I like Alec Kenison’s game. He could definitely use some time at college (I think Akron?) before the u23 league starts up. He’s a promising player
I believe he may have tried to go to Europe earlier but fell through - likely the age issue. But yes USL/NISA would be likely alternative. Certainly not a guarantee they could hook on with another pro team. Point is these kids need clarity to try to make best possible decisions for themselves and their families. If that means potentially giving up on pro dream and going to college, then so be it. I think many had planned to skip college pre-pandemic and might now be left out. I will add that even making U23 team doesn't guarantee these kids they will be a pro someday. There are certainly going to be some sad stories as things move forward of the kids who gave up everything and didn't pan out. We've already seen a lot of that over the years with HG signing. Our own Swanson is a prime example (as well as Horton).
My son trained with him when he first came here last year before he started practicing with team. I've chatted with him a few times but not really seen him play in person. Honestly couldn't give an opinion on his game. I think many people told him to do a year of college but heart appears dead set on bypassing it. Hope it works out for him.
Yeah, I agree that clarity would be helpful. We are going to see kids who passed up scholarships and then don't ever get that real pro deal which is just the cutthroat nature of pro sports and it would behove clubs to try and find a way to support those types of players.
It's important to note however that college soccer scholarships aren't truly that lucrative. A full scholarship is a rarity. They only have 9.9 scholarships for men's D1 (9 for D2, 12 for NAIA and 24 for NJCAA D1). As I look at that, I wonder how Junior colleges might be able to take full advantage of this. They could link up with academies for a good pipeline of talent. Kids get scholarship for 1-2 yrs. If they grow enough, they turn pro. If they don't they go on to D1/D2 and only have to foot bill for part of remaining schooling.
Columbus Crew SC announce staff and programming updates for Crew SC Academy https://www.columbuscrewsc.com/post...staff-and-programming-updates-crew-sc-academy
My hope is we start to strongly recruit players to join the academy from across the region and country. Sounds like some of that infrastructure is being put into place,
They've been recruiting around the region and country for several years now. Aiden Morris is from FL. A U19 is from California.
Find it interesting that he was under Ryan Martin @ DC and is coming here. Many of you know Ryan as Jay Martin's (Ohio Wesleyan legendary coach). Ryan's started his coaching career under his dad then moved to Wake Forest to coach under his uncle Jay Vidovich (who's now at Pitt). He then was part of the group that built FCKY's initial roster (Jay was also part of that process but I don;t think in an official capacity). He then moved on the DC United's academy and I thought was suppose to coach Loudon United. Many have been watching to see if he has success without working under his family patriarchs. As it relates Crew academy, Ryan has been actively recruiting the Pittsburgh market as have the Crew. It's become a bit of a battle ground. Maybe this new guy was part of those efforts and we can now seal off western PA a bit.
I realize this but I am saying taking it to even the next level. Look at the premier academy teams and they are ahead of us in this area.
That's fair. Any conversation around this topic makes for an interesting discussion. FC Dallas Philadelphia Union Sporting KC Seattle Sounders New York Red Bull Real Salt Lake
True, however there are several more players recruited from out of the region that we are not aware of. I would guess they have more than a dozen in their system today. They have been actively recruiting for years. I just think they are starting to put more structure and resources towards this activity.
Traditionally yes FC Dallas and NYRB have been leaders is developing and signing HG talent - Although it seems FCD quickly discarded many of their signings. Philly & Real SL then took next step of having residency programs. SLC original academy in AZ is now a Barca academy. But I wouldn't say Philly has been turning out a ton of talent While the do have like 7-8 current HGs on roster the only 2 stars have been Aaronson & Mark McKenzie - maybe Austin Trusty. I'd put Crew on par with SKC probably Philly and ahead of Seattle. I honestly can't name a Seattle HG other than Jordan Morris. Yedlin was not really HG. He joined their academy for 1 yr (hence the lawsuit from Crossfire Premier). SKC's HG stars were actually brought in from other cities. Both Busio and Lyndsey are from North Carolina. EPB is from KC area.
I'm aware. I only used those 2 examples. They have the billet program for a number of years actually. They've just made it a bit more public in last 2 yrs.
I will break down why each of those academies are ahead of the Crew. Also, I am not suggesting we are the worst, but rather we have work to do to catch up. FC Dallas - Has a full second team in North Texas. Produced more HG signings than anyone. They lead the way and took their lumps over the course of figuring it out. Have produced more MLS minutes by HG singings than anyone else. Sold Bryan Reynolds for more money than any player we have ever sold. Sold Reggie Cannon, Chris Richards, Alex Zendejas, and a few other minor transactions. Has a partnership with Bayern Munich. Oh, and they produced Weston McKinnie. Plus they have more high-end prospects currently than we do. Philly - They may have passed Dallas as the best academy in the league. Literally just sold two HG players for more than 10 million total and likely to see even more than that with the sell-on clauses they hold for both of them. They have Philly II, a residency program, and a bunch of youth national and other big prospects in their academy. They are very aggressive in their recruitment efforts across the country. They have a commitment to developing, signing, playing, and selling players. New York Red Bull - Also has a NYRB II team and were a leader in the HG world until hitting a rough spot in their academy age groups but have produced Tyler Adams who would have been sold for a lot more than he was if it was not to their parent club, and Matt Miazga to Chelsea. Let's not forget they have also produced Juan Agudelo and a few other MLS caliber talents. Have a real pathway from the youth team to Europe. Also, with Caden Clark, they may have the most exciting young American talent in the league. Real Salt Lake - They have the infrastructure and have shown the ability to produce quality players. They have invested millions of dollars into their youth facilities and to the point, European teams are jealous of the facilities. However, some of them have not signed HG contracts and went straight to Europe for example Soto, Booth, and Ledezma. While they didn't sign HG deals they came from their academy. They have MLS quality players like Justen Glad and Aaron Herrera both currently part of the Olympic Qualifying team. SKC - As you noted they have done a very good job of recruiting players which is what I was saying we needed to continue to do and do even more of. They have Daniel Salloi, Busio, and Lindsey as first-team players. Salloi is a bit underrated as an MLS player with 15 goals/10 assists. They also missed the opportunity to cash in on Erik Palmer-Brown before he bolted to Manchester City. Also, they have a nice little crop of players coming through now. Their facilities for the youth team are also very nice. They also have a SKC II team. They aren't miles ahead of the Crew but I would still give them an advantage. Seattle - As you noted they have not produced huge classes of HG players. Jordan Morris, who is better than any HG player we have ever produced and Henry Wingo are their best current professionals. Wingo just got sold for a million dollars this past January. They also have a very good class of players coming through as they have finally started to prioritize them. They also have a Sounders II team. I don't think it's very controversial to pick any of them above the Crew. You may suggest that SKC or even Seattle is closer but because of having second teams, better facilities, and current professional HG players at higher levels they rank above the Crew. When you look at the Crew's academy, what have we produced? Trapp is our best academy player and we have a few others coming through or on the edge but nothing major yet.
I'll concede when you factor in 2nd team that definitely puts their overall development efforts above Crew at the monent but we are on that door step. COVID screwed it up/delayed it. But I still think we are not far behind if at all. Some of it is luck/timing. We have YNT players too. Some of our early HGs flopped - but that was different regime/different time. That's why I think you need to cut out the likes of Jordan Morris from the discussion. Seattle just revamped their system - as have we. But SKC recruiting in NC is going to get harder with Charlotte entering MLS. Florida is going to get harder with Inter. Austin will drag on some TX talent that may consider relocating. USL teams are investing in academies which may help them keep their talent local. So the whole thing is going to get more competitive. Having infrastructure like training ground is going to be important to lure kids. Also having success stories like Aiden Morris/Keita are going to be key. Imagine if Crew had lured Emmanuel Sabbi into their system from their own backyard. He's done quite well overseas. Bottom line is Crew is committed to and throwing resources at academy. They have consistently said that their model is to have a decent percentage of roster as HGs not too far into future. I'm certain they are looking for that payday of selling players too. I'm not at all worried about it.
@Smithsoccer1721 thanks for the detailed academy analysis. LA Galaxy is often cited as a top academy. They struggle to bring the talent to the first team but seem to have lots of prospects that move on to other teams. I agree that the Crew have a way to go to get to the elite level of Dallas, NYRB and Philly. It's obviously being made a priority which is great to see. It's much cheaper to have 60 kids in age group teams to get an MLS capable contributor or 2 every year than it is to buy them from elsewhere. It's great that we have 2 guys on the roster that look to be perfect fits with high ceilings.
Recruiting is going to be a large part of success for any of the top-end academies. This is true all over the world. Having the facilities, second team and a HISTORY of playing/selling players will matter. Under the new ownership, I think we are heading in the right direction, and once we have a U23 team that will help. Even still, I think the Academy needs to continue to recruit out of region kids and find a way to create a realistic pathway for them. Each team has to navigate that and figure it out. It has not gone smoothly for anyone at first. We are certainly not the worst academy in MLS but we don't really have a lot to show for it yet but that is changing.
Galaxy should have a crazy good academy but they have not figured it out really yet because they have focused on their first team so much. However, with Galaxy 2 and competent academy management they are starting to figure it out. I could have listed them above the Crew because they have a bunch of players in Europe that skipped a HG deal. What is interesting is I think LAFC, will end up being the premier academy in LA because they are run the club as a much more professional youth to pro set up. However, they are so new its going to take a few more years for that to show up. in the first team.
The Gals had one of the best if not the best youth coaches in the country in Brian Kleiban, whom they recently fired. No one has yet figured out why. The guy is terrific, as the players they have produced easily testifies to. What they have been unable or unwilling to do is integrate players into the first team. Certainly GBS had a hand in this but the bottom line is LAG is (was) a great place to train but also a great place to leave when you wanted to start a career. Bottom line, they recently had two of the brightest young stars in the US and both chose to sign in Germany when they reached 18, reportedly for less money than LA offered becaue LA has such a crummy track record in getting young players on the field. Apparently they felt Wolfsburg and Freiburg are better in that regard. I really don't know, but fleeing LA is not a good look. To some extent that's been Columbus' problem: Berhalter didn't bring many kids into the team. Trapp was pretty much the only success (?) Swanson not so much. That's what the kids want: a clear path to the senior roster. Give them what they want or they'll go shopping. And if you cant show them that clear path they won't join your club in the first place.
I give this advice at your own risk but wander over to the YNT forum and you will find out exactly why Brian is gone. Hint: family relationships matter. Gary is a piece of work and sadly it has really put Brian in a bad spot. Gary as the player's agent was never going to have them stay in LA and badmouthing the Club your brother works at is not a way to create success for players. Now the Galaxy has to own its role in the problem and te Klose has started to shift that. With Vanney who has shown a willingness in Toronto to play some younger players, I think things will improve. Tangent: I love GBS as a player but we are lucky we avoided him as a coach. https://www.lagconfidential.com/201...s-la-galaxy-academy-coach-brian-kleiban-fired