com/articles/15-young-american-players-to-watch-in-2022-mls-season
Just a heads up for what’s happening in OC land, a 17 yr old Alex Freeman has been getting minutes in preseason Dallas and Colorado) as our rb and has looked good. Halliday got minutes against Colorado as a lb and quite frankly did not look as good.
Devastating news out of Inter Miami camp.Sources have told me that Ian Fray has suffered another torn ACL and will miss the entire 2022 season.#InterMiamiCF #MLS https://t.co/5eGDVxGAkP— Franco Panizo (@FrancoPanizo) February 16, 2022
I predict that someday either doctors or the players themselves will at least have a look at the other knee and decide whether to do both at the same time. How many times do we have to hear this same devastating story where a player blows out a knee, spends a year rehabbing only to blow out the other soon after and spend another year rehabbing? If I was a team I would insist on it so the player I'm paying is only out one year and not two.
Whatever it is I believe there are clearly things about an acl tear that modern medicine does not fully understand. I read several years ago an article that was talking about an extremely small ligament in the knee that (if I remember correctly) they had only recently discovered. The gist of it was that without repairing that tiny ligament as part of the procedure the knee would only be partially repaired. Of course we all know that when one part of the body is less than 100%, other parts often try to compensate and that can lead to injury as well. like I said, I have no iidea what the answer is but there is clearly a lot that even the experts don’t know
It's an interesting thought, similar to the way some pitchers are now thinking of preemptive Tommy John surgery. (There are scattered stories of this actually happening, but not much evidence of anything behind an isolated anecdote or two). The rehab from two ACLs would be horrific, though. I would think that would limit the attractiveness of that option.
Rumor has it that '04 Noah Allen is about to sign a homegrown deal down in Miami. Nice assist from his last night against Charlotte. He was the USL League One Player of the Year in 2021. Lovely Fútbol😍#InterMiamiCF makes it 2-0 off a tremendous combination between Jean Mota, Noah Allen and our #10 Higuain! pic.twitter.com/6l8XidMw63— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) February 20, 2022
Obed Vargas is the player I am watching. Might be a year early, but IQ is off the charts, great technique, and putting it together at a crazy young age.
Breakout youth player candidate... 14 year old Stiven Jiminez who is on Twitter 👀 pic.twitter.com/vfiCiLtmIj— scuffed (@scuffedpod) February 21, 2022
Who is the MLS teen that'll explode onto a USMNT level in 2022 the way Ricardo Pepi did in 2021? One of the favorites is Paxten Aaronson. In this week’s SSFC Spotlight, we look at Paxten Aaronson, the Philadelphia Union midfielder with an opportunity to have a big season in 2022.#USMNT https://t.co/GW9ocQgQuI— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) February 24, 2022
His face looks much older than I remember it looking last year. Has he grown at all from last year? Anyone know?
A record broken that I would never have thought would be broken. Certainly not by 150 days. Not sure what to say about him being born in Africa. Coincidence? Remember the name. 👀Last week, Axel Kei surpassed Freddy Adu as the youngest signing in MLS history at 14 years, 15 days. pic.twitter.com/0LrC2rIcdg— Major League Soccer (@MLS) January 18, 2022
Kei won't be playing with RSL this season. RSL went on a binge signing young teens this offseason. Virtually all of them have been loaned down to their MLS NEXT Pro team. They're years away. That's the difference from the Adu (and Fuad Ibrahim) era. Signing young teens back then meant playing them if you wanted to give them experience. Now they can play in the academy or MLS Next Pro team until they're ready for the first team. Note that most of the above list is recent. Even more have been signed since that list was tweeted out in January. Some are ready at 16. Seattle played 16 year old midfielder Obed Vargas again last night in the CCL. Vargas...................another player from Alaska.
I’m truly hoping that MLS Next Pro is a hit. For some reason, we have historically struggled the most in development between that 16-23 age range. And I hope that this closes that gap.
I hope we all just ignore him for a couple of years. (by we, I mean the public and journalists, not the developmental soccer people).
I think the good news is that I don't think it has been built so that anyone needs to attend games to be a success, even in the short run (except for Rochester). I think the expected revenue stream here is player sales + reduced player acquisition costs. Most of these teams are going to be really using local assets -- existing training facilities, many will have existing coaching and gameday facilities, the players would have otherwise been on USL teams or in the academy. There's an increase in cost, of course, but it's probably a decrease for those who drop their USL teams. The big question is ... if you don't develop a big money sale, how long does MLS force teams to keep working it? It's clearly a dictate and I'm sure there's a slew of teams who would love to just take that cash elsewhere.
If you look at minor league baseball, every major league team has affiliates. But not every major league team plows the same resources into their system or is as good at developing homegrown talent. Ditto for soccer leagues overseas. We've already seen similar differentiation with MLS teams. Some will be half-hearted in their commitment. Others will be all in.