Americans Abroad 2018-19: Youth Movement

Titans Bastard

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Time for a new thread!

The landscape of American players overseas reflects the current state of the USMNT: there are not a lot of established veterans in top leagues, but there are a lot of young players who have broken through or are threatening to do so.

I'm not going to post a Big List until the end of the transfer window, but I'm going to preview some players aged 23 or younger worth watching. Numbers = birth year

Germany

The Bundesliga has no restriction on foreigners and its clubs are reasonably willing to give youth players a chance, so Germany has emerged as the pre-eminent destination for American youth who begin their pro careers in Europe.

Christian Pulisic 98 (Borussia Dortmund) is well-known to all USMNT fans and Weston McKennie 98 (Schalke) is getting there as well. Both will be playing in the Champions League this year. McKennie made 25 appearances (14 starts) for the club last year and figures to play a bigger role this season following the departures of Leon Goretzka and Max Meyer. Both figure to be absolute cornerstones of the USMNT over the next two WC cycles at least.

If 2016/17 was Pulisic's breakout season and 2017/18 was McKennie's breakout season, this upcoming year could be Josh Sargent 00's (Werder Bremen) breakout season. Sargent is a classic center forward who was so good with the US U17s, that the USSF played him up with the U20s, which rarely happens. Sargent attracted a variety of interest, but chose Werder over some larger clubs because of the path they offered to playing time. Werder's manager has discussed Sargent as part of his first-team plans this year. How much he plays this season is up to Sargent, but the opportunity is absolutely there for the taking.

That's the "Big Three" in Germany for now.

EDIT: and it will possibly be the "Big Four" soon, as central midfielder Tyler Adams 99 is strongly rumored to be moving from NYRB to RB Leipzig no later than the winter transfer window. If Adams improves his passing a bit and matures in his defensive positioning, he could really be something, because his motor and field coverage is in the "world class" conversation.

Some others:

Bundesliga

Timothy Tillman 99 (Nürnberg) -- an attacking midfielder on loan from Bayern. He's currently playing with German youth national teams, but may switch at some point

2.Bundesliga

Julian Green 95 (Greuther Fürth) has a permanent home at this 2.Bundesliga club where he had some success on loan last year. Nobody expects great things from him at this point, but he could still have a reasonable career; certainly the USMNT doesn't have attacking midfielders coming out of its ears.

Lennard Maloney 99 (Union Berlin) is a center back who is with Union Berlin's first team this preseason. It remains to be seen where he will be on their CB depth chart, but supposedly they like him.

Kevin Lankford 98 (Heidenheim) is a very low-profile German-American attacking midfielder who has nonetheless already made 24 2.Bundesliga appearances over the last two seasons. I'm unsure of his quality and upside.

Reservists

Nick Taitague 99 (Schalke) is an attacking midfielder with some real talent and, unfortunately, what seems to be a real injury streak. He had a series of injuries last season that possibly prevented him from getting a first team cameo. Now he's too old for Schalke's U19 team, so he'll toil for Schalke II in the fifth division hoping for a look. Unless his career is killed by injuries, I think he'll be a good pro somewhere even if it's not Schalke.

Haji Wright 98 (Schalke) is a big forward who was once a majorly hyped member of the US U17 team. He has size and skill, but he's historically not been a great on-field decision-maker and in a loan to Sandhausen last year he exhibited a low work rate that eventually sapped his playing time. He's on trial at Union Berlin now. His star has fallen a bit and he's almost certainly not going to make it at Schalke, so the sooner he leaves the better.

Jonathan Klinsmann 97 (Hertha Berlin) is a goalkeeper who enters the season as the club's #3.

Brady Scott 99 (Köln) is a goalkeeper who the USSF really seems to like and is the probably starter for the US U20 team.

U19 Bundesliga

Chris Gloster 00 (Hannover) -- a former NYRB academy and US U17 left back entering his first season in Germany

Chris Richards 00 (Bayern Munich) -- a well-rounded CB on loan from FC Dallas

Zyen Jones 00 (Schalke) -- a winger/forward who left Atlanta United's academy to sign overseas.

Maurice Malone 00 (Augsburg) -- prolific forward who is currently playing with German YNTs, but may switch

Taylor Booth 01 (Bayern Munich) -- a central midfielder who left RSL's academy to sign with Bayern. He's at the club, but can't be registered until his Italian passport comes through.

Justin Butler 01 (Bayern Munich) -- CF

Malik Tillman 02 (Bayern Munich) -- CM

Recent Trialists

Sebastian Soto 00 (Borussia Mönchengladbach) -- forward, RSL academy
Alex Mendez 00 (Freiburg) -- CM, LA Galaxy academy
Uly Llanez 01 (Bayern Munich) -- winger, LA Galaxy academy
Cameron Duke 01 (Bayern Munich) -- CM, Sporting KC academy
Thomas Roberts 01 (Bayern Munich) -- CM, FC Dallas academy


England

Matt Miazga 95
(Chelsea) -- after two years on loan in the Eredivisie with Vitesse, the question is where he'll play this season. It's probably not Chelsea. I think he's ready for a loan to a bigger club than Vitesse.

Cameron Carter-Vickers 97 (Tottenham) -- after loans to Sheffield United and Ipswich, he'll probably go on loan again. Hopefully he lands at upper-tier Championship or maybe even a lower-tier EPL club, although the latter might be a bit too much at this point.

Erik Palmer-Brown 97 (Manchester City/NAC Breda) -- He's had a weird career path mainly because Porto bizarrely passed on a very cheap purchase option after he was loaned from SKC. Still, he has all the tools and could emerge as our best CB. On loan at NAC Breda in the Netherlands this season.

Antonee Robinson 97 (Everton) -- Had a reasonably successful loan at Bolton in the Championship last year. It remains to be seen if he'll go on a loan to a bigger club than Bolton or whether he'll stick around as a backup at LB.

Emerson Hyndman 96 (Bournemouth) -- He's the Forgotten Man at this point. The move to Bournemouth looks pretty disastrous at this point and he should probably be angling for an exit. He's still young enough to revive his career and work back to the USMNT.

Luca de la Torre 98 (Fulham) -- An attacking midfielder who has been on the fringes on their first team. It will only get harder to break in now that Fulham won promotion back to the EPL, but we'll see. He has some quality from what I've seen, but I worry that he's a tweener at the highest levels -- not quite good enough to play a central attacking role in the EPL, not fast enough to be effective on the wing.

Andrija Novakovich 96 (Reading/Fortuna Sittard) -- center forward who scored a ton of goals on loan for Telstar last year in the Dutch second division. Now he's on loan to an Eredivisie club.

Gedion Zelalem 97 (Arsenal) -- working back from an ACL injury. No idea what to expect from him in terms of performance or where he'll be. Presumably we should be rooting for a loan or transfer to a nurturing club environment.

Lynden Gooch 95 (Sunderland) -- listing him mainly because he's been called to the USMNT before, but I don't rate him very highly. He didn't play much more in Sunderland's Championship season than he did in the EPL. Hopefully he can get something going in League One.

Academy

Nicolas Defreitas-Hansen 01 (Everton) -- GK
Marlon Fossey 98 (Fulham) -- RB
Matthew Olosunde 98 (Manchester United) -- RB, talk of a loan/transfer
Owen Otasowie 01 (Wolves) -- CM
Indiana Vassilev 01 (Aston Villa) -- CM/AM
Charlie Kelman 01 (Southend) -- FW, scored a bajillion goals for their youth teams last year and might get a first team chance soon

Elsewhere
Ethan Horvath 95
(Club Brugge/BEL) -- GK, dealing with the yips
C.J. dos Santos 00 (Porto/POR) -- GK, reserves
Shaq Moore 96 (Levante/Reus/ESP) -- RB, on loan
Sergino Dest 00 (Ajax/NED) -- RB, reserves
Keaton Parks 97 (Benfica/POR) -- CM/AM, a few first team appearances so far
Juan Pablo Torres 99 (Lokeren/BEL) -- CM, mostly reserves
Romain Gall 95 (GIF Sundsvall/SWE) -- winger, likely to move to a bigger club
Mukwelle Akale 97 (Villarreal/ESP) -- winger, reserves
Joshua Perez 98 (Fiorentina/ITA) -- winger, possibly trialing elsewhere
Jonathan Amon 99 (Nordsjælland/DEN) -- winger, blazing fast, doing well
George Acosta 00 (Boca Juniors/ARG) -- AM
Rubio Rubin 96 (Tijuana/MEX) -- winger/FW
Jordan Siebatcheu 96 (Rennes/FRA) -- FW, 2nd leading scorer in Ligue 2 last year, sold for €12m, played only in youth friendlies for France
Emmanuel Sabbi 97 (Hobro/DEN) --- FW
Timothy Weah 00 (PSG/FRA) -- winger/FW, a few first team appearances so far
Konrad de la Fuente 01 (Barcelona/ESP) -- winger/FW, some good reviews
 
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Titans Bastard

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23 year old winger Romain Gall has reportedly arrived at Malmö FF for a physical. He's a winger with a variety of physical tools who is apparently putting it together in Sweden. He came up through Lorient's system, but never got close to the first team. During that time he got lots of call ups to the US U20s with whom he scored a ton of goals despite not looking all that great. He eventually moved to Columbus, where he did nothing and was eventually released. He then dropped all the way down to the Swedish third tier, did well, and got picked up by Sundsvall in the top division. Halfway through his second season in the Allsvenskan, he has 7g/4a in 12 games and it looks like he's out the door. There was reportedly some Dutch interest and while Malmö isn't as impressive a move, it's a bigger club that's playing in CL qualifiers at the moment.

Mix Diskerud is headed to South Korea on loan:


Current Rutgers and former UCLA and US U17 goalkeeper Kevin Silva has been on trial with Hearts. The club's manager says he'll sign imminently.
 

Titans Bastard

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Confirmations on Gall to Malmö and Silva to Hearts.



I'm so pleased to find out that Hearts' official Twitter handle is "JamTarts". I'm guessing from his name that Silva has a Portuguese passport...he at least has some second passport, or he couldn't sign in Scotland.
 

Titans Bastard

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Thanks TB, this is tremendous. If Adams goes to Leipzig, what are the chances he gets decent playing time?
I'm not sure, but it helps that they've lost their best CM in Naby Keïta and that Jesse Marsch will be an assistant.

I don't want to sound like I'm any sort of RB Leipzig expert, but looking at their last campaign, here's the current competition:

  • 26 year old German DM Diego Demme -- made the most starts in CM last year
  • 27 year old Slovenian Kevin Kampl -- RB Leipzig spent big money on him last summer; started at RM quite a bit
  • 29 year old Austrian Stefan Ilsanker -- also spot-started at RB and CB
  • 21 year old Konrad Laimer -- wound up starting at RB in the second half of the season
If things stand as they are, I think Adams can work into the rotation, especially if Laimer stays at RB. I suspect Leipzig will add another CM this summer, so a lot depends on how good that player is.

RB Leipzig has a pretty strong focus in youth and Marsch has a ton of faith in Adams, so I believe he'll absolutely get a fair shot. He just has to do well.

EDIT: also worth noting that it's a disadvantage to come in during the winter, so that might slow his progress towards the starting lineup in 2018-19. Adams may also be a bit fatigued since a winter move from MLS to Europe will mean a 1.5 year season for him.

I've read that they are considering the sign-and-loan option this summer because it means Adams can join RB Leipzig as soon as NYRB are knocked out of the playoffs instead of on Jan 1.
 

Titans Bastard

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He isn't young, is he.
Nope, but he just signed an extension!

Ream was sold to Bolton in the winter of 2011-12. He played half a season in the EPL, Bolton were relegated, and he spent the next six seasons in the Championship.

Even though he has 26 caps, it's hard to say he ever really made it as a USMNT player. Getting back to the EPL is a nice capstone to his career, though.

Yedlin, Ream, and Williams are the only three players who seem solid bets to play much in the EPL this year. Hyndman will probably ride the bench, we'll see what Everton does with Robinson, CCV & Miazga will get loaned out. Lord knows where Zelalem will be, and perhaps the two Fulham kids will get a cup of coffee.
 

Titans Bastard

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To continue spamming this thread:

Sam Stejskal reported that Bristol City have made an offer for Columbus goalkeeper Zack Steffen.

Ives Galarcep has since reported that the offer is $3.9m, Columbus hasn't accepted but the two clubs aren't far apart on a price, and that Steffen is inclined to leave if the Crew accept an offer.

A few quick thoughts:

1. Bristol City's starter, Frank Fielding, apparently got hurt in a preseason friendly, so Steffen could start right away.

2. A work permit will be tricky. Steffen hasn't played in any competitive US games, so he'd have to go through the appeals process.

3. Steffen left Freiburg after one year due to homesickness. Perhaps the UK will be sufficiently culturally similar to the US compared to Germany, or perhaps he's just grown up a little.

4. Nobody really seems to want to linger in Columbus given what Andrew Precourt is doing to the club.
 

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The Everton press and fans are high on Robinson.

Silva says that he wants two players at each position. He also has said that he doesn't want to block promising youngsters by plugging in replacement-value veterans (my paraphrasing).

At LB, Leighton Baines is an Everton institution but is getting old. He broke down and missed much of the year with various muscle injuries, which was a big factor in Everton's underperformance. There are rumors that he might leave (MLS maybe). If he leaves, I expect Everton to (try to) secure a decent established LB and keep Robinson on the first team.
 

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I enjoy how many times Hyndman pops up during the whole move in this clip of his friendly goal vs. (a Shaq Moore-less) Levante

 

Titans Bastard

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Americans in UEFA competitions update:

CL 1Q:
Legia Warsaw (Brian Iloski) d. Cork City 4-0 [looks like Iloski is with the reserves though]
Malmö (Romain Gall) d. Drita 5-0 [Gall just joined the club]
Celtic d. Alashkert (Cesar Romero) 6-0
Rosenborg d. Valur (Dion Acoff) 3-2

CL 2Q:
Astana vs. Midtjylland (Bill Hamid)
CFR Cluj vs. Malmö (Gall)
Legia Warsaw (Iloski) vs. Spartak Trnava

CL 3Q:
Benfica (Keaton Parks)

Group Stage:
PSG (Tim Weah)
Borussia Dortmund (Christian Pulisic)
Tottenham Hotspur (Cameron Carter-Vickers) [probably will be loaned out]
Schalke (Weston McKennie)
Club Brugge (Ethan Horvath)

EL 1Q:
Stjarnan (Will Dieterich) d. Nōmme Kalju 3-1
Nordsjælland (Jonathan Amon) d. Cliftonville 3-1 [Amon is dealing with a minor injury and didn't play]
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Aaron Schoenfeld) d. Ferencváros 2-1

EL 2Q:
FC Santa Coloma vs. Valur (Acoff)
Sutjeska Nikšić vs. Alashkert (Romero)
Nordsjælland (Amon) vs. AIK
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Schoenfeld) vs. Radnički Niš
St. Gallen (Kekuta Manneh) vs. Sarpsborg 08

Group Stage:
Chelsea (Matt Miazga) [likely loaned out]
Arsenal (Gedion Zelalem) [likely....something or other]
Anderlecht (Kenny Saief)
Eintracht Frankfurt (Timothy Chandler)
Rennes (Jordan Siebatcheu)
 

Titans Bastard

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Tim Weah started and scored for PSG in a still-ongoing friendly against Bayern Munich.


Gianluigi Buffon is starting in goal for PSG. He made his pro debut for Parma five years before Weah was born
 

Titans Bastard

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Wait, Chris Richards just subbed in for Bayern. I guess with all the WC players still gone they are throwing him a bone on the US tour. Cool moment for the kid, though.
 

Kliq

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Good goal from Weah; he showed off his strength and speed on that run, just like his dad.
 

67YAZ

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Good goal from Weah; he showed off his strength and speed on that run, just like his dad.
Please be careful with this comparison. It makes me light headed to imagine a young George Weah running alongside Pulisic...
 

Titans Bastard

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The game is in Austria.
Ah....

I saw it was an "International Champions Cup" game, many of which are US-based friendlies. I guess the "international" part and the morning kickoff should have tipped me off.......
 

Titans Bastard

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Jack Imperato, who has been in the mix for the current US U17 team, has apparently signed with Villarreal. He's able to move at age 16 due to dual citizenship with Italy.

 

Titans Bastard

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Yet another FC Dallas player training at Bayern:


To the extent that any of the young trialists from FCD and LAG are likely to stick, Cappis is probably down the list because he's a year too old for the U19s. I'd expect him to go pro soon, either with FCD or elsewhere. The departure of Kellyn Acosta opens up some room at CM.
 

67YAZ

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Between Bayern hoovering up Dallas academy products, the numbers of Americans making the leap to Germany, and the Bundesliga’s new initiative to partner with African professional leagues...it’s starting to look like the Bundesliga is making investments in high potential, under-developed countries to generate a steady stream of young talent. It’s a very smart idea.
 

Titans Bastard

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I think Bundesliga clubs are scouting the US more heavily because we are starting to produce more 18 year olds with decent raw ability and for the most part, they're free. Low risk, and increasingly high rewards with Pulisic, McKennie, et al.

Bayern has all but officially signed Taylor Booth (RSL) (waiting on a passport). FCD's Richards is on loan. Everyone else is trialing thus far - Cappis (FCD), Roberts (FCD), Llanez (LAG), Duke (SKC). Regardless of whether they sign with Bayern or elsewhere, we just need the developmental pipeline to keep moving and not have another half-decade blip.

I just read that Cappis has signed with an agent and decommitted from SMU a few months ago, so he'll be signing somewhere ASAP.
 

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Timothy Weah 00 (PSG/FRA) -- winger/FW, a few first team appearances so far
This one probably deserves more than a throwaway line at the very bottom of your post.

Appearing for the first team for Paris fucking Saint Germain is a big deal. Now, sure, he's got a Very Big Footballing Name, and looked great for the USA U17s etc... but even though his first-team appearances were token (end of season, pre-season, or when resting the starters for UCL knockouts), he was still the guy chosen to make token first-team appearances.

What are his odds of fighting his way onto the first team? I hardly follow Ligue 1 at all. I mean, doing so would be even more of a feat than Pulisic earning a starting role at Dortmund, given the club's cachet and how they're pretty much just a purchased-players all-star team. And he's only 18. Is he the CF we've been waiting for?
 

Titans Bastard

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Yeah, I should have broken out Weah from the other non Eng/Ger guys. Weah has a lot of very good competition at PSG, but he’s an option both at forward and on the wing. He’s going to have to keep developing and play his cards right to make it at PSG, but I feel good about his chances of at least making it at a solid club somewhere.

Sargent is the prospect in the pipeline who is the classic CF, e.g. compared to Weah he is stronger, slower, and better at hold-up play. Weah is faster and makes smart runs off the ball. I think they would complement each other in a two-forward system.
 

Titans Bastard

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Center back Brendan Hines-Ike is about to be sold from Örebro in Sweden to Kortrijk in Belgium.


All the record-breaking sounds fancy, but Kortrijk has never paid more than about $500k for a player according to TM. Ireland has reportedly taken an interest in Hines-Ike, who is in the final stages of finalizing an Irish passport.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Yeah, I should have broken out Weah from the other non Eng/Ger guys. Weah has a lot of very good competition at PSG, but he’s an option both at forward and on the wing. He’s going to have to keep developing and play his cards right to make it at PSG, but I feel good about his chances of at least making it at a solid club somewhere.

Sargent is the prospect in the pipeline who is the classic CF, e.g. compared to Weah he is stronger, slower, and better at hold-up play. Weah is faster and makes smart runs off the ball. I think they would complement each other in a two-forward system.
Long have we chased this dream.
 

Titans Bastard

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Long have we chased this dream.
Altidore-Davies was pretty good for the short while it lasted. But yeah...

I'm particularly invested in Sargent's success because there just aren't many classic #9 types coming through our system. It actually seems to me like there just aren't many #9s coming up these days globally, either.

Sebastian Soto looks like he could be a good #9 prospect too, but it's a little too early to get excited. Let's see what happens when he launches his pro career soon.
 

Titans Bastard

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Central midfielder Ben Lederman is leaving Barcelona and reportedly going to Gent.

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/barcelona/story/3576005/us-youth-ben-lederman-quitting-barcelona-for-move-to-gent-sources

The article says he's "quitting" Barcelona, but I think he's become a marginal prospect for them and he was either cut or the writing was on the wall. American winger Konrad de la Fuente is also at the club, is a year younger, and has already been playing with an older age group than Lederman.

Lederman was part of the contingent of youth players related to Barcelona's transfer ban punishment.

Despite the Barcelona pedigree, Lederman wasn't favored by John Hackworth in the last U17 cycle. I still can't get a sense of whether he's actually any good.
 

Titans Bastard

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Bjorn Maars Johnsen has had an interesting career for sure. Classic late-developing #9, who grew up in North Carolina.

2011: Tønsberg (Norwegian third tier)
2011-12: Antequera (Spanish fourth tier)
2012-13: Atlético Baleares (Spanish third tier)
2013-14: Louletano (Portuguese third tier)
2014-15: Atlético CP (Portuguese second tier)
2014-15 + 2015-16: Litex Lovech (Bulgarian first tier, until they were kicked out of the league partway through 2015-16)
2016-17: Hearts
2017-18: ADO Den Haag [scored 19 goals in the Eredivisie]
2018-19: AZ Alkmaar (for around $2.7m)

He's 26 and now cap-tied to Norway, but he'd probably be in line for a call-up were he still eligible for the US.
 

Titans Bastard

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A few recent transfers made their first start at new clubs:

Romain Gall (Malmö), Brendan Hines-Ike (Kortrijk), and Frantzdy Pierrot (Mouscron). Pierrot is a Haitian-American forward who went to Melrose High, played at Northeastern & Coastal Carolina, then was drafted & cut by the Rapids. Despite being turned down by the Rapids, a Belgian first division club gave him a four-year deal, which is nice. He's been called up by Haiti, but hasn't played.


Today in preseason:

Timothy Weah started, played 79 minutes, and drew a penalty in PSG's 5-1 loss to Arsenal

Chris Richards is in the starting lineup for Bayern's game against Man City, kicking off in 15 mins.

Keaton Parks played 23 minutes off the bench for Benfica in 1-1 result against Juve. They went to penalties after 90 minutes and Parks converted the first one. I didn't read great reviews overall, though - he may be heading out on loan this season.

We'll see if Cameron Carter-Vickers plays at all for Tottenham in an 11pm ET friendly against Barcelona. He started their last preseason game with so many Spurs players getting a post-WC break.

Luca de la Torre started for Fulham in a friendly against Fiorentina.

Miazga hasn't been traveling with Chelsea this preseason. It's not at all unexpected that he'd be sent out on loan again. Hopefully he finds a good landing spot, and soon.
 

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There's apparently a brief bit coming up at halftime about CCV. I assume personal-interest stuff about his dad, etc, but would be good to see a breakdown of his progress and skills.
 

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CCV might have been the least bad of the (all backup) Tottenham back line the first half. Lost his man on a goal when the ball came back across the face of goal, but put out a couple of fires his teammates caused with last-second tackles.
 

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Pulisic is now a big enough player that silly season seems to follow him all summer. There are competing rumors centered around Liverpool and Chelsea, but Bayern and Real Madrid are also thrown around. There have been reports that he's refused to talk to BVB about extending his contract past 2020. If that's true, it doesn't mean he will be sold this summer but it would make it likely that he'll be sold next summer unless he has a disastrous season.

Josh Sargent didn't have a good enough preseason to win Bundesliga minutes right away. I guess that's no big shock; he's only been in training for a long time, as he wasn't eligible to play in youth games. Sargent played his first game for Werder Bremen II today and scored, so that's good.

To put things in perspective:
  • At this age, Christian Pulisic was coming off his debut season in which he made nine Bundesliga appearances down the stretch
  • At this age, Weston McKennie spent the entire season with Schalke's U19 team before debuting in the last game of the season
20 year old winger Isaiah Young has also been starting for Werder II, but I'm not bullish on his chances of moving up at this club.
 

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UEFA update:

CL 2nd qualifying round

Midtjylland (Hamid) were eliminated by FC Astana. Hamid flubbed his opportunity last year and is the backup now.

Malmö (Gall) advanced past Romania's CFR Cluj. Gall didn't play a big role, but he should work his way into the lineup once he settles at his new club.

CL 3rd qualifying round

Malmö (Gall) have been drawn against Vidi of Hungary (formerly known as Videoton). That's not a gimme, but it's certainly winnable.

Benfica (Parks) will play Fenerbahçe. Parks is in the 25 man squad that Benfica submitted to UEFA, but I am not optimistic about him making the 18 for these games.

Automatically qualified to the CL group stage:
Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund)
Weston McKennie (Schalke)
Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge)
Timothy Weah (PSG)
Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham) -- possible loan?

EL 2nd qualifying round

Valur (Dion Acoff) of Iceland advanced past FC Santa Coloma of Andorra.
Alashkert (Cesar Romero) of Armenia defeated Sutjeska Nikšić of Montenegro.
Nordsjælland (Jonathan Amon) beat AIK; Amon is still recovering from an injury and hasn't played.
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Aaron Schoenfeld) defeated Radnički Niš of Serbia.
Stjarnan (Will Dieterich) of Iceland fell to FC Copenhagen.
St. Gallen (Kekuta Manneh) of Switzerland were eliminated on away goals to Sarpsborg 08 of Norway. Manneh didn't get off the bench.

EL 3rd qualifying round
Alashkert/ARM (Cesar Romero) vs. CFR Cluj/ROU
Sheriff Tiraspol/MDA vs. Valur/ISL (Dion Acoff)
The New Saints/WAL vs. Midtjylland/DEN (Bill Hamid)
Pyunik/ARM vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv/ISR (Aaron Schoenfeld)
Nordsjælland/DEN (Jonathan Amon) vs. Partizan/SRB

Automatically qualified to the EL group stage:
Kenny Saief (Anderlecht)
Timothy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Jordan Siebatcheu (Rennes)
 

Titans Bastard

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Antonee Robinson goes on loan to a Championship club again. This time it's newly-promoted Wigan. He also extended his contract at Everton for two additional years, to 2021.

 

Titans Bastard

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Two goals in two games for Sargent at Werder II. Let's say it counts extra because it came against Hamburg II.

 

Titans Bastard

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Weah starts for PSG against Monaco in the French equivalent of the Community Shield.
 

Titans Bastard

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Weah went 90 and scored a goal in a 4-0 win.


He sure is doing well for himself, all things considered. Today he started at CF, flanked by Angel di Maria and Christopher Nkunku. Of course, over the season he'll have to contend with the actual front line of Neymar, Mbappé, and Cavani as well. It's cool to see an 18 year old in the mix with that crowd and doing reasonably well, though. If he performs, he'll still get minutes given how much rotation PSG will have across four competitions.

Lynden Gooch scored the winner for Sunderland at the death in their League One opener against Charlton.

 

Titans Bastard

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Antonee Robinson goes on loan to a Championship club again. This time it's newly-promoted Wigan. He also extended his contract at Everton for two additional years, to 2021.

Off to a good start, 11 minutes into his Wigan career:

 

InstaFace

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Looks like #36 did 90% of the work there for Tim Weah. And I can't even figure out who he is, even the Transfermarkt roster page doesn't have a #36.

You think he gets loaned out to a first-tier side? Or they keep him and let him average a start every 5 games and 15 minutes every 3?
 

Titans Bastard

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Looks like #36 did 90% of the work there for Tim Weah. And I can't even figure out who he is, even the Transfermarkt roster page doesn't have a #36.

You think he gets loaned out to a first-tier side? Or they keep him and let him average a start every 5 games and 15 minutes every 3?
A loan wouldn't be shocking, but there have been no rumors. Tuchel has generally been complimentary towards Weah, so it's legitimately possible that he's going to try to work him into the rotation.
 

InstaFace

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I suppose Tuchel is used to the increased attention, fanbase and revenue that comes with creating a legitimate star who's also American. Perhaps his bosses have their finger on the scale too.
 

Titans Bastard

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Perhaps his bosses have their finger on the scale too.
I highly doubt this. What's the point?

Also, Tuchel is a cantankerous control freak who would lose his mind if given such an instruction.