Enes Sali

[Kadenge]

Perhaps Romania are smarting from Theo Corbeanu's switch to Canada and pulled the trigger on Sali sooner than they would have otherwise.  

[Filip]

33 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

Perhaps Romania are smarting from Theo Corbeanu's switch to Canada and pulled the trigger on Sali sooner than they would have otherwise.  

Absolutely this had a part in it too, it’s mental to rush a 15yo kid into the seniors for any other reason than to keep him as a future option (I mean even so, it’s crazy and shocked the press too)

Look at 19yo Dragusin who played minutes even in CL for Juve last season and now a starter at Sampdoria. He hasn’t even gotten a call to the seniors yet, but this kid with just over 200 minutes for mid table Romanian side does

Even if his family prefers Romania and he’s being pressured, this decision definitely influenced by the Corbeanu switch IMO

[Footyeh]

37 minutes ago, Filip said:

Absolutely this had a part in it too, it’s mental to rush a 15yo kid into the seniors for any other reason than to keep him as a future option (I mean even so, it’s crazy and shocked the press too)

Look at 19yo Dragusin who played minutes even in CL for Juve last season and now a starter at Sampdoria. He hasn’t even gotten a call to the seniors yet, but this kid with just over 200 minutes for mid table Romanian side does

Even if his family prefers Romania and he’s being pressured, this decision definitely influenced by the Corbeanu switch IMO

As much as we might like to think Corbeanu is in the back of their mind, hes not.  Sali is a big talent, going to be worth big money to Hagi.  Fast tracking him to the senior national team means Hagi will make more money off-him via transfer fees + future sell-on's.  He turns 16 in the coming year and have to believe a transfer will be done in the Summer.  In Romania he is basically considered one of Hagi's sons lol.  

[Free kick]

8 hours ago, The Real Marc said:

I feel for this kid. This is a bad call-up on their part, a bad decision on his, but he's in a tough spot. He must be under immense direct and indirect pressure here ... Romanian parents, playing in Romania, at a club run by Popescu, coached by Hagi ... what's he gonna do? Deline and possibly tank his immediate club career?

the way i would like to see the rule written is something along these lines:

you are cap tied to an nation if

You played 200 minutes in an official game (official game game is defined as any fifa sanctioned game that excludes a friendly)  for a particular nation or you have played any minutes in five official games.  Any games played while you were under 18 years of age (either on youth teams or senior teams) would not cap tie you.   

what this would do is prevent NT's (especially from europe) from using their games versus minnow as an opportunity or excuse to cap-tie any dual national.   these games should not be used an excuse to cap tie players much less cap tie any minors. 

Edited November 4, 2021 by Free kick

[Filip]

35 minutes ago, Footyeh said:

As much as we might like to think Corbeanu is in the back of their mind, hes not.  Sali is a big talent, going to be worth big money to Hagi.  Fast tracking him to the senior national team means Hagi will make more money off-him via transfer fees + future sell-on's.  He turns 16 in the coming year and have to believe a transfer will be done in the Summer.  In Romania he is basically considered one of Hagi's sons lol.  

I still feel like it played a part in calling him this early, even Ianis and other talents he debuted early in the league were never called to the seniors this early

But definitely some good points. The talent is clearly there but have seen so many promising technical players in Romania in the recent past fail for other reasons.. however this kid also had early development in Canada and a season at La Masia and has good physique

Now Hagi should help him grow mentally and tactically, and you’re right they seem to have a close relationship, so he will be working extra closely on his development as he did with his actual son, Ianis (who now does well for Rangers and the NT)

His value has already gone up to over 200k, I bet after the international break, even with some minutes in stoppage time (more mins vs LIE, probably), it should be even higher

I think he’ll stay at Farul another season or two before being sold, but you might be right, with a significant future fee % selling him to an even better development club could work wonders for Hagi’s investments

Just think it’s less risky for him if he leaves once he’s already imposed himself at Hagi’s club more and more first, can’t hurt him to leave at 17 with more first team minutes and Hagi knowledge under his belt

Edited November 4, 2021 by Filip

[The Real Marc]

And maybe it's not a bad decision. Maybe he really wants to play for Romania.

We approach this like they're all working a background spreadsheet to hedge their bets but maybe there is some heart in it too.

Maybe Tomori would rather have 7 England caps than play for another country. Heck, England calls up Tyrone Mings. If guys like him can make the team, Tomori might make it in the future too.

[gigi riva]

I think this guy is good as gone unfortunaly 

[dyslexic nam]

10 minutes ago, The Real Marc said:

And maybe it's not a bad decision. Maybe he really wants to play for Romania.

We approach this like they're all working a background spreadsheet to hedge their bets but maybe there is some heart in it too.

Maybe Tomori would rather have 7 England caps than play for another country. Heck, England calls up Tyrone Mings. If guys like him can make the team, Tomori might make it in the future too.

Yeah, if we set aside our bias, the reality is that he is now living in Romania and playing for a Romanian team.  It will be his platform if he makes a bigger European move. Playing for their national team and studying under a national legend probably makes more sense that we (or at least I) like to admit.  Still sucks to see him commit this early though - especially since it is such a transparent and cynical tactic by the folks in charge.  

[dyslexic nam]

Plus he will probably cheer for Canada when we make Qatar.  

[CanadianSoccerFan]

4 hours ago, Kadenge said:

Perhaps Romania are smarting from Theo Corbeanu's switch to Canada and pulled the trigger on Sali sooner than they would have otherwise.  

This and I'm sure Turkey was sniffing around as well

[An Observer]

2 hours ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

This and I'm sure Turkey was sniffing around as well

Are his parents Romanian of Turkish descent, or Turkish.  I thought the latter and that was one reason I always thought we had a chance as neither his parents were born in Romania (although they spent time there) and nor was he.  But if its the former, maybe (and it seems it is) his connection was stronger to Romania than I thought.  Obviously, the Hagi factor is huge which was one reason I thought the fact he would probably be bought and move on to a Real Madrid or a Barca would somewhat break that link before he was senior national team ready.  Probably Romania thought that was a risk as well so thought, lets cap him now.  I am still surprised he is committing at such a young age.

[An Observer]

Btw, does anyone know if he has actually accepted the call?  It is not unheard of for managers to name sides and players than pull out as they never actually committed or were consulted.  And would it be possible that he has agreed to join but has stipulated he doesn't want to play to avoid being cap tied? 

[Free kick]

20 minutes ago, An Observer said:

Btw, does anyone know if he has actually accepted the call?  It is not unheard of for managers to name sides and players than pull out as they never actually committed or were consulted.  And would it be possible that he has agreed to join but has stipulated he doesn't want to play to avoid being cap tied? 

Good point. Since the existance of this forum, we have seen a couple of canadians from the past do exactly that (ie.:  receive a callup and then decline the call up).  😃 We wont name names of course.  

But now that i think about, the story appeared in the largest sports daily newspaper in Italy.   So i gotta figure that this wouldnt hit the media if it was unconfirmed that he had accepted the call up.  

[Footyeh]

6 hours ago, The Real Marc said:

And maybe it's not a bad decision. Maybe he really wants to play for Romania.

We approach this like they're all working a background spreadsheet to hedge their bets but maybe there is some heart in it too.

Maybe Tomori would rather have 7 England caps than play for another country. Heck, England calls up Tyrone Mings. If guys like him can make the team, Tomori might make it in the future too.

The big factor here to your point is that 7 England caps = a ton of more money in salary at the club level.  Unfortunately being a Canadian International regardless if you play a world cup doesn't have the prestige when negotiating a contract.

[Filip]

4 hours ago, An Observer said:

Btw, does anyone know if he has actually accepted the call?  It is not unheard of for managers to name sides and players than pull out as they never actually committed or were consulted.  And would it be possible that he has agreed to join but has stipulated he doesn't want to play to avoid being cap tied? 

He accepted it, the list is confirmed by the federation and his IG story shows the post of himself among the internationals called up from his club

Edited November 5, 2021 by Filip

[Cblake]

6 minutes ago, Filip said:

He accepted it, the list is confirmed by the federation and his IG story shows the post of himself among the internationals called up from his club

Guess we will have to wait and see if he actually takes the pitch in any of the matches before knowing for sure that he is capped tied to Romania. You never know til it actually happens. 

[Filip]

5 hours ago, An Observer said:

Are his parents Romanian of Turkish descent, or Turkish.  I thought the latter and that was one reason I always thought we had a chance as neither his parents were born in Romania (although they spent time there) and nor was he.  But if its the former, maybe (and it seems it is) his connection was stronger to Romania than I thought.  Obviously, the Hagi factor is huge which was one reason I thought the fact he would probably be bought and move on to a Real Madrid or a Barca would somewhat break that link before he was senior national team ready.  Probably Romania thought that was a risk as well so thought, lets cap him now.  I am still surprised he is committing at such a young age.

Ethnic Turks have been a minority in Romania for hundreds of years due to the Ottomans, mainly in the southeastern region of Dobrogea. There’s only 2.5% of the region that is still ethnic Turkish as of 2011, but here’s a quote from a very recent interview with Enes Sali’s father, Engi:

“What does Gica Hagi mean to you?”
 - I played football. I’m from Constanta, in the neighbourhood of Farul’s stadium. I grew up with Farul and Hagi. My grandfather took me to the stadium to see Gica. I grew up with Hagi and now my son is trained by him. Can you imagine what a joy? In Canada, I looked up on the internet what is Hagi’s Academy. I liked it. I remember even my son told his mother "I feel like I want to be there!", referring to Hagi’s Academy. These are his words. Enes grew up on videos of Hagi and Romania”

So it sounds like his family has been there for a few generations at least.

“It’s been discussed, he can play for Turkey, Canada and Romania. Which will he choose?”
“We'll talk later. We all talk and make decisions together. For now, he’s representing Romania. He was at an U17 tournament in Poland. He came back very happy from that experience. We are here for now, we play for Romania. You never know what the future holds. I don’t want to say anything and then it doesn’t come true. For now, he is playing for Romania. I hope it will be Romania. We are Turks, but we are not Turkish citizens. We have double citizenship, Romanian and Canadian. For me, Romania is the first choice”

What he says about Canada:

“- How was Canada?
- Very nice! Enes was born there, he has many friends. He even said that in such a short time, we have so many memories.”

Source: https://www.gsp.ro/fotbal/liga-1/ce-alege-enes-sali-romania-turcia-sau-canada-642486.html

Edited November 5, 2021 by Filip

[Filip]

18 minutes ago, Cblake said:

Guess we will have to wait and see if he actually takes the pitch in any of the matches before knowing for sure that he is capped tied to Romania. You never know til it actually happens. 

I think if he’s been called now of all times, he’ll be used at least in stoppage time in both matches (or more mins vs Liechtenstein at least). Maybe earlier if the situation is comfortable. But true, it’s not over til it’s over.

I wouldn’t worry too much, the kid is definitely promising but he’s still only 15, his trajectory would be clearer in at least 2-3 more years. Canada still has a lot of talents coming up, Jebbison would be great, and Ugbo just confirmed 💪

Edited November 5, 2021 by Filip

[Unnamed Trialist]

Seeing this in the press here (his recent goal in Romania, his call-up), with comparisons to Odegaard, but I am still not sure about the La Masia question.

Because Barça was sanctioned by FIFA back around 2014 or so for bringing in and playing underage players, as other clubs have been, that affected the academy and he was directly affected. I don't think he was allowed to play federated matches with the official teams. He does not appear in any game reports which there are for every year from that period on the Catalan Federation website. I think he could train with the team but not play.

If I look at all the other kids affected at the time they all appear  in game reports, even from u-10 matches (the American Ben Lederman, now in Poland, took FIFA to court, Bobby is at Lazio, Take Kubo got picked up by Madrid in the end). 

Just saying: he had the Hagi connection and apparently could train, but did not play. If he could have played or had had a Spain connection to get residence status, he would likely have stayed as Barça won't get rid of a player that young with promise that easily. In fact, the point as mentioned was that his father was a Hagi admirer from that same town and that affected their decision to have him end up in a relatively modest setting. 

At that age, regardless, you do not know how a player will pan out. It is a bit young. The youngest talent at that age I saw was Bojan Krkic, then Messi. I've seen others here who were good at 15, like Aleñà now at Getafe, or Xavi Simons at PSG.  But they are exceptions. Even Barça playing these 17-18 year olds now, like Gavi, Nico--some are not contributing greatly to the team, some are projects still.  So I don't feel you have to pull your hair out, it would have been terribly cynical of Canada to try to cap him that young. I mean: Mitrovic, Dias, Flores, they are all going to be three steps ahead of him. Let's focus on those kids.

Edited November 5, 2021 by Unnamed Trialist

[top cheese]

He’s 15. He may or may not work out as an adult. An early call like this could do more harm then good

[Sal333]

27 minutes ago, top cheese said:

He’s 15. He may or may not work out as an adult. An early call like this could do more harm then good

I don't understand this POV. What harm? They cap tie him with 10-15 minutes against a minnow and then over the next 4-5 years they bring him up to play against soft competition.

[dyslexic nam]

7 hours ago, Cblake said:

Guess we will have to wait and see if he actually takes the pitch in any of the matches before knowing for sure that he is capped tied to Romania. You never know til it actually happens. 

I get the whole “it ain’t over til it’s over” thing but he is gone.  He has accepted the call, and he is actively publicizing it via social media.   They are going to find a chance to get him on the field even if it is just for a few token minutes.  

[Cblake]

3 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

I get the whole “it ain’t over til it’s over” thing but he is gone.  He has accepted the call, and he is actively publicizing it via social media.   They are going to find a chance to get him on the field even if it is just for a few token minutes.  

To bad the same did not happen with Begovic when Canada had the chance, he was on the bench for a WCQ for gods sake, that still stings. 

[An Observer]

7 hours ago, Cblake said:

To bad the same did not happen with Begovic when Canada had the chance, he was on the bench for a WCQ for gods sake, that still stings. 

The rules were different then and under those rules, he couldn’t switch so there was no need to cap tie

[Bison44]

4 hours ago, An Observer said:

The rules were different then and under those rules, he couldn’t switch so there was no need to cap tie

Thats the part that really stings.