There's far greater opportunity in Germany. FCD still doesn't offer much in the way of $$$. Their pride and joy, Fabian Castillo, makes 170K/Y. He's also still stuck there on 170K rather than turning his time at FCD into something decent. That doesn't give much incentive to sign.
They also pay Kellyn Acosta $240K per year. It always depends on the type of contract a kid signs abroad. Is it just a youth pro contract that a majority have signed (which many aren't MLS minimum) or a similar one that Pulisic and Rubin signed? Weston has his options, so it's probably a nice offer from Dallas and the German club.
The difference of course being the Bund is the 2nd highest paying league globally and if he makes it there, he'll earn a helluva lot more than FCD will pay him given their entire payroll is 4.2M. Average Bund salary is 1.6M. Hence more "opportunity". Rubin btw is on at least the Ered non-EU minimum which for a 20 yr old is 457K/Y. Pulisic is reportedly on 5K/week or 287K/Y. He's probably not paying rent either. That should increase a good amount in the next 1-2 years. Judging by BVB's salaries, at worst he'll likely get a bump to the 20-30K/week range. Plus there's the new tv deal. That's why you go, the rewards are handsome and MLS will always be there if one wasn't to succeed. If he wants it that is. If he wants FCD, sign with them.
Brian reported that FCD made a big push to sign him a homegrown deal. But you're right.............its unlikely FCD offered a Jordan Morris-style contract. Jordan Morris had the leverage of already being a USMNT player. So a Bundesliga club like Schalke would offer more money and a better development pathway. I mean, this seems like an easy decision. Its probably only a hard decision for a player like Weston because he's been a part of the FCD family for a long time. And FCD is a club that does give playing time to young players. I mean.............we can write a long list of MLS academy prospects that have gone to big Euro leagues recently (Olosunde, Wright, Lennon, Doughty, etc.) We'd expect that to happen. Its a good sign regarding the progress of the academies. Not good for MLS, but I'm not sure there's a ton they can do about it. They can offer these kids big contracts and they still might choose to head abroad. Jordan Morris' decision is the exception, not the rule. Barring an injury I don't know about, I can't explain why McKennie isn't playing with their U18s in the DA finals................................unless he's signed abroad. So I think he's already signed. Maybe they're waiting to announce until after the U18 DA final today.
The interesting thing is, that if FCD does indeed miss out on McKennie, they still have several decent Academy players to fill that final roster spot with. Believe it or not, I'd like to see them offer Jesus Ferreira a contract. He's clearly on an upward trajectory that could surpass McKennie's. He's Colombian, and has trained with the Colombian youth teams, but many believe he will play for the USYMNT once he becomes eligible.
Ongoing discussion about this in another thread, given your avatar safe to assume that you may be more aware of the situation than most. Who are the many that believe he will play for Usmnt, and why?
I'll look that thread up. I remember the conversation, just not the location. When I run into it again, I'll post a link.
Yup. They have a bunch of prospects to sign, but who are the "impact players?" Who are the guys who won't just be MLS squad players, but elite MLS/USMNT caliber players? I just happen to think that of the current U18s, McKennie is/was that guy. [Others might think differently.] MLS can't keeping losing these players, which they've been doing consistently (Hyndman, Rubin, Arriola in the last U20 cycle to a host in this one). I'm not faulting McKennie at all in this. A Bundesliga deal would be a fantastic opportunity from his point of view. In each of these cases we can say the kid made a really good decision.As USMNT fans we all want these kids to "reach for the stars," but as MLS fans we do want that league to grow. MLS can't grow unless the skill level of the average American player in the league grows. We don't want to become Uruguay, where the second a kid shows a modicum of talent he's snapped up by a foreign club. Its good for the Uruguayan national team, but the Uruguayan league is in a terrible place right now. I wouldn't be shocked if they offer Jesus a HG deal shortly. He's the "real deal." He and Paxton Pomykol, who's been "promoted" to the u18s now, both seem like legitimate prospects. We'll see.
MLS is going to have to sign the top prospects at a younger age to land them. If you wait until a player is almost 18 then most top prospects are probably going to go overseas. It is a risk signing early because most of these players are not capable of helping a MLS team right away. Hopefully MLS got it right signing Carleton, Goslin and Davies at an early age. You need to sell for a decent transfer fee (>750K) to recoup your money though, but long-term what is really in it for the MLS Clubs if all their top talent gets poached for free and you are left with the average MLS prospects that rarely make the team better. Why spend the millions it takes to run the academies? Positive problem to have from a USMNT perspective and can't fault the players. MLS is just in a tough spot.
Not to get off track seeing as this is a Mckinnie thread but just wanted to share this: My source close to FC Dallas U16 '00 Jesus Ferreira he will be eligible to play for US sooner than later, and he is willing to wait #usynt— Joey (@USAprospects) May 17, 2016
Clubs "poach" amateur players the world over. (Parma got nothing, or close to it, when Manchester United signed Giuseppe Rossi, to name one semi-pertinent example.) It's up to MLS clubs to decide whether they want to offer market rate for young players other clubs want. If they don't, the outcome shouldn't surprise anyone.
An there lies a huge problem with the overall American soccer landscape. If Dallas wanted to sign him early, they'd be competing with colleges. In this case Weston had an offer from UVA which allows kids to return to school if they play just one season. I believe that was how FCD was eyeing this for Weston It's hard for FCD to pay a kid enough to forego his NCAA eligibility. If the money isn't there, there is little incentive for Weston to sign as a mid-teen since he's going to be playing for FCD's youth teams anyway. Then when he gets good enough, MLS has to compete with foreign teams. The American soccer landscape can be its own worst enemy at times - both with restrictions MLS places on its teams but also with NCAA regulations that affect pre-college decisions. I don't blame Weston for wanting to get to Schalke, but I think its a shame FCD gets nothing in return. They have a good thing going in terms of development and its in all fans of US Soccer to see them rewarded. It's kind of a good case study in all the dysfunctional moving parts that can sabotage development here.
At least he stayed with his youth club. The Haji Wright "I'm gonna drop out of the US club scene and survive on practice stints in Germany" model was the one that more concerned me. His Cosmos stint was at least a good move. Another summer without any games would have been a shame.
Its worth point out that kids can go thru development ups-and-downs at different paces. There wasn't a discussion of "FCD needs to sign him to a homegrown deal pronto so that he's not poached by a Bundesliga team" until very recently. Our discussion was whether FCD should offer a contract now or wait until after a year at UVA. This is a kid that didn't make our 2015 U17 World Cup team. Last year at this time I was talking about Devin Vega being the most likely FCD kid to be offered a homegrown deal. Then I went thru a Reggie Cannon phase, as he plays a position of need for the club. Then I went thru a Jesus Ferreira phase. By the time I came around to the fact that Weston McKennie was actually the most immediate concern, he'd probably already been in contact with Bundesliga clubs. For Clavijo it must feeling like trying to plug a bunch of holes in an emptying bucket.......................
If the USSF/MLS mandated solidarity payments and training compensation, then FCD would have seen a ROI for some who bolted like Hyndman previously(Fulham received training comp when he signed with Bournemouth, FCD did not) and could potentially for Weston down the road. But apparently the MLSPU is the biggest hurdle there.
However, FCD is for it......................... http://www.fourfourtwo.com/us/featu...medium=t&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social Solidarity payments is an issue Clavijo pointed to several times in our discussion this weekend. It is a challenge he believes threatens the FC Dallas model. Clavijo said he would put his academy up against some of the best in the world when it comes to the facilities, coaching and investment, but “to be able to protect our players is something we face today and it’s very difficult.” Clavijo said he often feels the club’s work in the academy is like a quasi-showcase for other teams around the world to scout. That won’t change unless the system does. More of Clavijo-on-solidarity to come. Saved some of the best stuff for a feature I'm working on... https://t.co/68nadwsCcV— Paul Tenorio (@PaulTenorio) July 18, 2016
Long-term, I would think the MLS Teams would be pro solidarity payments. As MLS Academies (and NASL/USL) expand and dominate the market to a greater and greater extent, I would think the upside from receiving the payments would be greater than the downside of not enforcing the system. Personally, I don't think that a club that charges players and doesn't have a pro option should be able to recoup money anyway. Opening the can of worms and sorting through all the ramification both positive and negative appear to be the big stumbling block. Of course their is really no positive from a player perspective, so union will oppose it and that might be largest issue to resolve.
This is the cat that Christopher Sullivan has been on about the past few weeks on Counter Attack on SiriusXM in the afternoon. I guess I have to temper that saying that I assume this is the guy, because he is described as a under 19 year old kid who is getting rave reviews and has an offer from Schalke. If it is the guy Sullivan is speaking of, he suggests that Weston may be better than Pulisic in his opinion, which is IMO high praise. Sullivan may have a penchant for name dropping and humble bragging, but I do rate him as a real soccer guy, someone who has seen an awful lot of talented players and one that could probably pick a legit prospect out of a crowd. Can't wait to see how this guy develops.