Word out of Southern California is that Academy player of year, Raul Mendiola, has been signed by Manchester City and will be in England training and then loaned to a club in Spain...
I'm pretty sure he's not a US citizen. In fact, there have been posts here on BS he doesn't even have a Green Card because his parents never bothered going through the process.
http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/2617...aul-mendiola-leads-a-very-talented-arsenal-fc Well this article quotes the coach as saying he has multiple people working on Raul's citizenship. I don't want to read tooo much into it, but he did say "citizenship," not "green card."
Not to be too obtuse but the first step of working on getting citizenship is getting a green card. We won't know until someone explains it in detail. Then that may not explain it.
I remember first hearing about him from SI.com's rankings a few months back. FWIW, SI.com had him rated above the entire US U-17 team http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/soccer/07/29/top10.boyhs/index.html
SI took it from Topdrawer.com who really has not seen all players. I really respect Gersman but to imply he or his 'contacts' can rank youth prospects with any semblance of accuracy when our professional evaluators in this country won't is silly. In a sense these rankings fall right in line with our arcane notion we need to determine who's better than whom at age 17. It should have an asterick to indicate for entertainment purposes only.
No offense but it seems like the folks who really matter (i.e. Liverpool, Man City) agree with TopDrawer, etc. Bijev and Mendiola ARE more advanced than any player from the last U-17 cycle...not even close. I agree that it may be too early to rank prospects but the market will decide who deserves what etc. With apologies to US Soccer, a large percentage of u-17 alums don't even star in college.
Bijev's a '93, who was ineligible for the U17s last cycle. I don't know what your apologizing to US Soccer for. U17s are a crapshoot everywhere, no matter whether we're talking about Argentina or the US. Some will make it, many won't, but that's what happens when you're evaluating 15, 16, and 17 year olds.
the point was that an earlier poster did not agree with the SI/TDS assessment that Mendiola should be ranked higher than the U-17 crop. The pros agreed with the assessment that mendiola etc. are further along. I believe Bijev was thrown in there as an example of players that were a little off the radar (until this last year when Bijev went to some U-18 events) that have a much greater upside...
No offense taken, free market of ideas. My point isn't with TopDrawer's ability to 'pick' the U16 National Player of the Year determined by USSF scouting system and a U18 All DA team and ongoing U18 National Team callup. That's easy. Its is Bryan Celis really #41 and is he truly 10 spots better than Melvin Snoh? Who knows, who cares. It's truly for entertainment purposes falling into the errors of the past for our countries analysis of who is better. We give it way too much credibility. We need a system where professionals make those decisions. Who is asked to enter professional development academies. Raul Mendiola and Vilyen Bijev are good not because TopDrawer says so but because professionals have determined their quality and determined that they are of professional quality. My goal now is to somehow have MLS be able to scout, trial, and train these players for domestic professional development as opposed to only a limited # of high quality youth going overseas. We need more, better, and sooner.
Really? Cause the kid right below him on the list, that also happen to be on the U17 team, has been rumored around Liverpool for months. I also believe Bijev wasn't highly rated, I believe I saw him ~40 on their list (though it coulda been somebody else's). The biggest thing most kids that go to Europe have(more specifically England) is passport, like Pelosi and Bijev.
not true...Liverpool doesn't give the kind of money they gave to Bijev to kids just because they have a passport...btw, are you sure Pelosi signed a full deal...remember he is not 18 like Bijev...Bijev is playing for Dusseldorf...is Pelosi still playing in Liverpool youth academy. Big difference
Don't go all Anton Peterlin to Everton on us... ...BTW, if you have a minute and need a laugh, go see the reactions to Peterlin being signed by Everton. Hi-lar-i-ous.
The responses in that thread can be divided between those that had actually seen Peterlin play & those that hadn't. Everton's a "special case." They're a premier league caliber team with no money. Hence they roll the dice on kids like Peterlin and Arnoux. Man City has all the money in the world. If they want Sergio Aguero......they go buy Sergio Aguero. And with their pocket change they grab Nasi and Savić. It's gonna be like this every transfer window. They need Raul Mendiola like they need a hole in the head. If they sign him, that'll be a huge indication for us of his talent level and value. Because frankly, I have no idea. I've only seen him play a handful of times. Plus, of course........Raul's not an American. Hence not a Yank Abroad according to the rules of this forum. But I guess we'll let that slide.
I'm by no means criticizing Mendiola, that was in response to a comment about Bijev. But what i'm referring to is this notion many have that once a top Euro club gets involved, Americans who didn't go nuts over the player were wrong. That being said, what your saying about Aguero (and what is true about Liverpool) also serves as a counterpoint. Yeah these teams can go out and get top notch vets, but that type of money also allows you to take tons of risks at the youth level. Americans are coming in without transfer fees; when you have Man City like money, and you're only paying wages, you can sign a guy on one person's good word. One coach/scout might like Bijev/Mendiola and gotten the green light. Not saying that isn't still impressive...my issue is that we infer that Euro's are infallible.
Man City may be altering its player acquisition strategy in anticipation of the Financial Fair Play regulations coming in.
Oh, there's no doubt about that. People went nuts about Euro kids like Vincenzo Bernardo, Brandon Manzonelli, Gabe Ferrari, and on and on and on because they were at big Euro clubs that people had heard of. There's nothing that says Bijev or whomever will be better adult pros than their US-based youth players. Prospects are just that.......prospects. We'll see..............
Alittle different in my mind. I could be wrong but Bernardo, Manzonelli, and Ferrari went over without any foundation or body of work from here. They didn't prove themselves in our DA system, which in itself isn't overly impressive but its something. They went over in large part because they had the passport to do so with Bernardo and Ferrari going to Italy for obvious reasons. If Bijev went to Bulgaria and Mendiola 'went' to Spain without any scouts knowing their good I'd agree with you. You are right in the end no matter their stories youth prospects are youth prospects and still need to prove alot to be considered solid professionals.
Ehh they have already found a way around that, and will no doubt find more. Like all business', the more rules they set, the more loopholes people will find.