I think this was hardly the worst roster decision in the last offseason, but it was definitely the least explicable. Powder was young, had a strong USL season, is domestic, and plays a position of need. Instead we signed the older, not as good, international-slot-taking Ashtone Morgan to disappear to God-knows-where and left Powder with the Monarchs? Again, it's not we'd be contending for MLS Cup if we'd signed Noah Powder, but he was basically a freebie of a signing. If we didn't sign him last offseason, what's even the point of having the Monarchs?
Unless the point is that by keeping him on the Monarchs they felt he'd develop more by seeing much more game action than he would likely see with RSL. And NOW, he's potentially maxed out with that, and more ready to step on the field with the first team. I've seen him play a number of times, but I don't know enough about the ins-and-outs of his game to evaluate that, but I'm sure those making that decision have a pretty good handle on that. Morgan has been a starter in this league, so it's hard to suggest hat Powder was more MLS ready than him, even if he may have more upside.
I agree with kir, signing kids to ship them off just isn't in the cards yet. Maybe in the future when the academies are pumping out a lot of great talent, but we're not there yet. By taking a contract, I can see why it would be harder to move to Europe. Instead of a team taking a chance on you on a free, they now have to decide whether or not the transfer fee is worth the risk.
I'm not sure how that comment lead to this much of a response but I appreciate some more color. @Med_Phys laid out how complicated the 2021 roster is becoming with the signings that are happening. I know it's hard to make a lot of criticisms of Fall given all of the shit behind the scenes and Covid, but one thing for certain he deserves criticism on is that he filled his 2020 roster to the max in February. That's not good GM work. We're suffering because of that decision now. This team needs different players and cannot make any adjustments this year. Sure, it's a throw away year, but the fear then becomes are we falling further behind. What I'm concerned about is that he's apparently repeating that error for 2021. He is locking up roster spots 21-30 fast and we don't have a ton of guys going off contract this year (right?) to think that 1-20 are suddenly wide open. More to that: The RSL Show made a point of Glad and Onuhoa being at the end of their contracts this season. That means Fall needs to spend time either signing those guys back to new contracts or you have to figure out how to sign 2 CB's that are starter quality in this league. That's on top of our well documented forward struggles since Sabo left. Oh, and the outside backs. I'm also not sure this club ever figured out the middle of the pitch works. Fall has a lot of known blockers in doing his job. Even more that we don't know about, I'm sure. But he isn't completely handcuffed and that's being shown with these new signings and filling the 2020 roster. This season is certainly a shit show and a throw-away in a lot of ways, but not in every way.
Part of this is that the RSL Academy is built to identify players too late, in my opinion. I believe I've said this on here before, but I'll say it again. The academy needs to have more of a footprint at the young ages. Only having 15+ year old players in your setup is getting into their ear about being part of the RSL setup too late. I really really wish this club would have a state wide identification program starting at 10 maybe even 8. The club's current approach is to have kids get an invite from their youth club and do a weekly training session or two in massive groups at the Academy. I've watched it for a few years now to see if it significantly changed anything in how RSL picked up talent - I can't tell any difference. Setting that aside, if you look a the Tacoma Defiance roster you'll notice they only have 1 player over the age of 23. They have a significant amount still in their teens. They have a 15 year old. This is what RSL needs to do. Talking to an 18 year old about joining the Monarchs is too late. The U19 Academy team should be filled with guys on their last chance with the club, not the top academy prospects. Those kids should have been signed at 15 to the Monarchs. From what I've seen, this club doesn't take that approach. Contract talks don't seem to happen until kids are at the u19 team at an age of 17+. That's too late in this game.
If Glad and Nedum are at the end of their contracts and you don't know if they can be resigned why not make a trade? Justin has to have some trade value. When was the last time RSL made a decent trade? I would take a 38 year old Kei Kamara over ever forward we have on the roster.
Gianluca Busio signed for Sporting just after his 15th birthday. George Bello signed for Atlanta just after his 15th birthday. Brenden Aaronson had almost 30 appearances with Bethlehem Steel before signing to Philly at 18. Paxton Pomykal and Jesus Ferreira both signed to Dallas when they were 16. Akinola was playing for Toronto FC II when he was 16. When was the last time a standout academy kid was signed to the first team at 15 or 16 let alone to the Monarchs?
I wonder if this is another DLH issue? Why sign and pay a 15 or 16 year old to play soccer when they play for you in the academy for free?
that's a fair point/question. We don't know. At this point, it doesn't matter. It has to be a focus on the club going forward. I would think new owners don't want to drop all that cash on a club, with all the facility "fees" and then abandon it as much as DLH. DLH was a builder and then run at low cost kind of guy. That model makes a whole lot of sense in apartment complexes and the like. The new group is going to be spending too much money on all this stuff to not use it, I would think. I really really want to see an initiative to make the club pyramid actually a pyramid. I want to see self made restrictions on roster makeup for the Monarchs. I want to see the club focused on winning with RSL, not the Monarchs
This isn't really news about us, but a great piece from The Athletic about the madness of the end of the transfer window. "Panic, Dirty Games, and Skipped Medicals" is worth the read if you have a subscription. There are scenarios in there that boggle the mind, and others which sound like the RSL approach to things.
NOT NEWS, but... Hoping to will this to happen if we discuss it enough. Mason Toye from MIN for ~$500k in xAM. We need help up top, he's a young (22), (was thought to) borderline NT player, scores goals and doesn't use an international spot. He's been bumped from the rotation and is surely available. I'm guessing on the number, Lennon went for $300k and Gressel is up to $1.1m. And while writing this Montreal traded for him. Damn....
https://www.rslsoapbox.com/platform...&utm_source=twitter&__twitter_impression=true Ok. I was wrong. He can go. If substantiated of course. Party with 100 people? In this situation? Move along. Yesterday. Oh and gun play. That’s bad too.
100% agree. However the link you posted said the gun play hasn't been corroborated. "In research conducted independently, we were not able to confirm that the shooting took place at Johnson’s residence. Public records from the state county assessor’s office show that the reported shooting took place on the same block as Johnson’s residence. Photos of police vehicles at the incident site match closely with public photos from Google Maps of Johnson’s residence."
That's good if the shooting was somewhere else I imagine. 100 people at a party not so much nowadays.
Even without the pandemic, having large parties the night before games just seems like a bad thing to do.
After Pool Boy and now Party Man Sam maybe we can start convincing high profile prospects that Utah does have the night life they are looking for.
Even without the gun issues, RSL needs to cut him ASAP. He has endangered his teammates and the RSL staff, employees and all of their families via reckless behavior.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that RSL got $75k in GAM from Orlando. https://www.rsl.com/post/2020/10/13/rsl-acquires-75k-2020-gam-orlando-city-sc Must be one of those players we couldn't scout in person. Also, anyone else hear that Andy Williams is involved with FCPS? Is he still employed by RSL, too?
2020 GAM, not unrestricted or 2021 GAM, meaning it has to be used this year? Good grief, what's the point?
Would it put $75k into Del Loy's pocket that he would otherwise have to cover himself on players like Rusnak?