Why is it amazing? A mid-table EPL club were gushing themselves and supplying him with meaningful minutes as a 19 year old. For the most part he looked like he belonged. Then he had a confidence-shattering moment. Now he's seemingly responding to that by not trying anymore so he can say he didn't fail. You'd be remiss to draw equivalences to situations like Llanez or Mendez where they'd actually done nothing to suggest they were senior national team caliber. This guy had done something. Then he stopped. It was earlier than a vast majority who get on the field and show they have the ability. But that can always happen & isn't very predictable. If tennis had teams and you drafted that Australian woman that just retired #1 at 25 because she wanted to pursue other avenues, you wouldn't say what were people thinking when they drafted her. Same goes for Simone Byles up and quitting when she was on top because she couldn't handle the pressure. Otasowie wasn't near the top of his profession, but neither is USS. We might not qualify out of CONCACAF for the 2nd straight cycle. We have lower standards where someone accomplishing what he was warranted kicking the tires & if he's a mental case, trying to get through to him, so our d-mid situation isn't such a mess.
Fair points. Berhalter did kick his tires and decided not to buy the car. Meanwhile, there were people here who were furious that "an EPL player" (note: Indiana Vassilev was in the same boat at the same time) wasn't good enough for GGG and his galaxy brain. My point is that folks should remember these examples the next time they insist on an emerging teenager getting called up and integrated into the NT. If they don't then I'll remind them (and I won't be the only one, for sure).
Sarge seems like an interesting case in youth expectations and national team duty. Steady starter at BL1 and Prem level for 3 years and no call ups recently. OO7’s career seemed to have gone off the rails after that failed header, as mentioned here. He really never played again. Strange.
So, has he officiallly reired from soccer, or at least Bruge? I've been kinda skimming this thread lately so maybe I've missed something, but my perception is he is out of soccer.
I think I've followed this thread closely and I've not seen anything official about anything. I suspect the next news we'll see is when Club Brugge files a lawsuit over Otasowie breaking his contract.
can they sue Wolves too? I mean, they took CB's money (probably) knowing full well that OO wasn't a serious player and was spiralling away.
No, they can't. You could do that for some complex piece of machinery or the the like, but with a player there's this little thing called scouting that you're supposed to do to assess a player's abilities and mental toughness on the field. Then there's the fact that you've had several meetings with the guy before signing him. Wolves' barrister will have a field day. "Didn't you spot the warning signs? Any of them?" Well, yes, some of them. "And you still took the risk, hoping that it would pan out? Ever heard of caveat emptor?"
I guess this article doesn't cover new ground except maybe alleging OO would like to return to England due to personal problems and a "we'll have to wait and see" from the manager. https://the72.co.uk/268327/transfer...-target-owen-otasowies-future-at-club-brugge/
No sir, caveat emptor. If you are going to spend that kind of money on a player, one would suggest that a full evaluation would be done, not just physical traits. Brugge have no one to blame for that transfer but themselves. I think these kind of transfer failures are not rare. One would think that Brugge should have been asking themselves why Wolves wanted rid of OO7 at that age given that he had played first team football for them just that year.
The puzzling thing about this is that there is absolutely nothing directly from Otasowie. Is it because they can't find him to ask? @bshredder
I’ve had many, many interview requests turned down for him over the past 2 years - I tried going through Wolves, Brugge, his agent, and various other contacts I gave up last fall - around November
I would have given up long before that! I'm sorry to press you on this, but do you get a sense of who is turning these requests down? His agent, the club, the player himself? Does he just have no interest in getting his side of the story out?
Typically the clubs turn down interviews for players who aren't playing. I got the impression Wolves wanted him gone so they stalled the interview until they were able to run out the clock until he was sold. Brugge seemed eager at first to make him available for interviews but wanted him to play a few games first. Obviously that never happened. When I reached back out once negative stories started to surface from local media, they didn't say so explicitly but I got the sense they knew they had a real problem with Owen. Typically when a young player has gone off the rails, clubs shut down media to the player. But he hasn't been at Brugge training since early January. They can't provide access to a player who isn't even with the team and might be AWOL. His agent was difficult (it was always: "call me in a month," again and again and again). He's a hot mess and people always want to read about a hot mess. But there are so many bigger stories. The USMNT is back in the World Cup, the draw is tomorrow, the U-20 team is going to try to end the Olympic drought, MLS season is in full swing, Seattle & NYCFC are pushing to become the first MLS winner of the CCL, there are a ton of big stories in Americans abroad. The time it requires to really investigate a kid blowing up his career doesn't seem worth it. He's not the first kid to blow up his career and he won't be the last. He's just more publicized due to the $5 million Brugge paid for him, the EPL minutes, and the USMNT caps. But there have been a lot of hyped up kids who got USMNT caps whose careers never got out of the starting gate.
Thanks so much for the follow-up and clarity. Doesn't mean much I'm sure but I totally agree with your assessment that it ain't worth your time. We're all so hyper focused on the YAs here, but there are so many other stories that matter to focus on. Still it's an interesting yarn to dig up potentially in between cycles. Between then and now his career trajectory will become a lot more clear anyway.
I feel badly for him and I hope he gets the support he needs to continue either in pro soccer or as a happy human. His importance to the USMNT is an afterthought.
General empathy for one's fellow humans? You're mad that a guy named "madvillain" wished someone well instead of throwing Owen into the pool of sharks with lazers attached to their heads?
Just don't give a shit. There are so many people that really suffering and the problem of this one just being a jerk. Find better candidates for your empathy.
Because this story has far too many signs of a life and not just a career that's about to implode? When something like that is happening and you lack the ability to do anything concrete about it, we normally wish the guy well and hope he comes back from the brink. It a variation on "there but for the grace of God go I" and all that - but YMMV
Some people can find empathy for multiple people. That madvillian has some empathy for OO doesn't mean he doesn't empathize with the people of Ukraine or others. He could even have different levels of empathy.