The Official Alfredo Morales thread

Solid. First team culture.

 

Yeah, I feel like the piece we're missing is that sort of early to mid-20's good quality player that's still on the rise. We've got this group of 17-18 year olds, but I think it will take 5 years for them to reach close to their peak. So like I said, if you're targeting 2026, the timing doesn't seem quite right. Then we have veteran stopgaps like Morales, Pellegrino, and Akapo. As far as I know we have not one, not two, but three U22 slots open. We should be looking to use them over the next year or so. We are just a little hollowed out in the lower middle right now in terms of age / career trajectory - we've got aging veterans, we've got youth prospects but not a lot in the middle*, but there's potential to make it a little better with the U22 slots.

* We do have a group of players that are more like mid to late 20's that are pretty good in general: Rodrigues, Espinoza, Yueill, Gruezo, Marie, Jebo, etc. But by 2026 they are pushing 30. Those have to be your veterans in 2026, and there should be younger players pushing them for minutes by 2026.

 

I’m not sold at all on youth development SJ style as a path to success here.

But 2026 was Leitch’s pledge to us. He actually said that he fully expected for us to win silverware before then but by 2026 at the latest.

 

The youth development should be part of the plan and will bear some fruit but can't be all of it, or even nearly all of it. We need a mix - Quakes academy youth, veterans, and high quality mid-career players. It's the high quality mid-career players that we're going to be short on in 2026 if we don't start addressing it.

 

Yep, it’s hard to see any method to what Leitch is doing these days, not if he’s serious about his 2026 commitment to our fans.

 

There's still time to do it. An impact DP CAM who's not too old and might still be the guy in 2026 + let's say some good U22 signings and we might be in reasonable shape. But...work to do.

 

How old will Pellegrino be in 2026?

 

I wrote a better version of that post above, which I meant to delete, in the preseason thread. That post addresses Pellegrino’s age if you can’t do the math.

 

I wish I was 33 again!

 

If Leitch wants to emulate the first Quakes dynasty we must understand that it requires us to go from worst to first in 2026, so obviously we need to tank 24 and 25!