Haji Wright has some physical gifts that lots of teams would be willing to take a punt on. A "languid playmaker" who has played and been rejected by a steadily declining quality of teams is not quite as marketable. With his play style he'd probably make a good coach though...
Zelelam actually on the bench for NYCFC in the conference finals tonight??? surprised I thought he was retired or something *only 24....seems like he has been around forever!
He's been on the bench for just about every game since coming back from his knee injury in September. In his only start, in the final game of the regular season, he got a straight red 21 minutes in.
wow thats good news...i really thought he was dunzo career-wise. nice little collection of us-eligible mids on NYC now - zelalem, parks, morales, sands, etc
So, @adam tash is wrong. He's not done, career-wise, just getting a nice and comfortable seat in the last chance saloon.
Oh please, there's way further to drop than NYCFC. Last chance saloon is a team in Saskatoon after all.
Am I looking at the glass half-full? clearly. I never said hes going to Qatar with the USMNT but his career is not over. like it seemed it might have been at one point. Hes in the gameday roster for a team in MLS cup. is that not a positive?
I'm not picking on you, but this is something I don't totally understand with the current state of fandom: of people saying xyz player is trash or xyz team is trash. These are high level professional players and teams. I can't be bothered to look for which, but VVV was in one of the top 2 leagues of Holland whenever Zelalem was there. There is such a huge drop off between that level and whatever actually would be considered rock bottom. Almost every country on the globe has at least one semi-pro league, and dozens have *many* professional leagues. It has been the failed dream for thousands of VVV fans to suit up for the first team - in any division. A player for VVV is still probably in the top 1% of players on a global scale (talking Andorra to Zimbabwe) I hope the guy sticks around and there are many levels he could make a comfortable wage and show well...one of the top tiers in one of the top 10 countries on Europe is not even close to the bottom.
If MLS had any class they would have lent him to Philly for the game, like any good Sunday league... but I digress.
The fact that he's HEALTHY enough to be doing this for NYCFC is a big uptick from what I feared earlier. Still has some room to improve, or find a team that needs more of his help at his best positions.
I am always happy when a player can recover from injuries set-backs to get back on a team and cashing a check. It can't be easy.
Uh, yeah! Euro cred keeps its value. And also, there's a chance he could go back to Arsenal any time now, even though they're years away from having him under contract.
Good point - I guess we could sticky it and rename the forum after him? Fair enough to have some reminiscing until the MLS off season but probably should close after.
My guess is interest will quickly fade, except me and tomas who will keep this on life-support with occasional nostalgic memories of players long gone from YA... That's it - we need a catch all "where are they now!" YA thread! You are welcome.
Appears to be headed to Portugal: Tom Bogert @tombogert Former NYCFC midfielder Gedion Zelalem is headed to Boavista. No deal is totally set yet, but the Portuguese club interested. Zelalem, turning 26 this month, broke through at Arsenal. Spent time with Rangers then the last four years in MLS with NYCFC and Sporting KC.
yes, apparently.... will be hilarious if his career gets back on track and MLS didn't even use him much
It would be even more hilarious if you spin that as a negative for MLS when if the shoe was on the other foot it would be one for Europe/Portugal. Hey, I guess this news means if you go to MLS and things don't work out, there will always be a spot for you in some top 10 European League. Am I doing this right?
I like him a lot. Too bad that ACL tear seemed to derail him. Wonder if he struggled to still care about football for awhile.
well everyone has written him off....even supposed USMNT fans, it seems....so its not just MLS that the other shoe should be on..... NYCFC didnt really play him much....I dont think that particular MLS club has a great track record using and getting the most out of American talent...more of a way station for cty group, imo their two best "success stories" never played for the club basically (reyna and scally) if Mls is going to insist on strict territorial rules for where players can play and NYCFC is going to continue to waste the most prolific territory of american talent...they are going to keep being a target of my ridicule. Whatever the case, I hope Zelalem gets a chance to actually play again and does well...I think he's a talented player who just doesnt fit well with the current trends in the sport, mostly....
The team hasn't been around that long, and has had success with Reyna, Scally, and Sands. Parks, Morales, and now Gray have all been major contributors. Meanwhile they just played 4 U17s in their opening friendly against Minnesota. You just have to be good enough. They're not particularly worse than most MLS clubs in terms of HG talent. I personally thought Zelalem got a bit of a raw deal at NYCFC. He showed flashes in possession but the new manager did not ever seem to trust him, even when there was no midfield depth at all. He's just a traffic cone at best as a defender. He had a good game against DC United this last season, and then never played again.