Tajon Buchanan

[Gian-Luca]

Didn't see this posted yet:

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2021/03/25/tajon-buchanans-best-position-new-englands-canadian-starlet-can-adapt-anything

[Floortom]

Interest from Sporting, Ligue 1 and England (presumably Championship clubs for now).

If he has a good start to the year you have to assume Tajon’s time in MLS will soon be coming to an end 

[VinceA]

Would love him at Sporting for sure.

[Shway]

9 minutes ago, VinceA said:

Would love him at Sporting for sure.

I wouldn't. I prefer England. 

I think we underestimate the language barrier that influences the adapting/performing/being comfortable for a young guy. It's different when you are travelling with a parent, wife/girlfriend or your child. But when you're by yourself it's different. Especially if you are going to a team without any guarantees to play. 

So  unless its for a big transfer fee (which it wouldn't be because his contract is expiring), then okay Sporting, as the club would have the commitment in playing him. 

However I think landing in the championship would be his best ideal situation for him.

[CanadaFan123]

9 minutes ago, Shway said:

I wouldn't. I prefer England. 

I think we underestimate the language barrier that influences the adapting/performing/being comfortable for a young guy. It's different when you are travelling with a parent, wife/girlfriend or your child. But when you're by yourself it's different. Especially if you are going to a team without any guarantees to play. 

So  unless its for a big transfer fee (which it wouldn't be because his contract is expiring), then okay Sporting, as the club would have the commitment in playing him. 

However I think landing in the championship would be his best ideal situation for him.

You have to look at each individual. Tajon is a guy who moved to Colorado with a coach at 16 years old and faced adversity early on. I wouldn't worry about him moving to Sporting even with the language barrier.

[Shway]

24 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

You have to look at each individual. Tajon is a guy who moved to Colorado with a coach at 16 years old and faced adversity early on. I wouldn't worry about him moving to Sporting even with the language barrier.

While you are right about each individual is different. But moving to the states isn't a big deal, and is very common for a lot of young aspiring Canadian athletes as our cultures/countries are intertwined -  adapting/adjusting is seamless.

It's comparative to a kid going from Scotland to England. 

While I'm not saying to worry, I'm just alluding to the fact to not underestimate language and the effect it has on your lifestyle (i.e. making friends and not gaining teammates). Especially as a foreign guy who's coming in to take another young guy/or academy products opportunity. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by Shway

[lenny]

40 minutes ago, Shway said:

I think we underestimate the language barrier that influences the adapting/performing/being comfortable for a young guy. It's different when you are travelling with a parent, wife/girlfriend or your child. But when you're by yourself it's different. Especially if you are going to a team without any guarantees to play. 

 

Everyone's different, but one of the best times in my life was being young and spending a year in Latin America on my own, not understanding any Spanish when I began.  And that was before phones or email.

[Shway]

4 hours ago, lenny said:

Everyone's different, but one of the best times in my life was being young and spending a year in Latin America on my own, not understanding any Spanish when I began.  And that was before phones or email.

Wow, cool.  How old were you? and were you there for work/your career?

[maccaliam]

I wonder if Dias being at the U23s has anything to do with Tajon being linked with Spirting? Either by his recommendation or by someone from Sporting keeping an eye out for Dias and happening to come across Tajon? 

[nolando]

12 hours ago, lenny said:

Everyone's different, but one of the best times in my life was being young and spending a year in Latin America on my own, not understanding any Spanish when I began.  And that was before phones or email.

Same here. Ecuador in the late 90s. Wouldn't trade that year for anything. Hard, yes, but also transformational.

[lenny]

9 hours ago, Shway said:

Wow, cool.  How old were you? and were you there for work/your career?

I was 20ish and spent part of it travelling and part of it studying.

[Unnamed Trialist]

17 hours ago, Shway said:

I wouldn't. I prefer England. 

I think we underestimate the language barrier that influences the adapting/performing/being comfortable for a young guy. It's different when you are travelling with a parent, wife/girlfriend or your child. But when you're by yourself it's different. Especially if you are going to a team without any guarantees to play. 

So  unless its for a big transfer fee (which it wouldn't be because his contract is expiring), then okay Sporting, as the club would have the commitment in playing him. 

However I think landing in the championship would be his best ideal situation for him.

Barrier? They speak better English in Portugal than in half of Championship dressing rooms. 

In any case, he's 22 and plays football, you're writing as if he's going to be their youth poet laureate. 

[Shway]

7 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Barrier? They speak better English in Portugal than in half of Championship dressing rooms. 

In any case, he's 22 and plays football, you're writing as if he's going to be their youth poet laureate. 

I've watched several Primeira Liga matches, and the beauty is that without fans you can here everything - all i hear is Portuguese being spoken.

So I'll call that talking out of your ass on that stat as 20 of 24 managers in the championship are British, and 21 of 24 captains are English speaking but okayyyyy...let's act as if language, and culture aren't psychological barriers to adapting at all - especially for a young visible minority and the times we're in.

I get all the guys who had the privilege of going away to Latin America for education or simply being a nomad. But it's different when your making career decisions in a career that has God willing 8-10 years left of it. The difference is at any point you could've said "it's time to go home".....it's not really the same in football.

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 minutes ago, Shway said:

I've watched several Primeira Liga matches, and the beauty is that without fans you can here everything - all i hear is Portuguese being spoken.

So I'll call that talking out of your ass on that stat as 20 of 24 managers in the championship are British, and 21 of 24 captains are English speaking but okayyyyy...let's act as if language, and culture aren't psychological barriers to adapting at all - especially for a young visible minority and the times we're in.

I get all the guys who had the privilege of going away to Latin America for education or simply being a nomad. But it's different when your making career decisions in a career that has God willing 8-10 years left of it. The difference is at any point you could've said "it's time to go home".....it's not really the same in football.

Translation: "I'm culturally way out of my depth in any culture other than English, therefore Tajon Buchanan would be too. And I have never heard of a player transferring to a different country other than his own and doing well."

You are talking about yourself, not football, not Portugal, and least of all Tajon. And this thread is not about you.

 

[PopePouri]

How is this scenario any different from any player moving to Europe not playing in England. aka. Davies, Pulisic, Reyna? How did those guys develop?

[Unnamed Trialist]

14 minutes ago, PopePouri said:

How is this scenario any different from any player moving to Europe not playing in England. aka. Davies, Pulisic, Reyna? How did those guys develop?

They have been severely traumatised for life.

[El Diego]

I'm sure the culture shock or language barrier effects certain players but doesn't effect others. It is hard to say what kind of impact it could have on any player. Even if they say "Oh I struggled because of the culture shock" we don't know if that's actually true, they may just think that's the case but really it could be because the level was too high, they didn't fit the system, they were injured/out of shape, the manager had a personality clash with player and was biased, etc.

The only way to really tell is if someone did a statistical analysis to see if say players who transfer to a league with the same language (for example) do better than players who transfer to a league where they don't speak the language. But that is a difficult analysis to do (or trust) for a large number of reasons.

If I had to guess I would say that any culture shock/language barrier is not one of the key determinative factors for whether or not a player succeeds at a new club, except for specific personality types that are probably rare for someone who has already succeeded at some level of professional sport.

3 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

They have been severely traumatised for life.

I don't get why you are pursuing this straw man and getting so agitated. Only Shway has brought up the familiarity aspect of a potential move, and he even said one shouldn't necessarily worry about it. Heck, this same messageboard was pleased with David initially moving to Belgium because of the French language aspect.

[Fullback]

I would rather a guy like Tajon go to a team like Sporting over a team in England.

Sporting will actually care about his development and give him time to adjust if he does have issues adapting.

He’d be thrown to the wolves in England and while I think he would succeed, if he doesn’t have the best of starts he could get glued to bench

[PopePouri]

Maybe take into account that clubs want foreign players to acclimate, especially young players or investments like Tajon. 

[El Diego]

I checked to see if there was any easily accessible literature on the acclimatization question, and this study is pretty on point. It even used MLS players as a sample (along with NCAA student-athletes): https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1675&context=etd

I obviously haven't ready the whole thing (over 300 pages) but I went through the Conclusion part. A relevant portion:

"Nonetheless, providing language courses at the club would contribute to the athletes’ performance. As the results have shown, language problems on the field had negative consequences not only on the individual’s performance, but also on the success of the team. In addition, during the initial transitional phase when English proficiency would be lowest, the players need 24-hour access to a bilingual specialist who is available to support the athletes in their transition, assist them with their basic needs, and help them in the event of an emergency.

Furthermore, the findings suggest a strong correlation between the foreign athletes’ acculturation and their performance success. The relationship seems to go both ways. Performance success, which was a constant struggle, seemed to have a major influence on the athletes’ acculturation. The challenges associated with acculturation seemed to be magnified in the event of injury. The results indicated that if their performance were not higher than, or at least equal to, the expected level of coaches and management, they were more likely to face homesickness. Homesickness for country, family, and friends is a particularly emotionally taxing stressor (Church, 1982). Nevertheless, since the athletes were very driven to succeed, even in the midst of particularly serious stressors, they accepted their difficulties because they were grateful for the opportunity to advance their careers."

[Unnamed Trialist]

Apparently Hutchinson does not speak Turkish at all, on the basis of that video we saw of them asking him simple vocabulary. Which explains everything about his career at Besiktas.

This is all so parochial, football is international. I don't see why we have to treat Tajon like a dumbshit just because we might be.

[Ruffian]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I don't see why we have to treat Tajon like a dumbshit just because we might be.

You are talking about yourself, not football, not Portugal, and least of all Tajon. And this thread is not about you. 😋 /jokes

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, Ruffian said:

You are talking about yourself, not football, not Portugal, and least of all Tajon. And this thread is not about you. 😋 /jokes

So you are saying his next move should be where, based on his unarguable incapacity to adapt to any other culture?

[El Diego]

6 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

So you are saying his next move should be where, based on his unarguable incapacity to adapt to any other culture?

TFC of course

[Shway]

Okay let me catch up...

@Unnamed Trialist Made up a bullshit stat, then ignored it. Then directed it back to me saying that "I'm not cultured, and I'm talking about my own personal experience. I'm pretty sure I've been exposed /immersed to more cultures than yourself, and I know for fact that I've had to adapt/change in certain situations where I was the only minority. But you'll talk out your ass again and say something from your residence somewhere in the hills of Spain as if you've experienced what I have. But sheit this isn't about me....so I'll get back to the main point.

@El Diego Brought a perfect research for reference that ultimately states that extra special attention is needed for a foreign player to perform/succeed. But somehow my perspective is a straw man because you can't relate. 

So we bring up Reyna, and Pulisic as comparison - but I'll tell you the obvious difference which is a simple as being called a Yankey vs a Monkey. So I'll just void that as I don't want to go down a road that you will never be able to relate with.

Davies was a big transfer fee, big investment, big club who rolled the red carpet out for the World Class talent that he is. For example Manchester City brought Gabriels entire entourage so that he could be comfortable/acclimatize adjust to England. David is Lilles club record transfer fee, big investment, and the club rolled out the red carpet for David. Ultimately all these guys are not comparable to Tajon. He is not the calibre of Davies or David - yet. 

On 4/6/2021 at 10:34 AM, Shway said:

So  unless its for a big transfer fee (which it wouldn't be because his contract is expiring), then okay Sporting, as the club would have the commitment in playing him. 

A top young Canadian International at the time, who was a little bit younger than Tajon is now... went to a team in Portugal (albeit not Sporting) and I know that exactly what I'm mentioning "acclimatizing, language barrier,  etc" played an affect on how he performed. He's a personal family friend. Dero and Atiba in their early careers experienced the same kind of adversity - and hearing it from the formers mouth. So this isn't based on my life experience, but based on the experience of them and many others.

But hey, once again - I can't expect any of you guys to have a valid perspective on this other than to say "different people deal with things differently"....just don't think everyone can do the #shutupandplay

Edited April 7, 2021 by Shway