Erik Palmer-Brown was SofaScore's MOTM in a scoreless draw with Rapid Wien.Ratings aren't everything but EPB is the sixth U23 to be graded by a major stat site as MOTM this weekend -- joining Daryl Dike, Chris Richards, Brenden Aaronson, Luca de la Torre, Josh Sargent. https://t.co/0OdMQ4jbxs— ChuckMe92 Soccer (@ChuckMe92Soccer) March 7, 2021 Is he ready for a step up?
Larry Henry Jr @lhenry019 1h Erik Palmer-Brown returned and helped contribute to a clean sheet for Austria Vienna. 90 min performance, 11/15 duels won, 7 clearances, 4/4 dribbles, 5/7 aerials won. Strong return for #USMNT defender.
So, echoing the above, Eric going places this summer? Do we think he’s set for a move to a higher level?
Started in 2-1 loss: Hier ist unser Lineup gegen Sturm.__________________#stufak #faklive pic.twitter.com/WtRsj2mGlD— FK Austria Wien (@FKAustriaWien) March 14, 2021
Mr. EPB has been rewarded for his fine play this season and has been included in the upcoming friendlies for the USMNT.
I'm pretty happy he's getting a shot as a depth option. For whatever reason he's been progressing more slowly than a lot of us had hoped, but he's always had the athleticism and technical ability of a high-ceiling prospect. Rooting for him to make a jump up in league- and team-quality in the next year and take his game to the next level. I think there's an above-average chance he will.
I've always have the attitude that CB's take a little longer to develop and tend to hit their strides much later than attacking players. They have a bigger grace period for me. There's a part of me that thinks... oh yeah EPB should be a playing at a higher level and his progression has been slow. Then there's a part of me that says that's just wishful thinking and really his progression has been "steady" instead of slow. Either way.... he's playing well this season and I feel like he's finally coming into his own.
ManCity must be trying to get him to England for next season. With Brexit done, there may be a chance, appealing and greasing the right cogs. In that case he may make it to the Championship. Otherwise, it's likely the 2.BuLi. Still, if in quality both second divisions are almost a lateral move, playing in them puts a lot more eyes on him. PS: Peter Stöger of Austria has been clear that they have no plans to buy EPB, so a third season loan to them is very, very unlikely.
If EPB suits up in the upcoming friendlies and the USMNT can move up from 22 to 20 or higher in the FIFA rankings by summer, it'll probably be enough for him to accumulate the required 15 points to automatically qualify for a UK work permit. He'll get 6 points for playing in a Band 4 league (Austrian Bundesliga), 6 more for playing 90%+ of their available minutes, and 8 points for playing 10-19% of the available minutes for a national team ranked 11th-20th in the world.
Austria in the Relegation Group, so there's a slight chance they go down (and a bigger one that they qualify for the UEFA Conference playoff). If Austria got relegated, that'd be a bigger scalp than even Bobby with Hamburg.
Starts: Hier ist die Aufstellung für unser Heimspiel gegen Altach!____________________#faklive #fakalt pic.twitter.com/7eM6fpoS1d— FK Austria Wien (@FKAustriaWien) April 3, 2021
Play-off round's begin. Hoping he'll deliver enough to get him some looks at a Ligue 1 or Bundesliga loan for the Fall.
Starts: Unsere Startelf und Bank in Hartberg!Aufgrund mehrerer (teilweise kurzfristiger) Ausfälle (Sperren, Verletzungen, Erkrankungen, zudem eingeschränkte Einsatzmöglichkeiten von alternativen Spielern durch das YV-Spiel am Freitag) nehmen nur sechs Spieler auf der Bank Platz. pic.twitter.com/8Z0Rw9ZiTe— FK Austria Wien (@FKAustriaWien) April 10, 2021
Die erstinstanzlichen Urteile des Senat 5 im Lizenz- und Zulassungsverfahren für die Saison 2021/22 sind da.Hier geht's zur Übersicht: https://t.co/twWqdG8w3Y pic.twitter.com/2UFQ3vQnAR— Fußball-Bundesliga (@OEFBL) April 13, 2021 Well he will definitely need a new club next season because Austria Wien isn't being granted a license for next season.
They have time to appeal until the 21st. No way one of the two top clubs in the history of Austria is allowed to go down like that.
They've been found to be in "finanzieller Schieflage" (financial distress), which means they cannot prove they have the money to pay salaries next season. But this is just the first instance, all they need is to find some company to cover them. https://www.transfermarkt.de/keine-...stria-wien-in-erster-instanz/view/news/383379
They won't be the last club to face this kind of distress, but the "used to be a big club" sides that have been trying to keep up with the Jonses will be the first to go. Smaller clubs in any pyramid and big clubs in smaller leagues that don't have lucrative TV contracts are living an a knife edge at the best of times. Losing match-day revenues, or any other revenue stream, will tip the over the edge. As for companies covering the shortfall, good luck with that. The small(er) local businesses/businessmen are the mainstay for these sides, and they've been hard-hit as well. Finding a half-dozen rich local fans to drop an extra $500k each on sponsorship for the local side, even for a side with Wien's history, mightn't go down to well with their customers. They're going to have to find a billionaire, and the price of that is becoming another RB Salzburg.