Of course for youth players, I can't really understand evacuation based upon position. (that may or may not have been the issue in Hoppe's case). The question shouldn't be "how good is he as an AM (or whatever)" but instead "what skills does he have, what can he do best". At least some programs do that, you would expect one of the top programs/developers of talent AKA Kleiban, to be able to do the same.
You really have to go with what's in front of you, not what might happen. I mean Harry Kane, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford were all dropped Premier League academies. My ex-wife donned her first training bra at 16 and had grown out of a 34DD by the time she was 18.
Hoppe at the time played the same position as Alex Mendez and Efrain Alvarez who were Brian’s lifelong prospect projects. No way he was getting minutes over those two sadly
I once asked a talent evaluator and coach at a pro club what was the first thing he looked at when scouting a U10-U12 kid. His response was..."his parents."
There's no such thing as a talent evaluator that gets their analysis right 100% of the time. I have big issues with the Kleibans, but accept that nobody is perfect in this regard. The bigger issue is what I talked about above. Zero homegrown players from the Galaxy on our most recent USMNT roster. The Galaxy, who are more than just the Kleibans, failed to develop a whole generation of talent in Southern California. They should be churning out players at an even faster pace than the likes of FCD and Philly. But there's just a nothingness there. Even if one or two leave for elsewhere, there should be a whole bunch more to develop. Jonathan Gomez leaving FCD didn't shut the whole pipeline down. They had a whole bunch of other kids to work with. What should be the flagship franchise and standard bearer in terms of American youth development has been nothing more than a head-shaking quagmire. Its bad management. Te Kloese's contract is up at the end of 2021 I believe (although maybe there's an option for 2022). Who is seeing evidence that he's turning things around? The first team is better this year, so at least that's something. And now we have the same situation happening with Cuevas that we had with KHF before him. What is he doing right now? Its just frustrating when you see history repeating itself.
This is why I’d like to see them hire Luchi Gonzalez to run their academy as I think he’d probably do more good there than he would as U20 coach. It’s one thing for Minnesota to not have a very good academy, but it’s another for us to be getting nothing from one of the most talent rich areas in the country. Step 2 would be to end the territories, but I don’t think MLS is quite there yet (though I think they’ll eventually get there).
Efra and Mendez always played in same teams regardless of what level they were at. Hoppe would’ve had to compete in the same group. If they viewed him as a CM then his pathway was pretty shut out at that club. Should they have given him a look in other positions? Probably, but there’s also a good chance he was evaluated in sessions and just didn’t cut it, development is not linear and but kudos to Hoppe for having the grit and mentality to persevere and become a bigger player than any of the Galaxy kids except maybe Julian Araujo long term
And that's dumb. A kid playing with my son was a somewhat short keeper. Mom was 5-6 and dad 5-9ish. So based on mom and dad no way this kids has a chance as a big time keeper. What the coach didn't see was mom's brothers. Kid zoomed from 5-5 as a freshman in HS to 6-4 as a senior or early college. Next I'll hear a coach say he can tell how tall the mom's brothers are by looking at her.
This is one of the weirdest sagas I’ve seen in a long time. I know there was something planned and there were some mitigating circumstances along the way, but I cannot receive a straight answer from anyone on what happened here and I’ve asked a lot. The result is a guy who hasn’t played a soccer game all year and doesn’t currently have a club. It’s very problematic. has anyone seen Mauricio Cuevas— scuffed (@scuffedpod) October 26, 2021
Its just weird to me that he didn't have a substantial plan lined up before leaving the Galaxy. Don't leave a good situation if you don't have a better one lined up. For sure. It'll be interesting to see if he's called up to this U20 competition. Cuz he can't be remotely match fit. And we do have options other than Cuevas there.
He had something lined up. Clearly though not substantial enough if he didn't sign with that club. It's possible that this is not the fault of the agent. It could be something to do with the player. I want to make clear my intention in posting that tweet in this thread wasn't to suggest Gary is absolutely the issue. However, as Cuevas agent, this discussion is related to Gary, unless he's recently switched agents.
It’s weird to me that even if something fell through in Europe why wouldn’t they get him into a independent USL team. Cuevas could be doing the Jo Go thing. They represent guys like Gallegos who are in the USL. They know USL teams. it makes me think he is hurt or something popped up.
It’s also possible that USL teams are less willing to sign as player friendly a deal as Gomez got. Louisville was not happy with how it turned out and said they wouldn’t be doing those sorts of deals going forward.
That Louisville deal with Gomez was an outlier. A very strange contract that I still don't understand from the club's point of view. Great for JoGo of course. Also important to note that the whole point of Gomez' contract was so he could sign at 16, and play there a couple of years until he was 18. Cuevas is already 18. He's only a couple of months younger than Joe Scally. Presumably Maurcio had something lined up abroad, and that fell thru. Maybe this is a case of the real world getting in the way of a player's advancement. Something off the field. We've seen it before.....................
They may say that, but I think that’s posturing. Gomez is the best player on Louisville. Any team will take a player like that for one season. USL teams aren’t that talented. Cuevas could’ve found a one year deal in USL. I am nearly sure of that.
and they are still getting some money to boot! its like what more could you have expected? if you wanted to hold him hostage he just wouldve never agreed to go in the first plcae
Louisville is dumb if they wouldn't do that deal again. The sign most players to one year deals. They sign a player who turns into a Best XI type player and they are mad that he left and they only got $100,000...if they didn't sign him they likely would have spend the same amount of money on a 6 year USL vet who would be worse, still leave on a free and net zero publicity.