YNT-eligible MLS players: 2020 In-season thread

Any MLS player, especially young ones, should take any opportunity to get to Europe this window. Pomykal has barely played in almost a year. Cannon hasn't played more than a handful of games in 9 months. It is getting ridiculous. Aaronson should just go. What point would it be to stay and not play?

At best, MLS will have regional bubbles with a bunch of teams playing each other. But they haven't even floated that idea, so the planning is not even started. The idea of a full schedule of 18 games with teams traveling is a pipe dream.

Anyone that can get out should get out. If the season doesn't happen, I don't even think they get paid. That might be incentive enough for MLS to not even try that hard and pick up again next March.

 

Do we think it is a solely media driven narrative that so much talk during MLSisBack is about selling players to Europe? Any time any young American has played well, it is, "won't be here for long!" All the pre-game talk is about scouts from X European club you have heard of monitoring the players. The 180 from "these are the best players" to "these players are wanted in those better leagues" has happened so fast as to be jarring.

I get the feeling that a new marketing study was commissioned and it emphasized that Americans doing well in Europe raise the profile of soccer in this country. Also, MLS players moving to the leagues people watch on TV raises interest in MLS.

Beating LigaMX teams was shown to be important to win over the 7X LigaMX fans that watch those games on TV in America. I think they have figured out that you can also draw in the 4X fans that watch European soccer on American TV by having your players associated with European teams.

MLS still hasn't sold anyone and it is like pulling teeth to get them to do it (you turned down how much for Busio?!?). But the HQ seems to be on board and the memo has gone out to their in house media and media partners.

 

Ferreira is a #9. There's no conundrum getting him and Pomykal on the field. There's a conundrum of getting him and Pepi on the field at the same time.

 

I don't know if I completely agree, but I thought I'd post this video anyway. I think McKenzie shows very good confidence to play a pass. His actual technique isn't something I would consider a strength though.

Mark McKenzie’s distribution is really good for a young centerback. It’s even better that he’s comfortable with using both feet.

pic.twitter.com/Q1lRVaLXuT

— Sanjiv (@USMNTvideos) August 3, 2020

 

If true and they don't get anymore games in, that really screws the FCD yougsters that weren't able to showcase themselves at the Orlando tournament. Anyone know why FCD had such a large outbreak of COVID that got them dismissed from the tournament and no one else did? When it happened I didn't think it would be a big deal as I figured the tournament would get cancelled completely, but it turned out to be a pretty big blow for FCD players to not be there.

Any word on what is happening with Jessie Gonzalez? Guess he picked a good time be gone for awhile.

 

Let's hope so. I think it comes down to MLS maybe is finally getting the hint 99% of these young US hopefuls want to play in Europe. They grew up watching Chelsea, Man U and Real Madrid with dreams of Champions League, not playing for DC united at Disney Wild World of Sports on a hot night in July.

Might as well sell them young and get some money for them instead of trying to convince them their future is in the MLS and locking them into punitive contracts. The more MLS sticks that 3 year contract with 2 year club options in front of 16 years olds like Johnathan Gonzalez, the more you will see them bolt from the MLS clubs and bide their time in USL until they get to Europe. MLS gets nothing in that situation.

 

Johnathan Gomez, not Gonzalez. The other JOGO.

 

Agree. Ferreira is so unwilling to play anything that requires any resemblance of defense. The closest you will ever see him playing any type of defense would be as a #10 and Pomykal is not a nominal #10. Jesus is a different #9 than Pepi and both could see the field at the same time under a different coach but that would go against anything Luchi believes in.

 

Except he won't be playing the #9 for FCD.
Luchi seems to prefer a #9 in the mold of Jara, Cobra, Pepi.
They didn't sign Jara for a club record transfer fee to come off the bench.

So that means you put Ferreira as a supporting striker or #10, a role I think he's really well suited to. Last year Jesus led the team in goals, but he also finished 2nd on the club in assists behind Barrios.

Last year FCD got away with their Pomykal/Ferreira problem. Pomykal was gone for an extended period with the US U20s and then he was hurt much of the 2nd half of the season. So Ferreira played the supporting striker/10 role behind Cobra. It worked really well. Cobra got on a goal-scoring run.

As I've said previously, FCD was going to lose a lot of players to international duty this summer. These problems were going to work themselves out naturally amongst the forwards and midfielders. Acosta was going to miss time with Honduras. Pomykal, Servania, and Ferreira were going to be gone extensively with the U23s (and maybe the USMNT). Tessman, Pepi, and maybe Roberts were going to be gone with the U20s. Cobra was going to be gone a hell of a lot of the summer with the Czech Republic (in preparation for and then at the Euros). Heck, folks will remember that if 2020 went like we thought it would...............Jara was only going to join the team at the All-Star Break. Then it would have taken him time to get integrated.

So all of these players would have rotated in and out like they did last season, and they would have found playing time for everybody. With no international duty, its impossible to figure out how to do it. People have to be left out.

 

The two footedness is, however, outstanding. Huge bombs with his left. This means that his passing can't be shut down so easily and is a rare commodity.

 

Everybody really needs to slow down on the Busio hate train. At the very least he will be a good, solid pro and nobody should hate on that.

 

I’m pretty sure everyone has acknowledged that. We just don’t think he’s good enough for Europe

 

When he gets to Europe we will see. There plenty American kids sub MLS level there.

 

There are entire leagues sub MLS in Europe.

 

There are a lot of places Busio could succeed at and that I would be happy to see him go to. But most of those clubs are in leagues at or below MLS level so unless the money is better he’d be better off stateside.

What I don’t want to see is Busio go to Europe to a bigger club like Feyenoord, Juventus, Fiorentina, and Milan who have better players his age in their academy and then Busio’s career has a major setback.

If Busio went to a mid table Eredivise or a 2 Bundesliga team I’d be pretty happy for him because i think those levels fit him

 

the busio ‘hate’ is that a 15 or 16yo with tremendous upside is no closer to realizing it as he ages out of prodigy territory and into the phase where someone expecting to be a creative player on a world cup challenging national team should be dominating a second tier league. nobody is saying he’s not a pro, people are saying he is no longer on a trajectory to take the usa where people are desperate to see it go

 

But us on here that have watched him for a few years have thought he's kinda positionless and have never really thought of him as an extremely high level prospect.

It's just that some people have read (the accurate) reports that big Euro clubs have been interested in him for a couple years now, and then think he's a Pulisic/Reyna level prospect. It's just he has that valuable EU passport and there's Euro eyes on our young players more than ever.

 

How many people here thought that Reyna is Reyna level prospect, especially after U-17 WC?

 

I did. I’ve been a Gio Reyna stan for a very, very long time. Outside of that WC he has numerous games for Dortmund, NYCFC, and the u17 ynt where he showed that he was a Dortmund level prospect. But I’ve always doubted his attitude which was the main factor for his poor u17WC performance where he thought he had to create everything himself. I also think his brother Joah is on track to be just as good.

 

Wow

 

Don't think it's ever been an unpopular opinion. You never really think they're going this good, but people have always rated him. He's always been around my spreadsheets for the favorite to be the #10 in 2026 and to be the young guy for 2022, and I consider myself mostly a scratch picker typically.

 

Sometimes you see a story and think...............well even I know that can't be right. And I know nothing. What on earth would FCD need another attacking midfielder for? But its a report from L'Equipe, so I at least have to take it a little seriously. The only way it makes any sense is if its a domino to fall in preparation for Pomykal leaving in this window. Otherwise it makes zero sense.

Yoann Court rejects offer from MLS side FC Dallas
https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2020/yoann-court-rejects-offer-from-mls-side-fc-dallas/

30-year-old French central midfielder Yoann Court has rejected a proposal from MLS side FC Dallas, according to L’Équipe.

The assist king is a free agent after leaving Ligue 1 side Brest when his contract expired in June. Nantes are also understood to have an interest in him.

 

Where was Pomykal at his age? Stuck to the Dallas bench and nobody thought twice about him. Where was Aaronson? Off a pretty good USL season. Still didn't get taken to the U20.

He has proven that he has a body sturdy enough for the pro game. His pass percentage is high. Technically and physically he is good enough. What Aaronson beats him in is mentality. But Pomykal had mentality problems initially. Still, he is in a very good spot developmentally and his importance to SKC is growing.

What I am seeing here is the curse of the 8. We have a huge hardon for 10s and 6s here and we historically never really appreciated some of our best 8s.

 

What I am seeing here is our collective rush to anoint 15,16,17 year olds as the next big thing. We overreact when they aren’t a key component at 18 and question the system.

We have to give these kids time. Yes, we all want to see our best youth players on the pitch, but many things change over the course of 3/4 years. If he is going to become the player we all thought he would become at age 15, the cream always rises. The more likely scenario is we just get it wrong sometimes when projecting a young player.

 

It has a lot to do with the burden of expectations for US U17 WC starters and key contributors.

Think about the FCD kids. McKennie, Pomykal, Cannon, Richards, Roberts, Tessman, Servania, Ferreira (because he wasn't eligible), etc. weren't U17WC participants. They were all kind of on the fringes. The kid that was of the current group? Bryan Reynolds.

How many USYNT caps TOTAL does Brenden Aaronson have? Surprisingly few. So we're just watching him develop and its a pleasant surprise.

Busio has the burden of being a U17 key contributor along the likes of Gio Reyna. Then he has the burden of being connected to "big clubs" in the transfer rumor mill. So everybody and their brother is watching him and dissecting his game on a weekly basis.

By the way, I'm OK with it. You have to develop a thick skin in this business. If criticism from BigSoccer posters bothers you, then you've got a big problem.