We already know the answer on Araujo and Ferreira. Araujo turned 18 in August and Ferriera was 19 before the latest window
Despite him being the best player on the team since age of 14. The second best was Busio who gets even less love here.
hmmm. Let’s give Ferreira a year as he was getting his citizenship. I’m pessimistic but respect @IndividualEleven posting history.
I've liked what I've seen from Ferriera, but think it is a huge stretch to claim he has the same potential as Reyna. Reyna has become a regular off the bench for Dortmund and has people from the club saying he could be a bigger prospect than CP. Ferriera played 3 minutes for FCD as a 17 yo. I am skeptical that an 18 yo who becomes a regular for FCD is going to be at a big club in a few years. I think it is interesting to think we have 5 big time prospects at 5 different clubs. If this is true, then it will give us more info on what clubs are able to take the potential and help them realize it.
It's why I don't give up on Busio. He's not fast and his position is a question -- but his size, overall athleticism and skillset says there's something there.
I have not done exhaustive research on soccer prodigies not making it, but a super high number of baseball / basketball / football busts are due in large part to substance abuse. Probably the #1 thing after injuries.
Addressing some of the responses to my post on young, MLS-affiliated players who have as much promise as Reyna---- The subject was one of which players showed as much potential as Reyna. The subject was not one of which players were better than Reyna. Some of the responses that weren't confused were nevertheless, dismissive of the post. I would merely point out that Reyna, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, and Alphonso Davies over-lap in their associations with the league. In 2016, Davies and Adams were already senior team members. McKennie and Reyna were MLS Academy. So, it's not unrealistic to claim that there are current MLS-affiliated players, even as many as 4, who have Reyna's promise. And 'promise' is the key word. I checked the 2009-2010 UCL season. 43 players who were teens as of 10 years from today had played in the group stages of those 43, only 10 would go on to make 20 appearances in the UCL. Only 22 would go on to play 100 matches in one of the top-5 leagues.
Not as good but rather with similar potential, which is something different and more flexible criteria. It's not out of the realm of possibilities since in 2019 two MLS youth products, Alphonso Davies and Tyler Adams, had an immediate impact in big BL clubs.
The difference between guys like McKennie, Davies, Adams, Pulisic, and Reyna and some of the others is that they grow into athletic bodies early enough to push their way onto the field with men. The rosters are full of players with promise who never became athletes as well. The idea that the USMNT has always fielded "athletes with no skill" is a misnomer. The USMNT has fielded the best available, who have rarely been top quality athletes. Look at the players who have had success in Europe's most athletic leagues...Howard, Dempsey, Beasley, Pulisic, Reyna, Friedel, Keller...these are all excellent athletes of one sort or another. Reyna, McKennie, and Adams are all excellent athletes. The top level requires top atheticism of some sort. US observers are not familiar enough with soccer to generally recognize what that kind of athleticism looks like because it isn't measured in a draft combine like football and basketball players are.
If I remember correctly, he was like 5'8" when he got selected in the draft by his father as a 16 year old. But then he got injured and had to sit out his entire rookie season. In that rookie season, he grew something like 5 inches and turned into a completely different type of player than most reasonable people expected in his age 17 year. Just a weird situation.
Oh, a couple of us did. I was one of them. Edit: I get what you are saying though. 99% of the people now shilling unrelentingly for CP thought he was very good, but not EXCEPTIONAL back then. But you would never know that from their current posts.
I'll fess up on this. I was privately saying to myself that this guy is the first American that could be a top tier player. But I was afraid to say it because I had been burned by so many youth prospects. I didn't come forward aggressively until he was getting minutes in Dortmund. A lot of people were bringing up Freddy Adu. Understandable. However, there were also some people who though he was too short and wasn't strong enough. That was just dead wrong.
#usmnt coach Gregg Berhalter tells me that (no surprise) Giovanni Reyna will be called in for next months friendlies against the Netherlands s Wales.— Doug McIntyre (@ByDougMcIntyre) February 26, 2020
Yes, the US U17 team had a good tournament with CP and he was clearly the best player out there. Berhalter has a pretty good take on where Reyna fits in, and he didn’t hold back in saying that he’s a player NOW. In Reynas first appearance I expect him to play as a wing, but in his second appearance I think we could see him central as a 10. If I’m Gregg, I play this: Pulisic—————————Morris ——————-Reyna—————— ———McKennie———————- ——————————Holmes—- ——————-Adams————— Dest—————————-Cannon ————Brooks—-Long———— —————-Steffen—————— If that group stays healthy for a couple of years we will have an exciting, talented young team chock full of high level experience.