Virginia youth player signed by Arsenal

DigitalTron · Sep 13, 2002

Two Virginia youth players were asked to train for EPL giant Arsenal this summer. One was just offered a contract. His name is Danny Karbassiyoon, a forward. The other Virginian, Drew Harrison, is a wingback in residency for the U-17's. If I'm not mistaken Harrison was on a previous DC United affiliated/sponsored youth/reserve team. I know that both were on DC United's radar.

Here's a link to the article:

http://www.planetfootball.com/article.asp?id=108715&cpid=218&title=American+offered+Arsenal+contract

And here's a link to some other threads about it on Big Soccer:

This one is in the Junior Teams forum
https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13360

and this one is in the USA forum.

https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=13328

-Tron

DigitalTron · Sep 13, 2002

Here's what his coach, JBohland on BS, had to say about him:

I know Danny quite well-I coach for Roanoke Star, the club Danny plays for. He's a very quick and talented front runner; his first step and touch is excellent, best I've seen at the youth level.

He got noticed by Arsenal at the Adidas ESP Camp in Wilmington; another one of our players, Drew Harrison from the U-17 National Team, was there as well. Danny won the golden boot at the camp and got invited by Arsenal for training soon after. A story about it ran on our local TV station and was in the paper as well. He seems to have impressed enough to get offered a two year contract; his mom is Italian so work permit issues should not be an issue.

Plus, from what I've noted and people with in the club have said to me, he's a great kid. Hard-working, last to leave the pitch, the whole bit. He'll do well abroad b/c of this attitude, esp. when combined with his ability. I have not heard what his final decision is on college versus Arsenal; I know UVA or Duke were the likely choices before the Arsenal link cropped up. Word from the club was that Boro and a Spanish side were also interested. I do think he's leaning towards Arsenal at this point.

As for his ODP status, I know he's on the Region I team but is too old for residency. He actually had a knee injury a couple of years back and has just come back into full health in the last year.

Our club is doing a good job developing players these days. In the last three years we've had John Hartman (U-20 pool, plays at UVA), Drew Harrision, and now Danny come out of the club.

Hope this info helps.
Jon
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and his coach further said:

He's not a target man; he's more in the Landon Donovan size range, perhaps a bit bigger. He's a classic-counterattacking frontrunner that could also play behind the two up top in a 3-5-2. His main attribute is pace; he is about as fast as any player I've seen at the U-18 level for a long time.

There's a pic of him and a story about the ESP Camp on our club website. Link is <http://www.rvysc.org>
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picture:http://www.rvysc.org/02_karbassiyoonboot.jpg

-Tron

SABuffalo786 · Sep 13, 2002

Very cool.

Ricky_DCU · Sep 13, 2002

Being from Roanoke this is particularly awesome!