USMNT Transfer Watch - Movers and Shakers

That is true and puts McKennie at a disadvantage if it is only between Juve and MLS. Of course it is also true that he could have offers from other teams that interest him as well. Juve's biggest positive at the moment might be having a coach that understands Weston...but I am sure other intelligent coaches see how he has been used as well...so who knows.

 

I’d be surprised if there’s not at least one guy who comes back surprisingly young this summer for the reasons you mention, leading to a sect of the fan base complaining about it.

Some of these guys have lived in Europe for a decade now. As they approach 30, a good few probably want to move home, see their family and friends often, date American girls, and start roots some place they see themselves staying forever. The relatively new factor of making a good amount of money and the league providing a solid level just enhances the appeal.

I’m quite excited to see if a bunch of these guys coming home in the next 5 years (Pulisic, Sargent, McKennie, Adams, Weah, Wright, Reyna, Aaronson, Richards…) boosts the popularity and legitimacy of the league. Dempsey on MLS was popular and great. This wave will be even more fun.

Wes seems like an LA guy to me.

 

Today McKennie played the entire match and he was mostly effective in spite of the fact that he was moved all around the field and played many, if not most, positions. McKennie was basically over worked because the referee made one of the worst calls I have ever seen anywhere in Europe. A second yellow was given to a Juve payer just before the half for a touch that, with even decent refereeing, would not have even been a foul.
But, in spite of that horrid call, Juve still managed to stay in the match and even scored an equalizer late but their legs just could not hold up and the were caught by a good strike late in the match. McKennie played very well and only had a couple of "walkabout" moments and those did not hurt Juve.

I am impressed by most of the Italian teams but I feel the refereeing is actually poorer than we see in MLS.
McKennie is now playing up to his promise and seems to have overcome his brain fart that cost the USA a good part of there chance to be in the Russian WC.

I hope he continues to play well and proves to be the valuable player he was poised to become before his mental breakdown.

But I am unsure where he should play for the USA. He is too versatile to get locked into one position but he is too good, right now, to be a player held out to cover for injury.

He "might" just be the striker we need, maybe. Or he might not.

 

I would put him in the middle of the field and give him freedom and/or guidance to find the game. He can play the same position each game but change the way he plays depending upon the situation and the opponent.

 

You need to have other players who move fluidly. Luckily we saw a lot of that the last window. One of the plusses to our guys getting moved around a lot is they can play that fluid way.

 

I believe he was the architect of the two goals Juve had.

 

What on Earth are you referring to in the bolded sentence? McKennie played no part in qualifying for Russia 2018.

 

Nonsense. It was McKennie's fault for not making his international debut until a month after Couva.

 

You mean it's his fault that Arena didn't call him up during qualifying. He said he would add him after but of course that turned out to not be necessary.

 

I don't any coach would have called up a player with 3 BL starts for such an important game, especially Bruce.

 

Normally I'd agree but from memory he would have been an improvement at the time following the missing generation and aging stars on their last leg. He would have been fine against TNT's young squad they put out and might even have tried to cover guys so they didn't get open shots.

 

I don’t know man… If I was able to spend 10 years in Europe as a young man, I’d be dating European women.

 

Literally any other lineup would have got a point. No manager was going to throw a kid in for his debut.

 

This is revisionist history and I've fought it since way back when. Yes, later McKennie was an upgrade and proved he wasn't a flash in the pan. But at the time of 2018 WC qualifying he'd just gotten his very first minutes as a first-team professional.

 

While I agree that would be ideal I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary.

I think that Adams and McKennie are both elite (world class?) in the amount of ground they cover so when I think of one, I often think of the other so I’ll use a comparison of the two to (hopefully) better explain my comment about McKennie.

I think Adams and McKennie are similar in that wherever they play, they make the jobs of those around them easier because, due to the large area they cover, they can increase the effectiveness of those around them due to the extra support they provide.

the way I believe they are different is simply that McKennie is far more versatile in the “direction” of his influence. By moving his heat map” in one direction or another (forward, backward, left right etc) his impact on the game can be altered depending on the opponents strengths and weaknesses and how we match up.

 

What happened with this one? Doesn't seem to have gone official, but the story was rampant a few days ago. Baker-Whiting is still listed as being on the Sounders on the MLS site.

Nashville SC acquires defender Reed Baker-Whiting in trade with Seattle Sounders - Yahoo Sports

Nashville SC has acquired defender Reed Baker-Whiting from the Seattle Sounders, general manager Mike Jacobs confirmed on Feb. 16.

Baker-Whiting, 20, is a United States youth international who appeared in 14 games for the Sounders (six starts) last season, providing one assist in 544 minutes.

While Nashville has not yet disclosed terms of the trade, The Athletic's Tom Bogert reported that the Sounders will receive about $800,000 in cash plus add-ons from NSC in exchange for Baker-Whiting.

 

Interesting. Nashville just acquired young Dallas wingback Malachi Molina.
You wonder if that Baker-Whiting deal fell thru for some reason.
Molina is Miami-born, but represents Jamaica.
FC Dallas Loans Homegrown Malachi Molina to Nashville SC | FC Dallas

 

On loan with a buy option.

 

Ask and you shall receive. Reed Baker-Whiting to Nashville is done.

Nashville SC acquire Reed Baker-Whiting from Seattle Sounders | MLSSoccer.com

Nashville SC have acquired defender/midfielder Reed Baker-Whiting from Seattle Sounders FC, the clubs announced Wednesday.

In exchange for the 20-year-old US youth international, Seattle receive up to $1.1 million. They'll get $800,000 guaranteed, another $300k if certain performance metrics are met and retain a sell-on/trade percentage.

Baker-Whiting will occupy a U22 Initiative roster spot for Nashville.

 

Also, former USYNTer Griffin Dorsey has been dealt from Houston to Orlando. Orlando obviously needed a RB replacement for Alex Freeman. I think Dorsey's a little undervalued on the boards, actually. Good player. Good signing. I'm never quite sure what Houston's plan is. That's turned into one of the more nondescript franchises in the league. Yes, let's trade Griffin Dorsey less than a week before the opener. I read a column indicating maybe Duane Holmes fills the position.

Orlando City acquire Griffin Dorsey from Houston Dynamo FC | MLSSoccer.com

Orlando City have acquired defender Griffin Dorsey from Houston Dynamo FC, the clubs announced Wednesday.

In exchange for the 26-year-old right back, Houston receive $1 million in General Allocation Money (GAM) split across the next two seasons. They also retain a sell-on percentage and could acquire an additional $200k in GAM if certain performance metrics are met.

 

RBW is a good young player I like that move

 

If Nashville is smart, they'll move Baker-Whiting into the midfield. I never really trusted RBW as a fullback. The Sounders targeted him as Nouhou's backup/potential replacement for a couple years, but his defensive instincts never seemed to develop very much. He'd be a good offensive player for them, though.

 

Its weird. The Sounders have brought in very little this off-season. Hasani Dotson from Minnesota and Ryan Sailor from Miami. Petkovic, who was like a rotation player for Charlotte.

They've just cashed in two of their most cash-in-able young homegrown players. Obed Vargas and Reed Baker-Whiting. They also had sold Danny Leyva to Necaxa (and before that Josh Atencio to Colorado). What's with it?????

Are they better than last season? I don't see it. But maybe health for their key players alone makes them better. I don't know. De la Vega isn't back from injury.

The have a lot of GAM coffers to upgrade/improve in the summer if they want to.

Everything you need to know ahead of Sounders’ new season

 

I think he's going to settle for rotational minutes but because he can play both wing and fullback and Nashville is in CCC, I think he gets good time. Najar is also pretty old.

But Nashville is absolutely stacked at most of his positions and the one where he might compete -- LB -- is manned by Lovitz, who is a better defender than him. And on a team with Najar at RB, Mukhtar and Espinoza at the wings ... yeah.

Maybe he gets some time at midfield. He's got some Muyl in him.

Normally when a prospect gets moved from midfield to fullback, it's not a great sign. And I think he was moved because he wasn't going to be an impact midfielder, much like Ledezma or Adrian Simons-Gill.

But unlike those two, RBW has the jets to play wide, so I'm still very much high on him stock wise -- now he's a wide player with enough speed to play wide but with a midfielder skillset.

He's been around so long I think people forget he's 20.

 

I think he's going to jack of all trades. He's a decent backup for Najar, will play some attacking wing as a backup and I think he could actually make a run at Muyl's job in the midfield.