Ranking Our Top 5 Prospects/Young Players

[Shway]

This list needs to be 95 and lower. 

The 93s are not really prospects if they aren't getting called up, and 23 is not that "young" anymore. 

 

[ThiKu]

 

 

There's a difference though between prospect and young. You have to have two separate lists.

 

I suggest to you that prospect is 18 and under, and not yet in first team. Young, by my definition is 19-21 and is in a senior team. If you've signed to a senior team you can't be put in the same prospect category as a 16-17 year old in an academy. 

 

Look at Manchester United. 

 

Players like Januzaj, Fosu-Mensah, Borthwick, Rashford, Perreira - these are young bright talents that people believe will have meaningful EPL careers, if not at Manchester United. But they have players like Riley and Gomes that are still academy players (Riley has 1 senior appearance I believe). Riley is 19 (I think) and Gomes is still just 15-16. People are labeling Gomes as a prospect "world class talent" and many say "Ballon d'Or is not out of the question for him" but he's still just a prospect, and you likely won't see him until the u20 world cup (probably as a 17-18 year old), and then in the senior first team.

[Bully]

Change this up a little.. name players in our system that have the potential to be an elite player. So 'elite' means Atiba, JDG in their primes. Playing regularly, in a top league. 

I would say,

Larin
Petrasso
Tabla
Davies

Trying to lighten the mood here. 
 

[Stryker911]

For me the top 5 guys that could be elite would be.

1) Tomori 2) Davies 3) Tabla 4) Miller 5) Larin

Realize that Tomori is currently playing for England, but he is still eligible for us so included him. The fact that he has played in the premier league for Chelsea at 18 is incredible. Davies and Table will both hopefully get serious playing time in the MLS within the next year. Miller is in a really good place with Liverpool and will hopefully continue to develop. Larin will have a great career, and he will probably end up as a similar career to Altidore, which is fantastic, but hopefully the other 4 can go beyond that.

 

[baulderdash77]

I think that we only have Davies, Tabla and Larin as potential elite - i.e. DeGuzman, DeRosario, Atiba level players.  We have a bunch of guys who can be good but in terms of development level at a certain age, I think those are our 3 guys.

That being said; lots can change in the development curve of players.

[PhillyCanuck]

I would add Zachary Brault-Guillard (Lyon U-19) as a prospect who could potentially become an elite player for the national team. He made his debut with the U-20 program this past weekend in Costa Rica and was named MOTM for Canada in the first game. He doesn't turn 18 until December, so he still has a few years to develop. From what I understand, he was born in Haiti and then adopted by a Canadian-born father and French-born mother. The family moved from Montreal to France when Brault-Guillard was a child and he grew up playing soccer there. Despite being born in Haiti and spending the majority of his life in France, he is listed as a Canadian on the Lyon website:

http://www.olweb.fr/en/academy/u19-players-staff-146.html

 

[Northvansteve]

The stars tend to be the players who are bigger and/or faster than others but often they haven't yet learned how to use those attributes on the field. I'll bet if we look back on the early reviews of Atiba and JDG and DeRo they were seen as pure athletes who needed a lot of work before they became polished stars.

Based on that, in addition to Larin and Davies, I would add Sam Adekugbe and although I have only seen him a couple of times (so I defer to others who have seen more of him), I would look at Malik Johnson who has great speed as a central mid. 

[An Observer]

On JDG, DeRo and Hutch, none were playing at an elite level in their teens or early 20s so I think there are quite a few outside the one's mention (probably 20 to 30) that could develop to their level by their mid to late 20s.  DeRo played his whole career in MLS and wasn't even a starter in a league that is much weaker than today until his mid-20s I think.  I think Larin, Davies and Tabla are way ahead of those 3 at their equivalent age but that doesn't mean they will be by their late 20s.  My hope is those 3 become stars in the premiership or la liga and we develop about 5 or 6 other guys at the level of JDG, DeRo and Hutch.  Unfortunately, we have a big gap in development from the mid-twenties at this stage so I doubt any of these guys (if they develop) will be at that level in the next cycle. 

One guy who hasn't been mentioned is Chung at the whitecaps...he seems quite good in the few times I have seen him.

[zaltan]

you will need to add Zanatta to the list

 

[Floortom]

1. Tomori by far

2. Davies

3. Tabla

i wouldn't put anyone else in the list (Larin is borderline)

[Fastfeet2]

What's the status of Caniggia Elva within the Canada setup? 

[Floortom]

2 minutes ago, Fastfeet2 said:

What's the status of Caniggia Elva within the Canada setup? 

He would have been with the team when we had the camp and friendlies vs England but an injury called him to pull out.

Either way, I wouldnt put him in this list.

[michaeltfc91]

I am not going to pretend I am an expert on these players, but what are the chances that they represent Canada at the International Level, and do you think they will become top CONCACAF players? In 2020 when World Cup Qualifying gets serious will these players be important players on Canada?

Fikayo Tomori - Chelsea (1997), Zachary Guillard - Lyon (1998), Josh Doughty - Man United (1997), 

Dario Zanatta - Hearts (1997), Liam Miller - Liverpool (1999), Alphonso Davies - Vancouver (2000) 

These are 6 top prospects along with Larin, Patresso, Adekugbe, Henry, Aird and James.

Not to mention veterans that will still be involved in four years like Akindele, Johnson, Hoilett, Arfield, Osorio, Borjan. Does that 18 man roster seem realistic in four years?

[Ruffian]

8 hours ago, An Observer said:

One guy who hasn't been mentioned is Chung at the whitecaps...he seems quite good in the few times I have seen him.

I have watched him play with Whitecaps 2 many times and sometimes he looks solid and other times he has not looked that great. Then I looked him up on wiki and he was 17! Looked great for 17. He also has the traditional build and skills for a right back. Whether he becomes a star or ends up on an NASL team I think he can still be a regular or depth on our national team for a position that is very thin at the moment.

[pint]

Would a guy like Borges be in this conversation or Hundal?

Hundal looks great for a 17 year old in USL and I haven't seen much of Borges but he is following the same path that created Johnson and Bradley 2.

[Guest]

Amazed by how many people are over looking Larin. Including the fact that they believe he will reach Altidore potential even though he is already scoring more than Alitdore. He only underperformed for Canada because of Floro's shitty tactics.(bar a few misses)

[Northvansteve]

2 hours ago, canta15 said:

Amazed by how many people are over looking Larin. Including the fact that they believe he will reach Altidore potential even though he is already scoring more than Alitdore. He only underperformed for Canada because of Floro's shitty tactics.(bar a few misses)

Larin is a terrific player - he's big, strong, faster than you might expect and can strong every way except with his left foot. I would not be surprised if he's on a Premier League team at some point.

[A_Gagne]

On 9/7/2016 at 9:35 PM, Stryker911 said:

For me the top 5 guys that could be elite would be.

1) Tomori 2) Davies 3) Tabla 4) Miller 5) Larin

Realize that Tomori is currently playing for England, but he is still eligible for us so included him. The fact that he has played in the premier league for Chelsea at 18 is incredible. Davies and Table will both hopefully get serious playing time in the MLS within the next year. Miller is in a really good place with Liverpool and will hopefully continue to develop. Larin will have a great career, and he will probably end up as a similar career to Altidore, which is fantastic, but hopefully the other 4 can go beyond that.

 

 

14 hours ago, Floortom said:

1. Tomori by far

2. Davies

3. Tabla

i wouldn't put anyone else in the list (Larin is borderline)

I wouldn't say Larin is boarderline, or has a lower ceiling than any of these guys. At 21 he's already one of the best goal scorers in MLS. I would argue he's better than Altidore right now. If he transfers to Europe in the next 2 seasons and lights it up he could definitely get in the Jono, Atiba, Radsinski level conversation.

[Bertuzzi44]

It's amazing, a couple years ago Larin was at the top of many peoples' "prospects" lists.

And now, at only 21 years old and with 30 goals in 52 MLS appearances, has somehow dropped off?

To me, Larin is still one of our very best prospects!

 

 

[masster]

56 minutes ago, Bertuzzi44 said:

It's amazing, a couple years ago Larin was at the top of many peoples' "prospects" lists.

And now, at only 21 years old and with 30 goals in 52 MLS appearances, has somehow dropped off?

To me, Larin is still one of our very best prospects!

 

Because a couple of years ago he was 19. Now he is 21 with a couple of seasons of professional football under his belt. Thats not my definition of a prospect. For me it is U20.

[Blackdude]

Larin isn't a prospect anymore, he's a known commodity for us. We can't say the same about Davies, Tabla, Shome and co. I don't think it has to do with age, but reuglar playing time with the senior team. 

[Big_M]

The players who are playing in European academies+Davies.

Hundal has 5 like Tabla in the same number of minutes and they are the same age. Some things make it seem like Tabla will be a bust. Time will tell.

[Michael Crampton]

On 9/8/2016 at 8:48 PM, Northvansteve said:

Larin is a terrific player - he's big, strong, faster than you might expect and can strong every way except with his left foot. I would not be surprised if he's on a Premier League team at some point.

Larin's greatest attribute is his quick release: the ability to generate power and accuracy without a hard plant and very little pull back on his kicking leg. You think he doesn't have the space and before you blink the ball is in the back of the net.

But to make it work, you need to get him the ball between the penalty spot and the top of the 18, inside the width of the 6.

Strangely, Canada fans don't seem to have any awareness of how good he is at this... It's almost like he never gets the ball in those areas...

(He is somewhat weak on one-on-ones and doesn't make the best decisions on the break.)

[Alex D]

37 minutes ago, Michael Crampton said:

Larin's greatest attribute is his quick release: the ability to generate power and accuracy without a hard plant and very little pull back on his kicking leg. You think he doesn't have the space and before you blink the ball is in the back of the net.

But to make it work, you need to get him the ball between the penalty spot and the top of the 18, inside the width of the 6.

Strangely, Canada fans don't seem to have any awareness of how good he is at this... It's almost like he never gets the ball in those areas...

(He is somewhat weak on one-on-ones and doesn't make the best decisions on the break.)

He is the soccer equivalent to a late career Brett Hull. Which is pretty Damn good

[BCM]

On Saturday, September 10, 2016 at 11:09 AM, Big_M said:

The players who are playing in European academies+Davies.

Hundal has 5 like Tabla in the same number of minutes and they are the same age. Some things make it seem like Tabla will be a bust. Time will tell.

We've always had a number of players at pretty good academies. None seem to make it - I'm thinking of the defender at PSG, numerous keepers, etc. 

Which leads me to Tomori. I hope he makes it, and chooses us. But again, playing percentages it's more likely be ends up in the Championship or below. Playing a game or two at the top is no guarantee of  sustained success (ie Edgar) 

Sir Alex Ferguson was the greatest at giving young guys a few matches, driving up their value, then pawning them off to the lower leagues. David Healy and Luke Chadwick are examples, both went on to have great championship level careers. Oliver Norwood too, but he never got a match at United. Many others have rarely been heard from since, meaning they faded into obscurity.