Youth Yanks Abroad, ‘01-‘04 YOBs (and younger): 2019/20 Thread

I think you can have too many players and then it’s like being a number. I’ve also noticed players going into a black hole or Bermuda Triangle there. I’d think it would make players who do make it strong but results don’t really hear that out. Be interesting to get some takes from players who’ve gone through it. Ask Joe Corona and Paul Arriola?

 

They went to TJ and lived in San Diego county next to the border, so their lifestyles were pretty similar to what it had been before.

 

I’m more interested in the winnowing process. Tijuana might not be a good team for that insight they seem different. Tigres seemingly has 300 kids. I could see a lot of them get lost in the herd.

 

In Mexico I think its also the case that the 2nd division and below are REALLY struggling financially. Mexico seems to be the big Liga MX clubs and nothing else. So what's happened is that the big wealthy clubs hoover up ALL of the talent and just have way more than they need. Its easy for young players to get stuck in the machine. Chivas has their first team, 29 first team caliber players out on loan (some of these players are coming to MLS. Antuna at the Galaxy for example), a reserve team that plays in the 2nd division, TWO reserve teams that play in the 5th division (Liga TPD), and then their youth teams.

I don't know if people realize this. The 2nd division of Mexico is in such trouble that there is now no promotion/relegation for the next 6 seasons. They have a "Stabilization Project" aiming to shore up the football pyramid.

So when people say that the reason to go to Mexico is that their football pyramid is more developed and there are more opportunities for young players...................I think that's just a bunch of hokum. It depends what you mean by "opportunity."

Nico Carrera's family and advisors know this. Their comments explicitly state they're going to Holstein Kiel with first team opportunities and playing style in mind.

 

Seems like Mexico should use ML Baseball's farm club system. May be the only way prized prospects can play at a level necessary. I know a lot of folks think that the US should go to the world standard of scheduling, promotion/relegation etc but I wonder if the world doesn't switch to the US system so as to keep their clubs alive as the difference between have and have nots seems to be expanding.

 

At the beginning of the season, he wasn't playing that well in the U-19's. Now he has 2G, 1A in crucial games for Barca B. Started both games.

Brilliant assist from Konrad. Rey’s header draws Barça B's equalizer https://t.co/u3Am2dfEE2

— La Masia Times™ (@LaMasiaTimes) July 23, 2020

 

He also had a would be golazo hitting a crossbar (or a keeper deflected it to the crossbar).
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/konrad-de-la-fuente-at-fc-barcelona.2002947/page-35#post-38821006

 

German news sources are reporting that Hamburg will begin to more heavily play their youth next season.

Among the five youth players mentioned fighting for roster spots is USMNT prospect Travian Sousa (18) who already had some first team training sessions last year #USMNT pic.twitter.com/qDi4XXPcwx

— OneGoal (@OneGoalUS) July 24, 2020

The u17 & u19 Bundesliga will have 17 matches (everyone plays once) then go into a semifinal/final format due to honoring promotion & not administering relegation.
They will get back to the normal size of 14 teams per BL region by the 22/23 season.
Season starts Sept. 19/20. https://t.co/EZs13pGvcI

— Daniel (@DanielSmith1022) July 24, 2020

And determining who plays who at home knowing it's just once will be a big point on contention when the schedule is released.

— Daniel (@DanielSmith1022) July 24, 2020

 

Bryan Okoh has reportedly been in contact with ussoccer. If we can sway this kid he’s a u20 lock in my opinion. He retweeted the attached tweet and has an American flag in his twitter bio so there is definite interest. He also follows multiple ussoccer accounts (chuckme92 and Charlie Kennan are 2 of them) and follows no accounts for any other national teams. We have hope

1286803659695759361 is not a valid tweet id

 

He indeed has been contacted by USSF. Rumored to be drawing loan interest from Austrian top-flight sides including Sturm Graz. Also possible he makes a debut for Red Bull Salzburg next season. If he's a regular starter somewhere in the Austrian Bundesliga next season, he likely ought to be in contention for a USMNT call-up by then, like EPB already is. Has captained Swiss YNTs before but not provisionally tied yet.

 

Aston Villa survived relegation. Vassilev will be in the Premier League next season. I don’t know if that’s a good thing. I think he’d stand a better chance to play in the Championship.

 

This report says Otasowie has loan interest from:
-Birmingham, Luton, and newly-promoted Coventry of the Championship
-Peterborough of League One
-Girona currently in the La Liga promotional playoff (5th place in La Liga 2)
-Eupen of Belgian Pro League

Certainly other interest in England and elsewhere exists too. It was noted on Twitter that Otasowie was recently name-dropped by NYRB's sporting director (old Wolves sporting director) during a press conference, so they may also be interested.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...ansfer-notebook-james-ward-prowse-agrees-new/

 

He needs to leave on loan. Wolves only used 20 players in the Premier League this season. Fewest in the league. The manager keeps a small squad.

 

And just two current U20 CBs have any playing time in the Premier League so far, '01 Eric Garcia of Man City and '02 Jarrad Branthwaite of Everton. Rare for a CB that young to get real playing time in the PL.

 

Konrad's Barça B lost 1 -2 vs Sabadell in the final of the promotion playoff so he will not be playing in the Segunda next year. Here's to hoping his heroics at least caught the eye of the first team, as unlikely as a debut this year may seem.

 

I'd like to see him get a full season with the reserves. Richards, whose a year older, got a full season as a starter in the 3rd division this year. Next season he may go out on loan because he had a good season. Thats what would be a good timeline for Konrad. Prove yourself with Barca B next season, and then evaluate your options after you put together a good full season with the second team.

If Barca B isn't in the second division after next season, I think he should look to leave permanently or on loan, but I think he could benefit from a full season as a starter in the 3rd division. A full season as a starter in the second division would've been better, but he's only starting to enter pro football. He's only played a few professional football games at this point. I don't think he's too big for the third division.

 

'01 Headley is US-eligible according to Huddersfield's website and is primarily a left back but also plays winger and CM.

✅ Five Academy players have signed their first professional contracts with #htafc!

👏 Well done Tom Bamford, Gio Bellagambi, Jaheim Headley, Nassim Kherbouche and Sam Sharrock-Peplow!#YoungTerriershttps://t.co/GjVBWm5nq5

— HTAFC Academy (@htafcacademy) July 27, 2020

'03 winger Covil also signs pro, with Forest Green Rovers.

SIGNING...

“I’m so proud of them. This is what the Academy system is all about and we’re lucky at Forest Green to have that link with the first team," Dignley

Find out more about the signing of Academy duo Vaughn Covil and Harvey Bunker here 👇

✍️| https://t.co/PEDtEYQmNO pic.twitter.com/Aomgvpdvge

— Forest Green Rovers (@FGRFC_Official) July 28, 2020

 

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If there was an award for a player that would have been massively hyped in 2006 and is almost dismissed as irrelevant now, it goes to KDLF. Nobody has ever expected anything to come of him, we are all acting like he is an illusion. But Barca is walking the walk. Extension, first team training.

Even if he doesn't start next to Messi, he is following a path that screams top player.

 

It’s mostly because most fans don’t watch him play, and then the one tournament most see him play he struggled. That ignores a lot of context though. I think when a player is playing up a cycle there’s almost nothing that should be lost. If they play well, that’s good, but you can’t fault them if they don’t. There’s also no real pattern between playing well/not playing well when playing up a cycle and becoming a better player eventually. If there’s any pattern with a positive correlation, it’s making the team playing up a cycle, not the play of that player during the short tournament.

 

You are 100% right, and still I find myself forgetting about him at times. The lack of highlights and visibility is a big part of it, but I have to admit I don't have a really good reason for thinking of say, Llanez, much more often than I even remember KDLF.

I still think it's a pretty big long shot to real minutes on the first team, but would I scoff at Gerard Deulofeu on the USMNT, or someone of that caliber? I would not.

 

I think there are valid criticisms of the guy, so I’m not saying he shouldn’t be criticized. I think the actual play is a lot less important than the tools. I’ve seen Konrad a few games in recent seasons for Barcelona at youth level, but I probably saw him just as many times in that one tournament as for Barcelona in a few year span. Unless someone watches him play regularly, they’d have been stupid to not regard what he showed in that tournament. I personally downgraded my view of his speed after that tournament, which I think is a significant part of the game for a winger. At the same time, I don’t think it makes any difference how he played in that tournament. It’s more about how what you see is going to project to pro soccer, and you need to keep in mind always that it’s very hard to perform well against older competition at that age.

 

I think everyone understands Konrad likely won't be a Barca level starter, but I think his ceiling is still like Sevilla level starter, which would be pretty damn good.

 

Definitely. I'm also seeing a repeated pattern where kids are seen for a few games and opinions are set in stone. There is no allowance for any growth or improvement. You see it with A. Rob, people still bring up Brazil, two years ago and thousands of ECL minutes later. I haven't seen Konrad play except for a few UEFA YCL games, but there must be something going on.

Even the most cynical observer has to realize that Barcelona value the kid. Just like with Richards, people just don't want to admit it. They look for all kinds of reasons why Barca is doing the things they are doing.

Again, he probably will not, like most La Masia graduates historically, break right into the first team. But players don't get to where he is and fade away or end up on the bench at FC Cinncy.

 

Most of us probably haven't seen enough of de la Fuente to be able to have a discussion about him as a future first teamer.

What people are simply wary of is a Mukwelle Akale situation, and that seems fairly typical in Spain regardless of nationality. Kids just spend 5-6 years in reserve teams of big Spanish clubs and completely fall off the map. Folks came on these boards telling us that Akale was highly valued by Villarreal, and he was advancing. They must like him or they wouldn't keep him around!! Well....................no, as it turns out. They dumped him to the curb 6 years later without a second thought.

What I worry about is that we'll wake up 4 years from now and Konrad will be a 23 year old with zero first team appearances. But he'll have Barcelona next to his name on his resume, so that will impress the Eurosnobs amongst us.

I think the same thing if its Johan Gomez at Porto or Uly Llanez at Wolfsburg or whomever. These aren't 16 year old prospects. These guys now must seek first team soccer as they're approaching 20. And if they're not in first teams, then they need to critically analyze the path to first team soccer at their clubs. One more year with Barca B won't harm de la Fuente. Messi played a season there. Iniesta played a couple of seasons there. Xavi played a couple of seasons there. If its good enough for them, then its certainly good enough for de la Fuente. So its fine. IT just has to be a stepping stone up the ladder. And a player and his agent have to read the tea leaves. When you're a youngster at Barca you're not just competing with the players already in their first team. Barca can go out and sign whomever they wish (to some degree), so you're competing with the world's best.