A few months ago Taylor Twellman reported it was relayed to him by front office members of European big clubs that there would be 20 Pulisics on the horizon that America would produce. We've already seen some very promising young Americans emerge from our system and abroad. But if you had to pin it down to 20 starlets, who would they be?
Efrain Alvarez, Pomykol, Ferriera, Pepi, Roberts, Aaronson, Carleton, Busio. just off the top of my head. Really depends on what he means by 20 Pulisics and what age to be considered. Not sure any have his level though although a few may get there.
A few of these are reaches if we are truly talking about Pulisic's class, but there are also many names like Leyva, Araujo, Palomino, Acosta, etc. who could theoretically rise very quickly that are left out. The Obvious 1. Sargent 2. McKennie 3. Adams 4. Weah The MLS Breakouts with Potential 5. Mihailovic 6. Pomykal 7. Efra 8. Aaronson 9. Bassett 10. Mckenzie 11. Durkin 12. Sands The Abroad Standouts Not Quite First Team Ready 13. Konrad 14. Dest 15. Richards 16. Ledezma 17. Mendez 18. Llanez 19. Soto The Talent is There 20. Carleton 21. Fuentes 22. Roberts 23. Booth 24. Ferreira The Next Wave 25. Las 26. Reyna 27. Busio 28. Pepi 29. Bello 30. Scally The likelihood of 20 of these players turning out to be at Pulisic's level within a couple of years is very slim, but I could easily see a handful with another handful in the discussion. I think 15 Europa level or higher players around the age of 20-22 is possible within a coupe of years, but 20 Champions League caliber players is a big stretch.
I'd presume they mean players on Pulisics level, or at the very least make the rotation at a pretty big club as he did. Otherwise what would be the point of the statement? We have kids transfer to the youth teams of major leagues in Europe all the time. You could argue Adams and McKennie are already at Pulisic's level. They'd count in my book. Pulisic has not put up an insurmountable standard. He emerged early, showed to be a bright young player, but ultimately stagnated to only become a rotation guy and spark off the bench at BVB. 20 may be a hyperbolic over-correction, but 10+ seems very within reach, especially given all the teen attackers and early 20's defensive-oriented players showing promise domestically right now and to a lesser extent abroad. Sargent, Weah, Aaronson, Reyna, Pepi, Mendez, De La Fuente, Richards, Ledezma, Alvarez, Dest, etc. all very realistically could have around the same career. Maybe a Robinson, Mueller, or Marcinkowski could back door excellence with time and opportunity. I don't like writing anybody off as a difference maker simply because they went to college like Dempsey, Pope, or Friedel in the past.
I took it to mean in MLS. Was he referring to 20 anywhere? Makes a big difference. I don't remember the exact quote.
I should’ve said “Europa league level in a decent league” Just going on history, so many will be a bust in that list. Unfortunately. But that would be amazing if you’re right!
Approaching this a different way, look at all the guys who would now be on a list of 20 that nobody even discussed when this quote was made (during the England friendly?). I follow this probably closer than 99.4% of the fans listening to that broadcast and I would not have put these names down last November: Mihailovic Pomykal Sands Busio Bassett M. Robinson Vines I had heard about them but they seemed to have stalled or hadn't lit up anything. They have all taken a big step forward just this past month! These guys I had not heard about at all at that time: Aaronson Fuentes Pepi Leyva Cerillo Cappis That is 11 guys that nobody really expected much from that everyone now expects big things from. It is interesting that they are mostly MLS and, for whatever reason, MLS now is interested in. We might see a similar wave of break throughs at the start of the next Euro season. You add 8-15 kids emerging in MLS from nowhere to the elite talent already plucked and in Europe: Konrad Dest Richards Ledezma Mendez Llanez Soto Booth Amon Weah Sargent Reyna Hoffman Gloster And you can get to 20 easy. Sure, most can't be expected to make it. But for every name up there there are 3-5 more in Europe we hear even less about than a guy like Bassett in Colorado. Watts, Gaines, Akale, Lederman, Stroud, Ferri, Jones, Young, Vassilev, etc. Maybe they are all not going to make it, but I bet there are a couple of Duane Holmes/Aaron Long/Tyler Boyd types among all that diaspora that emerge late. I bet a few emerge in 6 months. A guy like Pynadath, is sort of in between those two groups. There are also some guys in MLS that we do hear about but haven't broken through yet like the ones above: Mckenzie Durkin Carleton Roberts Ferreira Bello Scally Then there is another ton of kids just like these at the U17 level. Kids like Dantouma Toure, Nyeman, Las, AOC, etc. I do think we are just seeing the first results of the professionalization of youth soccer in the USA. The same process that Germany did and the other UEFA nations followed 10-15 years ago.