This is the 16 year old amazing Spanish player there have been the reports about the battle with Barcelona over. He won the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament at the recent U-17 World Cup (the same one with the unknown Freddy Adu). This is the first mention of him by Arsenal. http://www.arsenal.com/sportsappcon...e&type=com.sportapps.news.NewsItem&id=4115299
I had never heard of this kid until I got on Arsenal.com this morning. Anyone know anymore about him than he won the Golden Boot at the U-17 championships? He was with Barca? Why didn't they keep him??
from what i understand, he was on a youth contract at barca and we came in and offered him a contract at arsenal. barca started crying in the summer when we originally did it and ended up delaying the official announcement even though what we did was completely legal, if slightly going against the tradition of not raiding other teams' youth prospects. anyone else fell free to correct me if i'm wrong
i saw him play in the U-17's and thought he was brilliant... there was another kid on that spanish team.. whats his name.. shoot.. they have a lethal winger as well.. but i was really impressed with Cesc in that tourney.. couple seasons in the reserves will do him some good~~
Probably not for a while with the first team as he's 16. He'll probably start with the youth team and (if he's as good as billed) move up to train and play with the reserves within a year.
The sooner the better, from what I've heard and seen. I just hope that he doesn't end up another Adu.
oh, ok. i didn't know what you meant when you had said it. i don't agree. i saw him play in the dallas cup against the newcastle u-19's and thought he was great. but that's just my opinion
Ok, after some thought, my post deserves revision. For his age Adu is phenomenal. If his skill and application of said skill improve with his age, then my opinion of him will totally be reversed. If he improves steadily at his current rate, he has the potential to be a player that truly changes the game. I don't see this happening though. To use an oft-used comparison, LeBron James was a fantastic scoring machine in high school. He would not be able to keep that style of play at the professial level, though. Watching the Cavs exhibition game, however, I noticed that he was responsible for some sweet passes and assists. Although it is too early to tell, if he becomes a Stockton-esque player, then he will truly have reinvented his game, thus allowing him to be more competitive in the NBA. Same goes for Adu. If he can learn to except a role that is not in the limelight, and bide his time until he can be a star and continuously step his game up, then he will truly be one of the game's elite. I think the same about Cesc. I haven't seen enough of his playing to be as opinionated about him as I am about James or Adu, though. As it stands right now, Freddie Adu is unworthy of all the hype surrounding him, and I hope for his sake, that he doesn't let it get to him. I'd like to see him up against some of the EPL's top keepers, say Howard, Seaman, our own Lehmann, or even Freidel. He (understandably) hasn't yet faced anything like the quality of the EPL clubs, but I can't wait to see if he can step up and compete at the top level. Ok, soliloquy over now.
Well, we'l soon get to see how Freddie handles a little more pressure because he's getting put on the U-20's for a friendly at the end of this month. I don't agree with you at all that his game doesn't match the hype. He didn't even start playing organized soccer until he was 9, and look how far he's come in 5 years.
Don't get me wrong, Coach, I hope he does live up to the hype. It would make me explode with happiness. Maybe I'm just cynical before my time.
The friendly with the U-20s was against Japan on Wednesday. He got in for about 15-20 minutes in the second half. Rongen already announced Freddy won't be with the U-20 for their World Cup unless a forward is injured.
Didn't he also say young Adu wouldn't be on the squad for the friendly against Japan? Maybe he is trying to play mind games with everyone.
I doubt he's playing mind games with Freddy who he straight up told wouldn't be coming unless there was an injury to a forward. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/national/2003-10-09-u20-adu_x.htm That said, I can easily see Quaranta not being fit and Freddy taking his place.