True, though going abroad would be quite a challenge to prove oneself. Too many MLS-based US players don't go abroad like in the past for a factor of reasons. Morris is proving he isn't just average MLS player so I'd like to see him give it a shot. But as you said, he's doing well and being paid quite well.
Should it be exactly 25? Than it's Yedlin. Around his age Miazga, Wood, Rubin, Jr Flores, Kitchen, Lletget, Gyau, Akale. Some are still abroad, some already back. Which our player abroad over 22 is progressing period?
He’s made a believer of me, I was wrong. (Seattle still sucks and I’m prepared to say I was hacked if any fellow TA see this). His progress and performance this year is probably the second most positive development in US Soccer, (I wish I could even think of a third), behind landing Dest. Who cares if he goes to Europe or not? The important thing is performing in whatever our colors are on the day, and he’s been aces. He is also a very interesting case study in the dumb MLS vs Euro and Vets vs Youngsters debates simmering around here lately. Klinsmann gave him a senior team call up while he was at Stanford. I’m not saying that has anything to do with the likes of Llanez and company, but I’m not saying it doesn’t either.
It's not as much as some on here would want (and it's also why there's no way Seattle would let him go unless the money was insane), but he'll figure pretty prominently in CCL so we should see him against some pretty decent Liga MX teams (which is better than MLS). That's also why he can't do the winter loan period, since both CCL and MLS season start in February.
He could get into the squad regularly off the bench for BL right now. I don’t know what you’re watching when you watch him play unless you literally just think it’s impossible that a strong MLS player who is over 20 to break into a decent quality top 5 league side. That’s been proven not to be the case in the past.
Sure, I'd love to be proven wrong. I merely said the only chance we will see him score a goal a game for BL is when he's playing for the US versus minnows. I think he probably could manage in the Bundesliga but not at a big club.
You're looking at club size from a historical perspective and throwing way too many teams in the same grouping. There are tiers to this. Leverkusen isn't a tier one or even tier two. They are currently mid-table, haven't finished top 2 since 10-11, before that it was 10 years earlier, and haven't won the league since the 70's. And they don't play in arguably the best league. Yes, they made a run or two in the UCL 20-25 years ago. That doesn't make you "a big club". I didn't hear the issue w/ the Everton suggestion and they have a higher TransferMarkt value than Leverkusen. Plus, it would be good for marketing, as Bayer's owner acknowledged. Not that it would be mainly about that. There aren't many opponents which have made Morris appear out-classed and he has a case for best performing US national teamer right now. Plenty of his teammates are on better teams than an the bottom of the BL. It's below his pay-grade.
Leverkusen is a big club just like Schalke still is even if they are mid-table currently. I still stand by what I said. His best bet is at a smaller club where he can fight to be a starter rather than fight to ride the bench.
Fun fact: ASN ranked Morris #79 on their best 100 US player list. Pulisic was #1. Novakovich was #25. Wood was #13. Guys next to Morris were Shea #80 and Valentin #81. http://www.americansoccernow.com/asn-100/ASNMARCH2019
Well, most players don't progress much past 22. By 23 you generally know what type of player he will be. Morris is a late bloomer because he did not enter a professional environment until his early 20s, akin to some of the older generations of US college soccer players turned pro. If Morris wants to continue pushing himself he should leave MLS.
Now is also the perfect time. He won a Cup for his team and his city. He can leave as a white-hot-in-form player, which is key to success in Europe. I feel like it's akin to CFB/CBB players who stay too long in school. Sometimes, they play worse in those later years, and their draft stock dips. Doesn't guarantee success, e.g Almiron, but it's likely his best shot to go when he's playing so well.
Almiron did OK under Benitez, he just lacked a bit of luck in front of goal. Bruce has been playing him out of position on the left-wing, probably because he wants his number 10 to track back and tackle. Bruce sucks. It's a shame.
Sure, luck is part of it. Hence why you wanna be in good form when you leave. He's really struggling with the athleticism and speed of play, IMO. He's also moved from a top team in MLS to a bottom feeder in the EPL, so service has been faaar less than he's used to.
Almiron actually had a super high defensive work rate in MLS. It was one of his biggest strengths -- he was one of the best offensive players and would absolutely defend. He's just not very big. And I think the bigger issue is that his strength is on the break in the open pitch. I don't watch him in the EPL, but if his team doesn't generate those open pitch opportunities or his teammates can't fly down the field like him ... he's not going to be as effective. He was also never a strong finisher.
Disagree. In a few months time Morris can do Jan camp if he wants or prepare for CCL where he will putatively face the type of Mexican / CA competition that we could expect to see in the Hex in the autumn. In the meantime he gets a good rest over holidays instead of going 2 seasons without a break. Additionally, I heard Berhalter saying we should have 2 fixtures with higher level Euro competition in 2020. Morris was written off by the Eurosnobs and now he is our go-to player. Jackson Yueil was a wisp of a man coming out of UCLA and was going nowhere until Almeyda took over and suddenly he makes Trapp (who has never played for any pro team other than Berhalter's crew where he wilted and shriveled) look like……..a wisp. People like Bshredder's theory about 'missing generation' but the fact is that they weren't missing. They were simply ignored. Look at Ethan Finlay. Again, he was playing for Berhalter and just hit a wall. by the time Heath got a hold of him in Minny it was too late, partly because he blew an ACL shortly after arriving. People will fall apart at the seams if I mention Delgado again but there we have another fellow who was with the 2015 U20's, which puts him in the group which will be 26/27 in Qatar. It's hard to see why somebody would compare him unfavorably to MLS'ers like Roldan or Yueil et al but, again, Berhalter. There's Canouse as well, of course. Is there anybody who thinks Berhalter would have called up Beckerman in 2014? Don't be nuts. He can't pass diagonally out of the 6. The media will be groaning and moaning about no "bite" in mid, poor positioning, passing, missing generations, etc. The ones missing are the media who should go stand in a mirror and notice if they see anything at all. That's your missing generation right there. All that spilled ink over Terrence Boyd, Zelalem, or some Championship mid they had in their best xi and they wonder how a generation could go missing. Rants are normally 10 cents a dozen but this one is a free sample.