The power of the letter O. For a second I read Cristiano Ronaldo there. He's making over $100K/day, by the way.
Wynalda was 23 when he was a starter in the Bundesliga. At Sargent's age he was in college. Wood was in 2nd Bundesliga at Sargent's age. Casey was on a Bundesliga team but had 0 appearances at 20 years old and only 4 the next year. None of those players came even remotely close to accomplishing was Sargent has at this respective age.
And Kirovski was an incredibly promising prospect at ManU well before 21... I'm not at all discounting the possibility that Sarge improves his production and rises above "very decent lower EPL attacking type" (which ain't no small potatoes either), but I would point out it is also not inevitable.
I like Sarge but I would point out the issue is really trajectory. The current trajectory isn't that good/impressive.
This is backwards. Previous generations of Americans lacked professional development opportunities. This stunted growth and made them very late bloomers. But Sargent had every early professional opportunity available to him. He should thus be far ahead of where they were at similar ages. Closer to his ceiling.
My exact wording was: "Sargent is literally the first US born #9 to accomplish that unless you consider what Jozy did at Hull to be comparable." Hoppe came after Sargent and he wasn't a true starter in the sense that Josh was. He had a nice hot streak and then back to the bench. No goal post moving happening here.
The ages of players have been coming down for the last 20 years to the point that UEFA and FIFA have had to pass regulations concerning underage labor recently. What's going on is called by some child trafficking already. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_trafficking https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-fifa-idUKKCN1QG2NM Comparing the careers of players 20 years ago to those of today doesn't make sense. It's like poking fun at Churchill for having been 5'6" in shoes.
Those U18 transfer bans may have more to do with protecting domestic talent pipelines than they do protecting international minors from being exploited. If they wanted to prevent exploitation they could drop the transfer ban and instead require minimum wages and contract terms for minors.
Thanks! I def enjoy it. Some of the parents leave me questioning why reproduction is so easy for some and so difficult or impossible for others. Quite a few of the kids I absolutely adore and I see the potential of their future, the sky's the limit. It's a great feeling to be that person who can help champion someone. But overall none of these kids are ready for the end of the year assessment. The odds are against them. Maybe I expect too much but I want them to showcase what they can do when motivated to do better. In 7 months, we'll see.
This is so true. I always forget that Bobby Wood was in Germany since he was 18 and playing in the lower divisions for some years.
Your opinion of McBride's innate physicality (I feel certain) would change if you saw him at 21 1/2 years old....between college ball and A League Milwaukee Rampage....and not prejudiced by the 15 years old (mostly growth) that came after that. My friend, you need to judge apples-to-apples. Me thinks just somewhere along the way after that (between the years of 21 & 35), McBride got a little stronger, smarter, better at positioning, better balanced...etc etc. more capable of taking on top league defenders. But he had to let his body mature and learn as he rose in competition and practiced his skills year-after-year. Of course, impossible that Josh can follow this path, not even 50% of it. He's peaked. No ability to add to his game at all. Just remember, at the SAME AGE that Josh is playing in his 2nd top 4 league in the world now... McBride was playing Christmas pick up games in the park against whoever would show up...waiting for his A-League team to start training for the 1994 season....and McBride still wound up figuring it out taking the long, windy, dusty path over many years. BTW- this header by Josh- just last month- looked pretty damn McBride-esque in his prime to me! Wait for the 2nd goal: Josh Sargent scores twice in Werder Bremen win - ESPN Video
He IS far of ahead of them. How many 20 year old American players were starting in the Bundesliga (or any top league) at forward....ever? How many European players start at forward in any of the top 4 leagues at 20 years old? But Josh did. It is an absolutely joke that you keep trying to pound away that a 21.5 year old professional player, any player, is considered close to their ceiling. You can actually pick any of the top 5 American sports as well. You would get laughed out the building by any pro coaching staff. Add the difficulty of playing on the forward line (where players take longer to develop)- it is just icing on the cake of your ridiculous counter-arguments. And your continued obfuscation of the fact that Sargent is playing against EXTREMELY HIGH CALIBER COMPETITION - higher than virtually every other American professional player his age.... also totally belittles your argument. Of course, it is most difficult to produce.... if your opponent is of much higher caliber! (relative to your American peers). McBride scored 17 goals in 18 appearances in the A-League at 22 years old. Go check out how he did after that when he first went to Germany haha
Please name young American field players who over a 2-3 and even 4 season period in Europe has NOT progressed in a lumpy, zig-zag, stair step pattern... I have a very, very difficult time finding even 1 or 2. But I can easily name over a dozen who have had non-linear progress. Pulisic, Adams, Reyna, Dest, Pefok, McKinnie.....all seem to be making progress, but man- it is certainly not anywhere near linear...even over long time stretches. There are holes still in any their abilities- important things they still need to learn. Let us remember that Josh has only a little over 2 professional seasons over his belt. Pulisic, Adams, Pefok and McKinnie much longer. Yes, Hoppe had an incredible 3 game goal scoring burst... but then many games without a goal or really a sniff for Schalke...and then 1 more at end of season. He played in 24 games in his BL/Spain career and has 6 goals. Great start for Hoppe, but no guarantee that he will score another 6 goals the next 24 games. After all, Pulisic and Reyna had great statistical starts to their careers and then both had months long cooling off periods (Pulisic you could claim at least more than a year!) Pepi plays in a far easier league than any of the top 4- has had a very good season indeed this year and had 1 great half for USMNT. Great start and I'd love for him to be the savior/ answer to all our striker problems. But I feel certain he will have his tough patches in the next 2 years where he struggles as well. Could be because he's in Europe facing higher competition or for other reasons. Past From my perspective, Josh certainly has progressed the last 2 years. The trajectory is hard to tell, because every young player has a different growth trajectory, and statistics are blunted by the type of team you play for, the difficulty of the league. As a young player in a top league, you are always going to be (to some extent) a victim or hero of the team's overall play. But Josh has made some milestones in the last 2 years: we didn't know if Josh could score long-range strikers from outside the box with either foot in a top 4 league, that he could score acrobatically against a top 4 league goalkeeper, score towering headers against strong competition. You got to walk before you run. He has also scored more goals in the past 14 months than his first 14 months in his career. That's progress. He's getting more comfortable it seems. Yes he will be under increasing scrutiny, but there is a lot of time on the clock for him to develop. The one thing that IS consistent for players between 18-23...is there inconsistency! And I emphasize again young strikers need longer to develop and sometimes their on-field development is not always apparent to the naked eye- and does not immediate translate to statistical development (Goals/Assists) but the foundation for their future statistical and mental progress is indeed being built before our eyes. A big year for Josh this year, big and increased expectations...but by no means a career defining year either. Let's remember please that he has (basically) only played 2 professional seasons and is still 21.5 years old. Very early in his career by any reasonable definition.
Kid is hard working and not a terrible footballer. Should be enough to have a decent career, even if he never blooms into the guy we want.