Marcelo Flores

[Dominic94]

12 minutes ago, baulderdash77 said:

Here’s the translation:

Canada wants to 'steal' Marcelo Flores from the lower Mexican National Team

The coach of the U-23 team said that they will do everything possible to try to take him to the team, although they know interest from other selections

The coach of the U-23 National Team of Canada, Mauro Biello, commented that the team will look for Marcelo Flores, who was born in that country, is a member of the Arsenal quarry and has represented Mexico in international tournaments.

"Marcelo is a player that we have obviously been looking for. We would love to have you in this new group. He is a player who is being seen by other selections. And right now Canada is sure to be interested in him as a player. In the future there will be opportunities for the young player and Canada will do everything possible to try to take him to our team," said the Canadian coach.

Marcelo Flores could be part of the project that has been working for a few months in the national teams of Canada, which has as its main objective to train new talents that nourish the different teams at the selection level,

"Yes, this is the first time we have had a U-23 team and the men's national team playing at the same time. We have brought together the most competitive teams possible for both groups. We have to allow some of these young players to show up and help this qualify for the Olympics, but at the same time, you know that you are potentially preparing for a busy summer that is coming with the Men's National Team, whether it is a Gold Cup or a World Cup qualifier in the future."

About El Salvador, rival with whom they will debut in the tournament, Biello commented that the first match is always the key match during the development of a short championship such as the CONCACAF Pre-Olympics.

"El Salvador is traditionally a team that likes to own the ball, a team that you know in attack it likes to combine. It seems that we are looking to face a very good technician in confined and defensively organized spaces. Yes, it is extremely important (to have a good result in the first game). The first game sets the tone for us, we know for sure," he concluded.

“Steal”

you mean get him back..... stupid headlines.

landing both Dias and Flores would be a shot across the bow.

[Shway]

41 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

“Steal”

you mean get him back..... stupid headlines.

landing both Dias and Flores would be a shot across the bow.

A good Olympic showing, Gold cup opportunities, and making the Octo...I’m not worried about our duals anymore.

If they come then great, but we’re growing and getting better regardless. 

So if it’s not Marcelo today, then it’s Marco who we never knew about - tomorrow.

The main thing is we need to play games/have random camps at all levels. 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Shway

[Dominic94]

1 hour ago, Shway said:

A good Olympic showing, Gold cup opportunities, and making the Octo...I’m not worried about our duals anymore.

If they come then great, but we’re growing and getting better regardless. 

So if it’s not Marcelo today, then it’s Marco who we never knew about - tomorrow.

The main thing is we need to play games/have random camps at all levels. 

I agree, I’ve said it elsewhere. We actually trained these kids to a level where they could succeed in a higher one.

it’s unfortunate that they’re duals, but they won’t always be. 
 

the Can PL, Atletico and the eventual Bundesliga Partnership will help us find more talent that we miss.

[Ivan]

I suppose he could show up on Canada's roster for Bermuda and Cayman islands.  I would be shocked, but its possible.

[Kadenge]

Stealing Flores eh? So now we know why the Mexican ref was such a jerk vs El Salvador 😊

[Norrin Radd]

14 hours ago, Shway said:

So if it’s not Marcelo today, then it’s Marco who we never knew about - tomorrow.

That's not good enough. I want both Marcelo and Marco playing together for Canada.

[Dominic94]

https://dailycannon.com/2021/03/canada-mexico-marcelo-flores/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

[Dominic94]

Not called to the U-20

https://mobile.twitter.com/MexNexGen2/status/1374101333054226442/photo/1

[Stryker911]

Made the Arsenal u23 bench today. Pretty sure it's his first time at that level.

[toontownman]

I think he has been injured for a while too? Could be wrong but I think he was injured before the olympic qualifying too. Might be wishful thinking there on the latter end.

[Weng]

51 minutes ago, Stryker911 said:

Made the Arsenal u23 bench today. Pretty sure it's his first time at that level.

He scored a screamer from just outside the 18 last week for the under 18’s.

[Dominic94]

I would be surprised if he finishes with the U23 and MAYBE gets a loan or even time training with the first team early next season. He apparently excelled at the U-18 level. 

[jordan]

12 hours ago, Dominic94 said:

I would be surprised if he finishes with the U23 and MAYBE gets a loan or even time training with the first team early next season. He apparently excelled at the U-18 level. 

Probably a little ways to go before this stuff happens, considering all the players who play ahead of him, who are of similar age or slightly older, who have also not gone out on loan. 

[Dominic94]

2 hours ago, jordan said:

Probably a little ways to go before this stuff happens, considering all the players who play ahead of him, who are of similar age or slightly older, who have also not gone out on loan. 

But are they just older or are they better ? Isn’t he their best prospect ?

[TFC2017]

He's gonna join Canada, I have no insider intelligence it's just a good feeling. He's very good friends with Corbeanu. 

[Ivan]

16 minutes ago, TFC2017 said:

He's gonna join Canada, I have no insider intelligence it's just a good feeling. He's very good friends with Corbeanu. 

Corbeanu may end up being our most important influencer! Seems to be the ring-leader of our up and coming slew of young European stars. Friends with Flores, Dias, Jebbison and Mitrovic.  Although I would imagine, growing up in Toronto and all within a year in age, they all played with and against each other at some point.

[Dominic94]

1 hour ago, TFC2017 said:

He's gonna join Canada, I have no insider intelligence it's just a good feeling. He's very good friends with Corbeanu. 

Sounds insider to me, Dias showed because of him.

[Dominic94]

1 hour ago, Ivan said:

Corbeanu may end up being our most important influencer! Seems to be the ring-leader of our up and coming slew of young European stars. Friends with Flores, Dias, Jebbison and Mitrovic.  Although I would imagine, growing up in Toronto and all within a year in age, they all played with and against each other at some point.

I have made this point many times. They surely have all heard of each other during their youth.

[toontownman]

Is there actual interest in Mitrovic. I know its reported there is from his end but is the CSA interested?

Fingers crossed on Flores. Would like to see us call him with the promise not to captie unless he wanted lol

Real shame it didnt work out in January.

[VinceA]

3 minutes ago, toontownman said:

Is there actual interest in Mitrovic. I know its reported there is from his end but is the CSA interested?

Fingers crossed on Flores. Would like to see us call him with the promise not to captie unless he wanted lol

Real shame it didnt work out in January.

He's said he's spoken with Biello. I imagine he was in the plans for the U20s until the age group tourneys were cancelled.

[Blackjack15]

Just gonna leave this right here

[gigi riva]

like Jebbison call this guy for the Gold Cup team 

[Corazon]

I believe it has already been shared in another discussion but I figured I would post this in his thread as well.  Article posted today on Arsenal's website about Marcelo Flores journey.  Part of a series they are running for some of their youth players.

Young Gun: Marcelo Flores | Feature | News | Arsenal.com

Edited June 29, 2021 by Corazon

[VinceA]

I'm gonna temper expectations on this guy until he's a pro and until he actually plays for us. Same with Dias. I'm excited as the next guy for Flores but really there's always a ton of kids who do well in their academy and then go on to be quite middling.

Zelalem is the biggest example of this from Arsenal. He was hyped to the nines from everyone. From the US saying he's the great hope for the program to Wenger himself saying he saw him as Fabregas' replacement. Then he just sort of went nowhere. He did have some injuries but he never figured out how to put everything together at the pro level. I think we're setting ourselves up for hurt if we keep hyping up everything Flores does with the U23s.

Arsenal's track record with North American talent in general is pretty poor. Vela had to find success elsewhere (If this is the path he ends up on that would be cool), Campbell didn't pan out either. Jury's out on Balogun.

If I end up eating my words later, I would not mind that, however.

[frmr]

I'm actually tempering my own expectations on whether he will choose Canada. In the video in the Gold Cup thread his dad mentions that Herdman is telling him he can join the senior team now and the Mexico coach is telling him he wants him to come to U20 cycles and slowly work his way up. The translation is poor but I think his dad goes on to say that Canada is attractive to him for that reason and that parents are aware of countries cap tying a player and not playing them until many years later. Which is a fair point, he could actually progress his club career more quickly by choosing Canada and getting playing time in some important games with the senior team. So there is obviously hope that he sees Canada as the best choice, and it sounds like his dad is making sure he is aware of all of the consequences of choosing an allegiance.

What worries and what is making me temper my expectations a bit is that it seems like Flores feels a connection to Mexico which you can see on his Instagram posts, calling the youth team a Mexican family. There was also a Mexican video from a YT channel that seemed to have a pretty good following discussing his inclusion in the Canada 60-man where at the end the presenter said essentially "but don't worry, we have it from a reliable source that he has already chosen Mexico". Which of course should be taken with a grain of salt, but I guess you give it the benefit of the doubt. So it sounds like he probably wants (or at least wanted) to play for Mexico. We know Herdman would be doing absolutely everything he can to convince him that Canada gives him the best opportunity for his career, which even from a purely objective point of view could absolutely be true. So it's a toss up. I would say it's 60/40 in favour of Mexico because he seems to want to play for them and with his skill level he probably feels like he can play for them. It's just whether he chooses playing now and playing a lot more for Canada or if he chooses the slower, less guaranteed path and ultimately playing less international football for what might be his "first choice".

The wild card of this whole saga is that he is on our provisional squad. If we knew exactly what that meant and if all players on that list are willing to play, then that would answer some questions. I just doubt that Arfield has committed to Gold Cup for example, so some of these players could simply be undecided, eg: Flores. Either way, we'll know in a few days. If he's not on the 23-man I think he's likely going to choose Mexico.

As you could guess, I've been thinking about this a lot.