This seems like a good opportunity to reset his career. Here's hoping his career doesn't go the route of Gabriel Ferrari, Vincenzo Bernardo, both of whom were one-time promising US youth players who signed with Serie A clubs in Italy but never really made it in the pro ranks.
I still think that he has a bright future. He should've gotten more playing time with Livorno but the coach chose to play mostly older players.
My prediction is that sometime in the next few years Perez will make the move to LB, which will enter him into the MNT discussion once again.
A couple things. He's not a great athlete, but from the little I've seen he's physical enough to be a defender. He is very one footed, which is fine if you're putting in crosses from the end line. LAFC has way more depth at attacking positions than they do at LB so it could be his quickest way to see the field.
Full Backs are the fastest guys on the field and usually not one footed. Not necessary good dribblers what is his strongest quality.
Pretty much why I'm bullish on the USMNT FB's with Yedlin and Robinson (my starter as of today). Neither are perfectly 2 footed but they can use both feet and both are gazelles.
That’ll be tough. Robinson has a good grip on the position. I also think Bello will emerge Not to mention there are some pretty good backups to those guys emerging. Reggie Cannon has the talent to be the backup to Yedlin within a year (and he should start for the U-23 team). Bello will be an exciting prospect to watch in Atlanta. Knock on wood he can hit his ceiling.
It really depends on the system and what the backs are being asked to do. Plenty of less athletic players are competent fullbacks. Two footed fullbacks are also nice but an overlapping fullback is going to be trying to put in crosses from the end line fairly often. Perez can do that. Yedlin, for example, hardly ever uses his left. Brooks Lennon has made a successful transition from a forward to an RB, and I could see Perez doing the same. A factor holding him back might be his height. I don't see Perez having much of a future if he couldn't work into a Serie C squad as a winger. I seriously doubt he'll be in the USMNT conversation at winger.
At some level all slow fullbacks are disaster, no matter the system. That's why Villafana is inferior to Hejduk or Bornstein despite of all his good qualities. Perez might have improved, while nobody saw him, but he is still not fast, he is still not tall, he still a good dribbler, he still have a great left foot. He might have learned to read the game faster, he might become #8, but not a FB. Lennon is a fast, strong player with limited skills, totally opposite of Perez. Lennon is a FB.
He's not one footed. Although he does prefer his stronger left foot. His best move is cutting in from the right.
Josh at FB would be wasted. His best contributions in Italy were purely attacking, he's never displayed enough defensive skill. A fullback still needs to be able to defend.
He was a wing for the entire 25 minutes he played for them. Chiesa was opposite him, same age, got subbed in a few minutes before, didn't look any better that day. Go figure, one goes back to MLS, and the other is rumored to be worth over 50m Euros. That's life.
Just hate the idea of another full back because we have so many prospects already. LB wouldn’t be bad, but if he plays there from the start there’s little chance he ever transitions up to LW which is probably our most needed position (could argue striker as well).
As if things are that linear. He was 19, subsequent to which players typically improve. He was on a loan, didn't have a long-term contract w/ the team. He was an American in Italy. If he doesn't play it would quite possibly be because of LAFC's strength at the position between Vela, Benny, Lee, Rossi, Diamande, and Blessing. That, and money. NYRB are are a better team than LAFC, let alone Livorno, and he'd probably play a significant amount there because of team need and philosophy. Him ending up in a place where a team doesn't need him comes down to MLS' restrictive and counter-productive rules to youth. Hopefully he's traded quickly.
Which factor should be uppermost on his mind when evaluating a move Stateside. If he's not going to get PT and he's not going to be traded to where he has a shot at PT, why not stay put? Maybe a decent loan will come up in December.
The L.A. Times is reporting it as a done deal. http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-lafc-perez-20180808-story.html# Time for a title update.