Next review : the RB position. - Harbor Miller (2007) : Miller signed a first-team contract last winter but spent the whole season loaned to VCFC. A highly-regarded youngster, Miller looked indeed good on the attack, capable at advancing the ball, combining with partners and being dangerous in the final third. That said, he looked good for his age, but not breathtaking. His defensive abilities didn't catch my eye either. So, compared to another 2007-born player who shined this season after signing a first-team contract (Ruben Ramos Jr.), Miller was a little bit disappointing. That said, I must stay fair to him as he showed some qualities, and he will be a player to watch next year. - Victor Casillas (2006) : I just realized he's older than Miller. Casillas is exactly the type of player coming from the Academy who's too green and not good enough for this level. Not much to see there. - Max Middleby (2005) : an intriguing signing from Australia last offseason, Middleby had a strange year, playing only 4 games (1 start). He looked very bad in his limited minutes, and I really wonder what happened with this signing. I'm not sure he'll stay at the club much longer.
Not much. MLS Next Pro is full of 18 to 21 years old players and at 16/17 there is too much of a difference in terms of phisicality and speed of the game. So at this point it's just gaining some experience.
As i mentioned in real time while he was playing, Pratt has loads of potential, but this was his very first game in MLSNP. He mostly seemed to be catching up to the higher speed of play. He has been on the VCFC bench before, but never actually played in a game and for a GK to come on for his first game in the playoffs with a motivated opponent on the road in a hostile environment (there was a bigger crowd than normal) is a pretty big ask. Galaxy obviously consider him a pro prospect because he reportedly just signed a pro contract with VCFC that transitions to a first team contract eventually. I would view Pratt as an Eric Lopez-type long-term play for the Galaxy. Lopez signed with the Galaxy 2 at 17, moved up to a Galaxy contract in his early 20s while starting regularly with the Galaxy II, and then was let go when it became clear that he had topped out. Pratt might surpass that, but most goalkeepers need a lot of seasoning and playing time to develop the decision-making that bridges the gap between Academy and the Pros. Pratt is still reacting (and was slow during the VCFC game), when he needs to be able to anticipate. That can come with experience, but for some players it never comes. Brady Scott is miles ahead of him, but Pratt is a 2008 and Scott is a 1999. 9 years difference is massive for a goalkeeper on the decision-making side of things. Sources: LA Galaxy sign academy standouts Owen Pratt and Riley Delgado to professional contracts. Deals not MLS homegrown immediately, will start as 2nd team contracts then eventually become 1st team.Both players have been previously called into USYNT camps.— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) November 6, 2024
Next review : the CBs. - Axel Essengue (2003) : Essengue just finished his fourth season with our reserves. I've never been impressed with him because of all the turnovers he was making, as he never looked comfortable with his feet. His positioning was suspect at times too. Well, I must admit Essengue drastically improved this season, being a real anchor to the backline. Essengue is strong and, in a similar way to Emiro Garcés, likes to use his speed and body to recover the ball. He looked way more calm with the ball, which lead sometimes to a strange contrast between not being very skillful but still trying to play dangerous balls from the back. I must admit it worked. I'm torn on what's next for Essengue. He improved a lot, and I would say he looked better this season than Marcus Ferkranus has ever looked, but he's not great. I would like to give him another year, but with the awareness that there's a chance he's not worth it. - Jose "Pepe" Magana (2007) : Magana took over the starting role for the end of the season after a little period of trouble when Ferkranus left. He looked very solid for a 17 years old boy, big, strong, very solid with the ball, not flashy overall but not making any mistake which is unusual for a 17 years old guy. That said, his last couple of games weren't that good, especially the playoff game where he was caught twice in the same position. But he's really a name to remember and a very interesting player to develop. - Christian Tchouante (2006) : the Cameroonian defender started his first games this season and it often ended as a total disaster. Tchouante looked lost many times, being at the same time all over the place but never at the right place. The funny thing is he made me think of Axel Essengue at his debuts multiple times. It won't be hard for him to improve next year.
Next review, the LB position. - Riley Dalgado (2006) : it will be easy here, Dalgado was the most used field player and played 27 of the 29 MLS Next Pro games this season. A year ago, I said Dalgado looked far from ready, mainly because he looked unathletic. I must say Dalgado improved in a big way this season. While he didn't look great on defense, his grit was often enough. On offense, he became a dangerous player who likes to go forward and make a run inside the box to add an extra body. Dalgado remains me a lot of Julian Aude in his style of play : he uses a lot his first touch to create separation from his opponent, then making a penetrating run forward through the opposite defense. Dalgado is a very promising player and it seems he opted to skip college to sign a professional contract with VCFC. Another name to follow.
Next review : the center midfielders. - Isaiah Parente (2000) : the winner of MLS Cup last year was let go by Columbus, ended with VCFC and, after a couple of good months with our reserves, signed a first-team contract. Parente was very neutral at the beginning of the season but quickly improved. While being unathletic, Parente is a good two-way midfielder at the MLS Next Pro level. His vision is very good and he knows how to hit the right pass, he's very often making the right play. IMO Parente is an OK player to have in your roster outside of the 18, but I'm not sure he can do better. - Tucker Lepley (2002) : the 62nd pick in this year Draft, it was a surprise to see Lepley having such a good preseason which lead to a MLS contract. How did he do in MLS Next Pro ? Well, he was mostly good. Lepley has an excellent motor and can run forever, recover the ball, making a forward run and take a shot... I like Lepley's talent but the main issue is he's not using his brain enough. It's good to run all over the field but, unlike Parente, he's not always making the right play at the right moment. His energy and his good skills are making up a little bit for his brain, but he has to improve here to have a chance to succeed in MLS. - Gabriel Arnold (2007) : a highly-touted talent from the Academy, Arnold played 1000+ minutes this year and looked skilled. Great vision, good long balls, solid set pieces... But he has looked too unathletic so far and it was often too easy to go though our midfield when he was here. A name to follow. - Nicolas Barros Schelotto (2006) : the exact same could be said about the son of our former head coach, who played 621 minutes this year. I really have a hard time discussing the differences between Arnold and him because they really have the same profile. Maybe Schelotto is better in tight spaces and has quicker feet, but I'm not sure about it. Both could improve a lot in 2025. - Diego Lopez (2005) : I said last year I was not impressed with Lopez, who had some trials in Spain before signing with our second team. He barely played this year (only 146 minutes) and looked terrible. He should be gone.
Next review : the wingers. - Sean Karani (2000) : Karani chose to sign directly with VCFC after college, and was the fourth most used field player this season... Which is a little bit headscratching given he was one of our worst player. Karani is versatile and played on both wings and as a striker, and I thought he looked better as a right winger. That said, he was terrible most of the time. Karani likes to run at opposite defenders and tries to dribble them, but he's not that good at it and his finish is super rough. You'll see an impressive play every five games or so with him but most of the time, he's garbage. I've seen enough. - Hope Avayevu (2002) : a summer signing, Avayevu had two good seasons with Dallas reserves in MLS Next Pro before signing with our second team. Avayevu was worth the look : he's a very skilled player who likes to work in tight spaces, and has some good vision to pass the ball behind a packed defense, which could be useful in our first team style of play. While Avayevu didn't blow my mind, he looked solid and I'll be interested to see what's ahead for him. He looked very decent and finished the year as our leader in assists (4) despite playing only 334 minutes. - Ifu Achara (1997) : a mid-season loan from Houston, Achara looked very average for a player of his experience. Not very skilled, not good at any part of the game, not much to see here. - Gino Vivi (2000) : Vivi started the year as our starting LW and looked excellent for MLS Next Pro, then the club chose to loan him to Saprissa to allow him to face better competition. While I'm not expecting a comeback from Vivi with the first team, I just wanted to remind you that we still own him. - David Diaz (2003), Erik Hernandez (2003), Sergio Villalpando (2006) : same profile for all : small and technical players who had maybe two or three moments of brillance during the season, but looked often our of their place. Not much to hope there.
I think Karani was a comfort signing for Head Coach Matt Taylor, who had him for a year at UCLA after he transferred from Temple as a grad student. They probably anticipated Gino Vivi, Ruben Ramos Jr, and Aaron Bibout would take the majority of striker/wing minutes and Karani would be a little bit of veteran depth. With Ramos gone a lot for international duty and Vivi and Bibout getting loaned out, Karani ended up playing more.
The amount of time invested in producing these write-ups and evaluations of players is most assuredly appreciated by myself and many others on this board. That said, I officially nominate @LEM-LAG to be on the MVP ballot.
Thank you for the kind words ! You should really read my next review about the most promising player from VCFC. It's THE name to remember for the future. Ruben Ramos Jr. (2007) : Ramos Jr. looked good in limited minutes last year, he quickly embraced the role of the leader of our attack this year, at the age of only 17. While he played as a winger last season, he was deployed as a second striker this year. He also played as a forward with the USMNT, so I can say he can play anywhere but I'm having a hard time seeing where he could really develop in the future. Ramos Jr. had very solid numbers this season, with 8 goals and 3 assists in 1934 minutes (again, at the age of 17 !). And it says it all about his biggest quality : Ramos Jr. is deadly near the box. His finishing skills are elite for a man of his age, he can score with his right foot on any opportunity. His movement off the ball is excellent, and he has decent speed. I would say he's still a little but unathletic and not that good in a one-on-one battle with an opposite defender, but again being so deadly as a striker is a very good sign. The club seems to know what he's doing here : Ramos Jr. has signed a first-team contract until the end of 2027 and I see a big potential. Way less fancy than player like Efrain Alvarez, Johnny Pérez or Jose Villarreal, he's just more effective. Again, THE player to watch and possibly a top 5 in the MLS Next Pro golden boot standings next year.
My last review of the 2024 season will be on the strikers : - Aaron Bibout (2004) : Bibout had a nice start in MLS Next Pro, pretty much on par with his good 2023 season (8 goals and 4 assists in 1683 minutes, he had 14 and 5 assists in 2348 last year). The club chose to loan him to Tulsa in the USL Championship where he had 4 goals in 983 minutes, some of them being well taken. Bibout is quick, big and strong, a real danger capable of getting in good spots inside the box and can score in athletic ways... But I'm still a little bit worried about his skills being not that good and his finishing being erratic : he really can score the impossible goal but will miss the easy one. And again, I'm not sure his impressive physical tools will be enough to maintain a gap with the other players at a higher level. I'm not sure at all he'll develop as a MLS player, but I think the club counts on him. I'm not sure we'll see him much in the Galaxy organization next year, as I could see another loan to a USL Championship team. That would be completely understandable from a Galaxy standpoint as Bibout will probably not learn much in MLS Next Pro. - Ilijah Paul (2002) : after Bibout midseason loan, the club chose to get the number 7 in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft on loan from Salt Lake. Paul was a very different player than Bibout. While Bibout plays as a real target striker with a nose for the goal, Paul likes to go deep all over the field and to participate to all the attacks. Paul seems like an OK player for the MLS Next Pro level, but he doesn't excel at anything and his finishing looks super average. I wish him good luck for the future, but I'm pretty sure it won't be with the Galaxy.
VCFC announces their year-end roster moves https://vcfcpro.com/ventura-county-...CzIwP9jqsPAT3VQwXA_aem_Uqzg0sAhNlTO6vSQ7b9HpA Interestingly, they mention Miller but not Ramos Jr.. Both were originally announced as having signed VCFC contracts that would become senior contracts in 2025. Maybe they delayed the start of Miller's senior contrac. A variety of others who played with the VCFC aren't on the list (e.g., Brady Scott, Tucker Lepley, Isaiah Parente, Aaron Bibout) because their contracts are with the senior team, while others (e.g., Gabriel Arnold) were likely not even on Academy contracts - just playing with the team as Academy loan players or whatever the status is for these purposes. Some of the players who are out of contract were only unpaid Academy contracts and have moved on to college soccer (e.g., Lucca Adams (UCLA), Allan Legaspi (UCLA), Emiliano Garcia (Cerritos College), and Omar Garcia (Cerritos College)). David Diaz was the Big West Freshman of the Year at Cal State Northridge in 2022. Probably should have stayed in school, but I understand the lure of a pro contract after you do well in college right off the bat. Nolan Anderson, in retrospect, would definitely have been better off not signing a contract while still in high school. As a GK, he could have played in college and gotten experience. He was with the G2s/VCFC for two years and played 1 game in 2023 and that's it. Of the ones they are keeping, the contracts of Karani, Schelotto, Essengue, Tchouante, Middleby, Villalpando expired at the end of 2024, so they have decided to sign them to a new or picked up his option. Dalgado was just signed to a contract.
As I do every year, I finish my review of the season with the Awards : MVP : 1) Brady Scott 2) Ruben Ramos Jr. 3) Isaiah Parente This one was hard, Scott and Ramos Jr. were easily the two best players of the season, and Ramos was obviously the most promising player on the team. I chose Scott for MVP because 1) he saved our ass many times, especially in the many penalty shootouts we won, and without the points earned from these shootouts we're probably out of the playoff line 2) because we missed him so badly in our playoff game. Parente as third because while he was less flashy, he was more consistent than players like Dalgado, Essengue or Lepley. Defensive player of the year : 1) Brady Scott 2) Riley Dalgado 3) Axel Essengue Most improved player since last season : 1) Ruben Ramos Jr. 2) Axel Essengue 3) Riley Dalgado Three players who drastically improved from last year. I put Essengue above Dalgado because Essengue's season was unexpected after a couple of years of showing nothing, but Dalgado also went from a boy lost in MLS Next Pro to a solid defender very quickly. Worst player : 1) Sean Karani 2) Christian Tchouante 3) Ifu Achara That's all for me this year ! It's been a pleasure once again, if you have any questions don't hesitate ! @Benny Dargle I'm listening to your opinions.
I'm a fan of the tall, muscular, bruising striker that holds his own in the box. I look forward to the day when @Benny Dargle tells us about such a player developing in our youth setup. Until then, full props to @Benny Dargle for keeping a focused eye on the future of our team!
This is great. I can only quibble a little and/or add some context. For example, I would put Lepley ahead of Parente on the MVP list. Parente finished the season better, but Lepley was pretty important in a lot of early to mid-season games. From my perspective, the difference was partly because the opposition started keying on Lepley because they knew he was the VCFC version of Puig as a QB on offense and partly because the quality of the team dropped when Vivi and Bibout weren't available. Lepley responded by trying to do too much himself and he wasn't getting much help in terms of movement from his teammates. Parente was more patient and calmer, but he also didn't try the type of stuff that we sometimes needed to unlock the offense. I also think the worst player ranking needs to be placed in context. Karani is about to turn 24 and played 58 games in college between Temple and UCLA. He should have better technical skills and a better shot than he does, but he does get in positions to take those shots and he does have speed. We had plenty of players who appeared for VCFC who were worse than Karani, but they at least had the excuse of youth and inexperience. Not sure why they are bringing Karani back, but we really don't have a lot of players like him with his speed in our pipeline and perhaps they want those kind of wingers who can simulate the system we are using in the senior squad. I would also note that although Ramos was definitely the most promising player on the team all season, there were a couple of other players who showed real promise - Gabriel Arnold and Pepe Magana. Arnold is very skilled and can deliver a great free kick. He needs to get physically stronger or craftier to avoid getting overrun in midfield, but he definitely has a ton of potential. Magana is by far our most talented centerback prospect. Magana is both tall and physical as well as technically skilled and can score with his head. He was a regular starter with VCFC by the end of the season and should be a locked-in starter next season. The rumor is that he has signed a homegrown deal for next year, but I don't think it has been formally announced. Looking forward, I expect we'll see Dylan Vanney get more playing time with VCFC next season. He got just a taste this season, but he didn't look completely out of place. Continuing the coach's son theme, Nico Schelotto also probably merits a longer look. He and Arnold are the type of players who will probably play more if Parente sticks with the senior squad as a bench option next season or moves on.
I'm afraid we'll have to wait to see if any of the current prospects grow a little before we see whether we have any tall, muscular, bruising strikers coming up the ranks. Ramos Jr. is great and he does have a strong frame and decent size, but I'm not sure he's who you have in mind. One of the top prospects in the next age group coming up is Mateo Tsakiris, who was an MLS Next all star along with Ramos Jr and GK Owen Pratt, but he's more of a defensive midfielder. Another is Enrique Martinez, but he's a little behind Magana at center back.
Thank you about your great comments. I don't disagree at all on Lepley and Parente. I'm probably biased by the fact Lepley faded a little bit while Parente looked better and better as the season goes on. Agree on Karani but I wanted to only talk about the players who played more than 400 minutes or so. This category is a little bit harsh but I mixed it with the disappointing players and I would say a guy like Achara would have suited more in this category, because I can't say he was that bad. I liked a lot what I saw from Magana too, but he played only a couple of games at the end of the season so it's still a little bit early to me. I would love a Magana - Essengue pairing next year in MLS Next Pro.
One player that hasn't been mentioned who played a few games early on for VCFC is Jonathan Perez. He's on loan to Nashville and I believe the loan runs through next season, so I highly doubt he'll ever be back with VCFC even if he comes back to the Galaxy, but it's worth noting that the Tacoma Defiance team that picked VCFC apart in the playoffs lost to VCFC 5-2 on March 31 and Perez had three assists and played the full 90 in that game. He was clearly too good for the MLSNP level, but he was part of the reason the team got off to such a strong start.
Phoenix Rising Signs Ghanaian Playmaker Hope Avayevu.🔗Learn More: https://t.co/8LRhaCBjfu#TodosRojos pic.twitter.com/oAxjffbMNB— Phoenix Rising FC (@PHXRisingFC) December 17, 2024 I missed this one, Hope Avayevu has a new club.
Makes sense. Avayevu was probably too good and too old for MLSNP, but he would have had a hard time making an MLS roster, especially as an international. USL Championship is a good step forward for him.
I'm a little bit late to answer but Jonathan Pérez's career is really in danger IMO. Everybody said that loaning him to Nashville was a great move, but I'm not sure. Nashville is a very non-ambitious team, is in talks to sign a new U22 RW (Ahmed Qasem), and already has a couple of wingers : Jacob Shaffelburg, the undisputed starting LW, Alex Muyl, who's been with Nasvhille since their expansion year, and former Galaxy Tyler Boyd, who's currently recovering from an ACL. I'm not sure he'll have much playing time. Interesting to note, we received or we'll receive the rights of winger Lyam MacKinnon (25 years old), who just won the USL League One player of the year award (and is a former Nashville SuperDraft pick). He scored 23 goals in 34 games in all competitions last season, and is currently a free agent after his excellent season with Greenville. The reports are a little bit shady if we received the rights of MacKinnon or if we'll receive them if Nashville picks up Pérez option, but maybe it's lost in translation. I let you decide : https://www.lagalaxy.com/news/la-galaxy-loan-midfielder-jonathan-perez-to-nashville-sc https://www.nashvillesc.com/news/na...fielder-jonathan-perez-on-loan-from-la-galaxy https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/la-galaxy-loan-jonny-perez-to-nashville-sc
Here is what I posted on the Roster Rumors thread on Dec. 9 about the Perez trade and the Mackinnon return. I pieced together what I think is how the options worked in the trade, mostly from the same sources, but I don't know for sure if I'm right.
#GELP #CGE 🚨 Nicolás Barros Schelotto arregló su desvinculación del equipo B de Los Ángeles #Galaxy y jugará en la Reserva de Gimnasia 🐺.🏃♂️ Había viajado la semana pasaba a USA para sumarse a la pretemporada. ✈️ Llegará en las próximas horas para reincorporarse al Tripero. https://t.co/CsYxlkPMfK pic.twitter.com/8ea87TfFSz— Agustin Troyano 🎙🏟 (@Agustin_Troyano) January 23, 2025 It seems the son of GBS will no longer be a part of the club.