Marcelo Flores

[Bison44]

Nice to see some people (mr215guy) never change.  Hopefully Flores makes it to camp and becomes besties with Corbaneau, Priso or Nelsen etc.  You know, has maple syrup on pancakes and falls in love with Canada all over again.  

[Obinna]

Maybe they can be roomies during camp, under the guise of simply pairing two young English academy teenagers together, but in actuality Corbeanu's job will be to twist the arm of Flores

[SthMelbRed]

30 minutes ago, Kent said:

Yeah, that mister guy was banned, I think for bad mouthing the USA on literally (I literally mean literally) every comment he made. It was ridiculous. Like saying things like any human being with a Canadian passport is a better soccer player than any USMNT player. And he would say that out of nowhere in a match thread for Canada vs Belize.

The Tim Weah comment may seem far fetched because David starts over him at Lille, but if the nationalities were reversed no doubt we would be pointing to Weah’s higher goal total in much, much, fewer minutes played.

We might say that if we hadn't actually watched the games.

[SthMelbRed]

7 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

Nice to see some people (mr215guy) never change.  Hopefully Flores makes it to camp and becomes besties with Corbaneau, Priso or Nelsen etc.  You know, has maple syrup on pancakes and falls in love with Canada all over again.  

If he was from BC, I'd say get him some Triple O burgers to make him feel warm and fuzzy about home. What's the Ontario equivalent? Just a dozen apple fritters from Tim's?

[Dominic94]

19 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Maybe they can be roomies during camp, under the guise of simply pairing two young English academy teenagers together, but in actuality Corbeanu's job will be to twist the arm of Flores

Corbeanu and him actually already know each other and they have a bromance going.

[nolando]

No new info but I love the headline from the Mexican press: "Canada wants to steal the Arsenal jewel from the Mexican National Team"

https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/universal-deportes/futbol/canada-quiere-robarle-joya-del-arsenal-la-seleccion-mexicana

[Obinna]

10 minutes ago, nolando said:

No new info but I love the headline from the Mexican press: "Canada wants to steal the Arsenal jewel from the Mexican National Team"

https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/universal-deportes/futbol/canada-quiere-robarle-joya-del-arsenal-la-seleccion-mexicana

One of the comments, in Spanish, says that England can provide more possibilities for him, while Canada is not going to the World Cup. 

Just a reminder of how much further we have to go to change perceptions around the world. 

[Kadenge]

15 hours ago, Obinna said:

One of the comments, in Spanish, says that England can provide more possibilities for him, while Canada is not going to the World Cup. 

Just a reminder of how much further we have to go to change perceptions around the world. 

and that's not going to change (even with Davies & David) until we start getting results on the field.  It's time to bring it during WCQ.

[One American]

Having watched some highlights .... Flores looks like the better prospect. Corbeanu looks like Liam Millar .... a guy who could have a nice career. Flores looks like he has really quick feet and a good mind.

[top cheese]

I don’t think we should be hyping a u17 player. The transition to senior/ pro is significant. He might look great in his age group but unable to fully establish himself. I think there’s lots of Canadian academy players who we hype bc they get an opportunity somewhere and end up playing 4th or 5th division 

[SpursFlu]

Was there a computer chip put in everyone's head around the world that programs them to say Canada isn't going to the World Cup but they are hosting in 2026. When did it become impossible for people to put 30 seconds of thought in to what they're saying. I think Neymar, Messi and Ronaldo could commit to Canada and random would say... thats not a good idea, now they won't play in a World Cup

[Shway]

1 hour ago, top cheese said:

I don’t think we should be hyping a u17 player. The transition to senior/ pro is significant. He might look great in his age group but unable to fully establish himself. I think there’s lots of Canadian academy players who we hype bc they get an opportunity somewhere and end up playing 4th or 5th division 

Thank you. 

While it’s nice that he’s interested, I’ve routinely said that we need to pump the brakes on the hype trains for any kid who’s still playing with kids.

Creates unrealistic expectation.

 

[Dominic94]

17 hours ago, Obinna said:

One of the comments, in Spanish, says that England can provide more possibilities for him, while Canada is not going to the World Cup. 

Just a reminder of how much further we have to go to change perceptions around the world. 

They stole him from us... like this is a kid who was literally born, raised and trained in Canada till he was what ? 13 or 14 ? He’s not being stolen it’s literally his home and his mother in Canadian, his friends are Canadian etc.

[Dominic94]

4 minutes ago, Shway said:

Thank you. 

While it’s nice that he’s interested, I’ve routinely said that we need to pump the brakes on the hype trains for any kid who’s still playing with kids.

Creates unrealistic expectation.

 

This is fair to say however he’s listed at a top 60 prospect in the world, being on the guardian list isn’t something to sneeze at and having a prospect that we trained and developed on that list is huge.

 

also I thought about it and man if he’s coming to camp just to push Mexico for a callup....

kid is doing 2 quarantines to play training matches...

we must actually have a chance.

[dyslexic nam]

57 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

This is fair to say however he’s listed at a top 60 prospect in the world, being on the guardian list isn’t something to sneeze at and having a prospect that we trained and developed on that list is huge.

 

also I thought about it and man if he’s coming to camp just to push Mexico for a callup....

kid is doing 2 quarantines to play training matches...

we must actually have a chance.

This thread was also started in early 2017 when he was 13 yrs old.  He is now 17 and is still on a great trajectory.  Not any sort of guarantee of course but this isn’t some random find that everyone is suddenly fawning over - he is a kid who has been consistently doing the work and performing at a high level, and who is in a world class academy setup.  I think the odds that he stays on track are pretty good.  

[Bertuzzi44]

2 hours ago, Dominic94 said:

They stole him from us... like this is a kid who was literally born, raised and trained in Canada till he was what ? 13 or 14 ? He’s not being stolen it’s literally his home and his mother in Canadian, his friends are Canadian etc.

And have you heard him speak Spanish....

[Floortom]

2 hours ago, Shway said:

Thank you. 

While it’s nice that he’s interested, I’ve routinely said that we need to pump the brakes on the hype trains for any kid who’s still playing with kids.

Creates unrealistic expectation.

 

9 times out of 10 I would agree with this but in this case it’s clear that Flores is blue chip prospect. I would not put him in the same class as Corbeanu or Millar for example. Or course it could all go sideways in the next few years but he seems a cut above the kids that we would usually hype 

[MtlMario]

16 hours ago, Bertuzzi44 said:

And have you heard him speak Spanish....

Is it that bad?

[Ngravs]

47 minutes ago, MtlMario said:

Is it that bad?

I came across a video on twitter made by American fans that shows Dest speaking Spanish vs Flores and Dest seemed more comfortable. Flores is doing an interview in Spanish and they switch halfway through to English for him. 

[toontownman]

Also heard he has an intolerance for any spicy food. On the flipside rumours are he didn't get every possible mark on his GCSE English exam so my tea leaves say his choice is up in the air.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Have folks watched Flores' highlight reel? A lot of twisting and turning in the midfield, a trickiness with the ball. But against the weak opposition he'd see at his level, not all rivals but of course many of them. And a lot of those moves rather inconsequential, not near goal, ending in a back pass, moves a simple passing combination could have garnered him similar results. Not too many goals.

I am surprised he is touted as such a high prospect, a whirling dervish at his age is fairly common. We've seen scores of them. I do not yet rate him as a sure future value for us if he chooses Canada and makes the MNT.

Or maybe I'm wrong. I'd like someone who has actually watched him more to tell me what I am not seeing.

[Acid-Tone]

Mostly agree with you on the videos I have seen of him so far.   

It also seems like perhaps he should've gotten a couple of doses of that Messi growth hormone treatment!

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Have folks watched Flores' highlight reel? A lot of twisting and turning in the midfield, a trickiness with the ball. But against the weak opposition he'd see at his level, not all rivals but of course many of them. And a lot of those moves rather inconsequential, not near goal, ending in a back pass, moves a simple passing combination could have garnered him similar results. Not too many goals.

I am surprised he is touted as such a high prospect, a whirling dervish at his age is fairly common. We've seen scores of them. I do not yet rate him as a sure future value for us if he chooses Canada and makes the MNT.

Or maybe I'm wrong. I'd like someone who has actually watched him more to tell me what I am not seeing.

I see what you are saying here. He actually reminds of a smaller, younger, and much better Marco Bustos. It remains to be seen how many goals and assists he'll add to his game, but early returns with the Arsenal U18's seems promising. Plus anytime a North American player displays the traits he does, there is going to be hype, it is understandable.

Even English players are not typically built like this, which may be why he made the Guardian top 60 list or what ever it was. 

I hope he plays for us and turns out to be a good player.

I saw another comment in this thread about how he may be hoping the consequence of this camp is alerting Mexico, so I want to point out the exact things were being said about England-eligible Musah, the 18 year old Valencia winger who won caps for the United States last window. We never know what will happen, but he's looking awful comfortable with the USA now, so hopefully we see something similar with Flores.

[archer21]

It makes sense for a player like Yankov who’s on the cusp of a call up to Bulgaria to use Canada as a means to getting his Bulgaria call up. I don’t think Flores is that close to the full Mexico MNT though so I don’t really see this as him pressuring Mexico to calling him up.

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 hours ago, Obinna said:

I see what you are saying here. He actually reminds of a smaller, younger, and much better Marco Bustos. It remains to be seen how many goals and assists he'll add to his game, but early returns with the Arsenal U18's seems promising. Plus anytime a North American player displays the traits he does, there is going to be hype, it is understandable.

Even English players are not typically built like this, which may be why he made the Guardian top 60 list or what ever it was. 

I hope he plays for us and turns out to be a good player.

I saw another comment in this thread about how he may be hoping the consequence of this camp is alerting Mexico, so I want to point out the exact things were being said about England-eligible Musah, the 18 year old Valencia winger who won caps for the United States last window. We never know what will happen, but he's looking awful comfortable with the USA now, so hopefully we see something similar with Flores.

He's not stellar, don't think. It is simply too early. If he'd play for our u-17s or u-19s and we got results with him contributing we'd know better. But he's not stellar, in the way Foden was at this age, or Pedri is now at Barça. Foden was so great in the u-17 World Cup, that was an impact tournament and that is what you need sometimes to judge a player.

Much prefer to have him with us than with Mexico, thrilled in fact. Just trying to gauge the real value going forward.