MLS adjusts Academy Rules

[VPjr]

http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/soccer/archives/2009/05/mls_loosens_aca.html

MLS loosens academy rules; prospects Dilly Duka and Jonnny X practice with RBNY

Red Bull fans have clamored for the club to sign _ or at least take a look at _ their youth academy prospects. Well, the Post has learned MLS has loosened its rules to make academy signings easier, and the Red Bulls had Dilly Duka and Johnny Exantus at practice today _ the U.S. Under-20 revelation and the kid who thrust the academy into the spotlight.

Coincidence? I think not. Now teams can sign TWO academy players to a Generation Adidas deal instead of just one; they can ink four prospects per year, up from two; and other clubs can no longer raid their prospects, good news for talent-rich academies like New York.

"They're very positive, very welcome. The people who've invested in their academies will benefit from this,'' sporting director Jeff Agoos told the Post. "It puts emphasis on developing players, not just one, but plural. There's a plurality in this rule that's much welcomed by this club and clubs around league.''

Today was the first day that coach Juan Carlos Osorio got to see both highly-touted prospects practicing with his senior team. And while Osorio is always measured in his praise, he was at least somewhat impressed that neither looked out of place practicing with a group that included National Team members Dane Richards, Khano Smith and Andrew Boyens.

"Good players. We decided to bring them into training with the first team, something that I'm reluctant to do because we need to concentrate on games. But I think they held their own today and they did well,'' Osorio told the Post. "Hopefully we'll make the right assessment and we'll make the right decision with both of them.

"Both of them are talented. It was small-sided games. I want to see them on a bigger field with more options to choose from, better decisions, how fast they can read the game, how well they can execute the decisions. We'll wait. But they didn't bring the training down, I think they contributed to the sessions, so it's good.''

Exantus _ the first Red Bull Academy prospect to be clamored for by the fans, a Matt Kassel prequel, if you will _ is finally getting his shot, in on a two-week trial. He'd been with Royal Racing Football Club Montegnée, but now he's a free agent, no longer with the Belgian club.

He's actually here on a P-1 visa, and after his trial, he'll go back to Haiti.

"I think we're both trying to see what level these players are at. We've been trying to get Johnny in for some time now, but for one reason or another never could. This time we have a two-week window,'' Agoos said. "Dilly has been on our radar, and we were just able to find some time to have him train with the team.''

Duka isn't on an official trial, but he's getting ready for the Under-20 World Cup. Osorio watched Duka play with the U.S. Under-20 National Team team in Bradenton, but hadn't seen him against the senior club yet.

"They called me up last year but I couldn't make it because I was travelling with the (Red Bull) Under-20s,'' Duka said of the Super-Y Nationals. "They're good players. They're the best around here, the best I've played with. It's pretty cool.''

Duka _ who'll turn 20 in September _ had a stellar sophomore season for Rutgers, where he played central midfield, left wing (despite being right-footed) and even a little forward. (I told him he'd fit in just fine with Osoro's lineup-juggling).

But the versatile attacker won't return to Piscataway until the fall since he's preparing for the Under-20 World Cup. He'd never been capped before qualifying, but burst onto the scene as arguably the U.S.' best attacking player.

At the moment, his plan is to go back to Rutgers after the World Cup, but he'll be seen by a host of teams there. Anderlecht showed interest in him, but he felt the Belgian side was just keeping an eye on him. His goal is to play pro soccer, and he'd love to do that in MLS with the Red Bulls, if they give him a chance.

"I heard (Anderlecht) were interested in me, but I think it was a case they watched me play and thought I was a pretty good player and that they'd keep their eye on me. I don't think it was to bring me in right away,'' Duka said. "I'm not 100 percent sure. That's what I heard from people at qualifiers.

"My goal is professional soccer anywhere. If MLS gives me that opportunity, I'll probably take it. That's my goal; that's my dream, and if someone gives me that opportunity I'll probably take it.''

When I asked if the changes to MLS' draconian rules made it more likely they'd ink an academy player this season or this winter, Agoos said "We would very much like to have one of our academy players (on the roster). But it has to be the right player, right time, right conditions. It's hard bringing a player in you know can't help you immediately. You're usually looking one-through-24, you have to be strategic which player it's going to be.''

[Duane Rollins1555362254]

Good.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

I wonder if this was prompted by the negotiations with the Whitecaps a couple of months ago. Would be interesting to see the details on the other clubs can no longer raid their prospects bit.

[jpg75]

^ I'm wondering if it only means a team can't sign another teams player to a DEV deal, because i find it hard to see how you wouldn't be able to use a discovery claim and sign the player to a Sr. roster spot - that's the current loophole to the Academy restrictions (of course the drawback is being stuck with a young kid on the Sr. roster).

The ability to sign a total of 4 players seems like slight overkill to me. There are only 4 DEV spots now anyways so you'd have to have them all empty to make use of the new rule!

edit: I hope they eliminated the silly rule of having to wait until a kid turns 20 to sign him to a DEV deal...

[ag futbol]

I don't think you necessarily have to graduate someone to a DEV deal, they can go to the full roster spot if you want.

But 4 players is overkill to the point that it would be quite the year for the academy to find that many candidates. And if they did, who cares? Let them sign the whole f'n team if they want!

What are they afraid of, an acadmey that's too good? Produces too many players ?

[jpg75]

quote:Originally posted by ag futbol

I don't think you necessarily have to graduate someone to a DEV deal, they can go to the full roster spot if you want.

But 4 players is overkill to the point that it would be quite the year for the academy to find that many candidates. And if they did, who cares? Let them sign the whole f'n team if they want!

What are they afraid of, an acadmey that's too good? Produces too many players ?

It's overkill because the 4 players you're signing are to either Development or Generation Adidas contracts. Teams only have 4 spots on the Development roster so unless they have all the spots empty at the same time there's very little chance of a team signing 4 kids all at once. Of course, if MLS expands the DEV roster size then this changes everything.

Teams will generally shy away from signing a teenager to a Sr. roster spot unless the kid is exceptional. And if that's the case, then the kid and his agent are probably going to want one of the GA spots so you're probably not going to see that happen alot.

They're afraid that deregulated academies will give the large market teams in soccer hot beds like LA, Dallas, DC, Chicago, New York etc. an unfair advantage over clubs like RSL, Kansas City, Columbus. Unfortunately it's a bad decision because there are far more "hot bed" markets in MLS than there are "non-hot bed" markets.

[jpg75]

quote:Originally posted by ag futbol

I don't think you necessarily have to graduate someone to a DEV deal, they can go to the full roster spot if you want.

But 4 players is overkill to the point that it would be quite the year for the academy to find that many candidates. And if they did, who cares? Let them sign the whole f'n team if they want!

What are they afraid of, an acadmey that's too good? Produces too many players ?

It's overkill because the 4 players you're signing are to either Development or Generation Adidas contracts. Teams only have 4 spots on the Development roster so unless they have all the spots empty at the same time there's very little chance of a team signing 4 kids all at once. Of course, if MLS expands the DEV roster size then this changes everything.

Teams will generally shy away from signing a teenager to a Sr. roster spot unless the kid is exceptional. And if that's the case, then the kid and his agent are probably going to want one of the GA spots so you're probably not going to see that happen alot.

They're afraid that deregulated academies will give the large market teams in soccer hot beds like LA, Dallas, DC, Chicago, New York etc. an unfair advantage over clubs like RSL, Kansas City, Columbus. Unfortunately it's a bad decision because there are far more "hot bed" markets in MLS than there are "non-hot bed" markets.

[Macksam]

quote:Originally posted by jpg75

It's overkill because the 4 players you're signing are to either Development or Generation Adidas contracts. Teams only have 4 spots on the Development roster so unless they have all the spots empty at the same time there's very little chance of a team signing 4 kids all at once. Of course, if MLS expands the DEV roster size then this changes everything.

Teams will generally shy away from signing a teenager to a Sr. roster spot unless the kid is exceptional. And if that's the case, then the kid and his agent are probably going to want one of the GA spots so you're probably not going to see that happen alot.

They're afraid that deregulated academies will give the large market teams in soccer hot beds like LA, Dallas, DC, Chicago, New York etc. an unfair advantage over clubs like RSL, Kansas City, Columbus. Unfortunately it's a bad decision because there are far more "hot bed" markets in MLS than there are "non-hot bed" markets.

Well, in the future, if these academies are run right that is, players coming out of the homegrown academies should be much better than the NCAA crowd.