Over at Bergin's site there is an article about him joining the U-17 boys down on FL from his U-19 Stoke City team. Since not much gets missed here I must have slept on a post or two about him, can somebody bring me up to speed?
I don't know that much about him. I think northern ireland fan was first to note him on the YA board. Off the top of my head, central mid with possession skills. Parents from UK, born in the US and moved there at some point... Has earned some time with Stoke's reserves -- not so bad as the club managed to avoid relegation to the second division late last season. I actually saw them play at Crystal Palace late last year and they seemed like a young team and probably mid-to-low MLS level. Dunno how close Jay is to first-team time at Stoke but as one of relatively few U-17s with a pro club he is getting a pretty long look. I think he sometimes posts updates in the forum section of Chris Bergin's website.
Interesting, was he in this country long enough to be involved with ODP, or was the USSF contacted by Bergin regarding his eligibility? It would be great if the matches in Busan could be sold by the USSF, they have to be recording them for player evaluations. Would the federation be able to make a copy, slap a label on and sell it if television rights were not owned or required by anyone?
I thinking helping Denny's cause with the 17s is that Brian Grazier, the U17's starting D-mid, didn't have the greatest showing in qualifying and John Ellinger may be looking for an upgrade there. He's shown in the past he isn't unafriad to use a roster spot on someone who isn't in residency. Denny is a center mid and he said in some interview that he models his game off Roy Keane's. Is he enough of a ball-winner, engine-room-type guy? I guess that's what Ellinger wants to find out but I like the fact that he's still looking to improve his team and deepen our player pool.
Denny was born in L.A. and has played with Stoke for some time. He actually is a decent prospect over there, getting lots of time with the U-19's and the reserves - he may even get a few first-team matches in next year. He's a center or wide-right midfielder who ,even if he models his game after Keane, is better as a midfielder offensively-minded so far than defensively-minded. Good physical attributes - pace and stamina.