Canadian Dual Nationals 2.0 Edition, Chase for the 5 stars

[narduch]

I know he's still a kid but he isn't a starter for his club team

[Bigandy]

14 minutes ago, narduch said:

I know he's still a kid but he isn't a starter for his club team

6 appearances and 1 goal in 8 possible league matches so far. I have no idea if they are starts or how many minutes logged. 

[narduch]

3 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

6 appearances and 1 goal in 8 possible league matches so far. I have no idea if they are starts or how many minutes logged. 

I was checking their results when Bassong was still their and he seemed to mostly start from the bench.

[InglewoodJack]

Dallas is a good team to develop on. Plus, he’ll be teammates with Liam Fraser who has seen his career benefit from the national team more than any player in our pool. Bodes well for him coming over to us. 

[Bigandy]

Has anyone seen Sali's play style?

Without seeing him play, I feel like he is an inverted winger. Creative and likes the ball at his feet but not a guy who hugs the line and torches his defender for speed. Perhaps able to play as a 10? Purely based on nothing. 

[An Observer]

3 hours ago, Bigandy said:

Has anyone seen Sali's play style?

Without seeing him play, I feel like he is an inverted winger. Creative and likes the ball at his feet but not a guy who hugs the line and torches his defender for speed. Perhaps able to play as a 10? Purely based on nothing. 

When I saw highlights a couple of years back, he was a phenomenal dribbler and just ran at defenders. What I didn’t see was much passing or even clinical finishing but it was impressive what he could do with the ball at his feet against grown men at 15. It did seem though like he needed to add the other elements to his game if he truly was going to develop into an elite player

[Corazon]

For those newer to this forum, here is Sali's highlight goal at 15 to become the youngest ever goal scorer in the Romanian top division.  Despite terrible defending, it's still a special goal for a 15 year old to score.  It was soon after this, he was called up for the Romanian Men's National Team.

(1) GOOOL! Farul - Clinceni 5-0. Enes Sali, cel mai tânăr marcator din istoria Ligii 1 - YouTube

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by Corazon

[Footyeh]

51 1st team games at 17.... Starter or not, it's massive.  

I know first hand that he's in a awkward situation with his club where they didn't sell him in the summer due to high price expectations.  January seems a good time to sell him given he will have one year left on his deal come June.

[Obinna]

2 hours ago, Footyeh said:

51 1st team games at 17.... Starter or not, it's massive.  

I know first hand that he's in a awkward situation with his club where they didn't sell him in the summer due to high price expectations.  January seems a good time to sell him given he will have one year left on his deal come June.

What do you think our chances are with him? He's of Turkish decent so he could play for them too. Has he ever shown any interest in Canada? He's not cap tied ATM.

[RojitoTO]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

What do you think our chances are with him? He's of Turkish decent so he could play for them too. Has he ever shown any interest in Canada? He's not cap tied ATM.

Hasn't he played a game for Romania?

[Obinna]

2 minutes ago, RojitoTO said:

Hasn't he played a game for Romania?

He has. I meant there is still potential for him to switch to us (I think). Someone who knows the rules better than I can clarify. 

[RojitoTO]

He can switch to us because he played before turning 21 and it wasn't in a final confederated tournament like a World Cup, Nation's League or European Championship. I think we've got a shot with this kid.

[toontownman]

Was capped in Nov 2021. Eligble to switch November 15th 2024. If he doesn't get a cap in between. 

He committed to Romania though. For him to get to a level we would be interested in capping, you would imagine Romania would already come calling again. 

.... hearing rumours Hagi interviewed with the CSA...

[narduch]

2 hours ago, toontownman said:

Was capped in Nov 2021. Eligble to switch November 15th 2024. If he doesn't get a cap in between. 

He committed to Romania though. For him to get to a level we would be interested in capping, you would imagine Romania would already come calling again. 

.... hearing rumours Hagi interviewed with the CSA...

He also played for a Romanian youth team last window too.

[CanadaFan123]

7 hours ago, RojitoTO said:

Hasn't he played a game for Romania?

@Footyeh, who I think is the most in the know poster here, commented that he would be switching to Canada and had even tried to switch for the u17 team. Imagine that - our team would be stacked for this tournament. 

[Jack1997]

6 hours ago, CanadaFan123 said:

@Footyeh, who I think is the most in the know poster here, commented that he would be switching to Canada and had even tried to switch for the u17 team. Imagine that - our team would be stacked for this tournament. 

I belive you but I’d like to see it for myself, do you know what thread he said this in? I did some searching and couldn’t find anything.

[InglewoodJack]

Sali shares an agent with Riqui Puig, probably the best example of a highly talented young prospect in Europe moving to MLS to continue his development, so the move to Dallas makes sense.

 

Also, just checked, and Sali does, indeed, follow Canada Soccer on IG. Also follows the Romanian federation, but this is how it starts...

[Obinna]

13 hours ago, toontownman said:

 

.... hearing rumours Hagi interviewed with the CSA...

Joke or serious?

35 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Also, just checked, and Sali does, indeed, follow Canada Soccer on IG. Also follows the Romanian federation, but this is how it starts...

Could be nothing, but could be something I suppose. Does he follow the TFF?

[InglewoodJack]

14 minutes ago, Obinna said:

 

Could be nothing, but could be something I suppose. Does he follow the TFF?

Nope!

[Obinna]

4 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Nope!

That's certainly bullish.

If he really is considering us more I wonder what changed? A lack of senior Romanian call ups? The prospect of potentially playing in a Copa America? Romania sit 2nd in their Euro qualifying group, so they are in a good spot to qualify directly, but Israel are hot on their heels and maybe they won't make it...not that he'd be a lock for our Copa squad, if we even make it, but yeah, I am looking for things to be optimistic about I guess...

[InglewoodJack]

2 minutes ago, Obinna said:

That's certainly bullish.

If he really is considering us more I wonder what changed? A lack of senior Romanian call ups? The prospect of potentially playing in a Copa America? Romania sit 2nd in their Euro qualifying group, so they are in a good spot to qualify directly, but Israel are hot on their heels and maybe they won't make it...not that he'd be a lock for our Copa squad, if we even make it, but yeah, I am looking for things to be optimistic about I guess...

To our credit, Canada is a higher ranked national team, we're going to play a world cup, I think he probably has as much of a chance to play for Canada in Copa America as he does to play for Romania for the Euros (ie if one of the teams wants to toss a flyer on a then-18 year old kid to cap him), he's from Canada too... I think we're an attractive option for him.

 

This is all speculation- I don't know if he's in talks with us or if the MLS move (he also follows Dallas, so I guess that's happening) brings him over to us. I did catch the @Footyeh post that was referenced above where they mentioned Sali was gonna eventually play for us but couldn't really do anything while he was in Romania. Though we won Corbeanu a few years ago, so our record for attracting Romanians to our squad is relatively good in comparison to how we usually do with Southeastern Europeans.

[Obinna]

1 minute ago, InglewoodJack said:

To our credit, Canada is a higher ranked national team, we're going to play a world cup, I think he probably has as much of a chance to play for Canada in Copa America as he does to play for Romania for the Euros (ie if one of the teams wants to toss a flyer on a then-18 year old kid to cap him), he's from Canada too... I think we're an attractive option for him.

 

This is all speculation- I don't know if he's in talks with us or if the MLS move (he also follows Dallas, so I guess that's happening) brings him over to us. I did catch the @Footyeh post that was referenced above where they mentioned Sali was gonna eventually play for us but couldn't really do anything while he was in Romania. Though we won Corbeanu a few years ago, so our record for attracting Romanians to our squad is relatively good in comparison to how we usually do with Southeastern Europeans.

I missed the Dallas thing entirely. Thanks for that!

The optimist in me thinks getting to this side of the pond will be excellent for our chances. He'll even have a NT clubmate in Fraser. The pessimist questions whether that would actually alert Romania, especially if he does well. They aren't afraid to call MLS players. 

[toontownman]

36 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Joke or serious?

Poor joke.

[Footyeh]

I think accepted the Romania call-up just came down to one federation being in contact and favoring him and the other not having much to offer at the time.

He's been in touch with Canada and wasn't eligible to join the U17 World Cup group as he has to wait 3 years from his Senior Debut to file the switch.  I think he will be in the mix for the 2025 U20 World Cup qualifying cycle.

[InglewoodJack]

3 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I missed the Dallas thing entirely. Thanks for that!

The optimist in me thinks getting to this side of the pond will be excellent for our chances. He'll even have a NT clubmate in Fraser. The pessimist questions whether that would actually alert Romania, especially if he does well. They aren't afraid to call MLS players. 

I still think for once, we're the better option for this dual national, and I don't think he needs to rush to commit to Romania. If he's as great as he thinks he is, he doesn't need to limit his options, and if he's actually that good, the marketing value of being a soccer star in Canada trumps being one in Romania, I think.

2 minutes ago, Footyeh said:

I think accepted the Romania call-up just came down to one federation being in contact and favoring him and the other not having much to offer at the time.

He's been in touch with Canada and wasn't eligible to join the U17 World Cup group as he has to wait 3 years from his Senior Debut to file the switch.  I think he will be in the mix for the 2025 U20 World Cup qualifying cycle.

There you go. Do you know if the whole thing about him needing to wait until November '24 is accurate?