I realize this is an unpopular opinion, but at some point, some of these kids have to start staying in mls, right? I mean, at least for a couple years like Durkin and Carleton. I really thought those two would start a trend, but that’s clearly not the case. I’d still rather players went to Europe, but I think eventually, kids staying and making mls a good league will be a good thing overall.
Those kids got signed early because they were key parts of the U17 team. Guys who emerge late are going to be old enough to be fine with not having a pay day for 6 months when they can then go straight to Europe. I suspect the trend of key players on the U17 team signing with MLS and the rest going abroad will continue.
For the time being. But if mls keeps improving and making money, and if more kids get opportunities, and those kids are of higher caliber than their predecessors, then you’d think more kids would be interested in staying home so they don’t have to deal with the issues of playing abroad. All of this is, of course, assuming this current u20 generation isn’t an outlier and we really are going to have a steady stream of talented players coming up.
Working out well for Durkin. Working out terrible for Carleton. I think until MLS gets a better record of transferring senior team players (e.g Glad, Kellyn Acosta, Danny Acosta, Tyler Adams, etc.) they won't attract the most-talented youth players.
Agreed. But it seems like Tata is holding Carleton’s age against him. 1-2 years from now, Carleton could be a regular starter and the narrative might change. I agree that MLS is hurting its own reputation by keeping senior team players too long. Hopefully, guys like Adams and maybe Durkin and/or Carleton will change that
yes, young american players playing in mls for a couple/few years before stepping up would be dreamy...but mls is a really crappy league for young americans (theres seemingly no middling central/south american journeyman mls managers wont play ahead of them) and americans looking to move abroad. so, however you type out that shrugging emoji thing here.
Think that pretty much confirms that he's going abroad. To where is still the question. I talked to some Ajax guys and they said the name was familiar and they would do some asking around.
Anyone have any highlight videos of this kid? I've never seen him, and nothing substantial comes up on Youtube.
Here’s a game from the DA playoffs I think @zlebmada did some gifs from that game, too. If you go back in his Twitter timeline you can find them.
I think that MLS clubs will force the issue on solidarity as they keep losing their best prospects. I can see them forcing the union on this. Perhaps even a compromise that if they are under a certain age they get it and if they leave MLS after a certain age they don't. Still stupid but maybe would placate the union as I can't see how they can in anyway defend their stance for players who have never been their members.
This doesn't seem like the hill the MLSPA would choose to die on. In fact, I'm confident that could be persuaded to sign on to a TC/S system....if they were offered a suitable concession by MLS.
I may be way off on this, and I'm trying to find concrete evidence, but I believe that Soto (and Chris Gloster) played for Hannover 96 in the U-19 Ruhr Cup this last week. Edit: Here's one news article reporting Sebastian Soto played against Dortmund and scored: https://www.ruhrnachrichten.de/Spor...VB-U19-alle-Moeglichkeiten-offen-1311966.html
Also, I think he may have played against Juventus? If someone wants to watch this video and tell us if #14 is Soto that would be great. It kind of looks like him and he's playing striker but I can't really tell to be sure.