Have there ever been more Yanks abroad?

If we count players only signed with first division clubs from latin america and europe, I don't think the current number would be far off, it'd be really close actually I think. We have a lot of guys in Liga MX, and guys scattered across Argentina, Eredivisie, Spain, Belgium, England, France, El Salvador, etc. Maybe if I have time in the next few days I can research it for fun (Or anyone else feel free too).

MLS is the obvious reason there's not even more guys jumping ship as soon as they can as they've done a much better job of paying guys. The Zusi's, Wondo's, etc. would have most likely tried there luck in the Scandinavian leagues before.

 

Of course there's never been a US player at that level (okay, not since Joe G) but has Messi ever fixed a broken down team bus on the way to a game? Now that's a positive impact.

 

Yep. What we have now is like an embarrass de médiocrité by comparison.

 

It would be funny if 5-7 years from now Pulisic is riding the pine at Stoke, McKennie is at FC Dallas, and Shaq Moore is playing for the Cosmos. We'll all be like "remember how cool 2018 was?"

 

That'd be soul crushing

 

Those guys are true gamechangers for elite clubs. We've had a few gamechangers for relegation fodder clubs (and usually only for a short period like a few games or few months in a row). No one who dominated their club over the course of a few years. I guess maybe Friedel or Howard perhaps. Also maybe Dempsey, though he was often overlooked.

 

I recall Zusi had some top division interest. Maybe it was the PL or Serie A. Wondo, who knows. I'd hope for more than Scandinavia. But those are easy paydays and not much of an adaptation. Quite difficult for some when they're 10,000 km from home.

And our guys have a horrible track record when it comes to performing exceptionally well and then a massive injury. Joe Max Moore comes to mind. Or managers who don't tolerate or overlook our boys (Mathis, Twellman).

 

You've got to include McBride. He was huge for Fulham. Coleman built their whole tactics around him.

Play the ball to his head in the box.
Play the ball to his head for a knock down outside the box.
Play the ball to his head for a flick on in midfield, when clearing the ball out of the back, then refer to the 1st two entries.
Bring him back to defend corners.

McBride was a good scorer with his foot, as well.

They named the pub after McBride, not Clint (who was awesome in his own right, as well).

 

Yanks Abroad..

 

Ach - the old timers are engaging in selective memory of career highlights.

I recall when we had to institute a policy because almost every YA thread was a "DNP" - i.e., "did not play."

Almost all the Yanks had rocky stints, were rarely prized possessions at the clubs, and played irregularly.

 

Yanks Abroad starting for their club in Euro leagues we can all agree are better than MLS: Pulisic, Yedlin, Miazga.

That's about it.

PS: I'd add Saief, IMO the Jupiler > MLS. And Chandler is very likely to recover his starting spot once he's 100% healthy.

 

what about their WW1 counterparts?

 

Hey we have Puli at Dortmund, McKennie at Schalke to look forward to each weekend! Hopefully JAB will come back and play a game or two to finish off the season! We even have a couple of guys bagging goals in 2nd divisions(Novakovich and Siebatcheu) Siebatcheu will be in Ligue 1 next year! So not all that bad, plus these guys arn't going to be pulling an Altidore or Bradley and limping back to MLS anytime soon!

 

Wasn’t that like 4 years ago?

 

Remember a year-ish ago, when Rubio Rubin was "our only hope", which was a moniker only partly tongue-in-cheek? Everybody was either injured or didn't play, except for a single young American on Utrecht...

 

2014-2016 were terrible years for YA (at least since the early days) and now 2017/2018 looks better by comparison... however, I still think the 2007-2009 time frame was the high watermark for YA

 

Heck if someone had told us four years ago that Mix would be playing in the 22nd league in Europe, that Rubin's peak would be Utrecht, that Zelalem's peak would be his time in the Scottish second division, that Aronjo would barely play league games in the next four years, that Besler would be stuck in the MLS for good, that Boyd would be barely playing in the 2.BuLi, and that Brooks would be playing at a rate of one game per month, we'd have called that person pessimistic beyond belief.

 

OTOH, If you'd said we'd have 4 players at Schalke, a top young talent in the world, and more young players getting Bundesliga minutes than MLS minutes, you'd have been called crazy.

 

I'd say it was 2011-2013.

You had Dempsey, Altidore, Bradley all performing well for mid-tier clubs and on the verge of performing for bigger clubs (now that didn't happen, but the potential was there). And you still had the likes of Friedel, Howard doing their thing.

 

There's no doubt there are more youth abroad in academies trying to make it to the first team. There's also an active and growing process of recruiting these kids to come abroad to try to make it in professional soccer.

Sheer numbers of professionals getting minutes beyond youth leagues make be higher in total as well but I think it's fair to say that we don't have as many at the highest leagues and teams right now but I think that number will tip sooner or later as our best prospects continue to flock overseas.