Justin Smith

[Unnamed Trialist]

Smith is regularly on the bench for Nice, and is behind Todibo who is only 22 and is highly rated.

Getting a sub in as a central defender is hard. Good for them to ensure he does get game minutes with the 2nd team. I am pretty sure he will see 1st team minutes, like in a Cup match, or late some game, as I do not think he is there to adorn the bench. We will have to give him a watch if he can ever get a start.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

For November, once again, not called by France at any level U21(U23)/U20/U19.

We need to set realistic expectations for this young man - if he was really a stand out, France would be interested.

Edited November 5, 2021 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Floortom]

6 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

For November, once again, not called by France at any level U21(U23)/U20/U19.

We need to set realistic expectations for this young man - if he was really a stand out France would be interested.

Is anyone worried about him being poached by France?? I dont even think Smith believes thats going to happen.

[frmr]

24 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

For November, once again, not called by France at any level U21(U23)/U20/U19.

We need to set realistic expectations for this young man - if he was really a stand out France would be interested.

A standout for Canada is very different from a standout for France. He's definitely going to be coming in to our program at some point.

[Obinna]

31 minutes ago, frmr said:

A standout for Canada is very different from a standout for France. He's definitely going to be coming in to our program at some point.

Most definitely, but perhaps we should adjust our expectations for how much he can help us. He's someone to get excited about, consistently making the Nice bench at the age of 18, but we are expecting him to make an immediate impact we may want to temper expectations. Basically, if he was THAT good he'd likely have a youth camp for France, arguably....

 

[frmr]

1 minute ago, Obinna said:

Most definitely, but perhaps we should adjust our expectations for how much he can help us. He's someone to get excited about, consistently making the Nice bench at the age of 18, but we are expecting him to make an immediate impact we may want to temper expectations. Basically, if he was THAT good he'd likely have a youth camp for France, arguably....

 

Yeah he's still currently one for the future for sure. Perhaps a natural Piette replacement, as he starts to be phased out, maybe he will be ready to step in in his place.

[sandman]

Are we 100% certain that he's eligible? I only ask as FM22 puts him down as 100% French, and they are usually pretty accurate about nationality's of top flight players. Maybe he's just eligible for a Canadian passport/citizenship and just hasn't applied yet. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

1 hour ago, Floortom said:

Is anyone worried about him being poached by France?? I dont even think Smith believes thats going to happen.

No. Not worried.

25 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Basically, if he was THAT good he'd likely have a youth camp for France, arguably....

 

Exactly my point.

24 minutes ago, sandman said:

Are we 100% certain that he's eligible? I only ask as FM22 puts him down as 100% French, and they are usually pretty accurate about nationality's of top flight players. Maybe he's just eligible for a Canadian passport/citizenship and just hasn't applied yet. 

Since he seems to be born and raised in France, unless it's a Juan Cordova type situation, he'd be eligible by descent. I assume at least one of his grandparents was born in Canada but I don't actually know.

[Corazon]

An 18 year old making the bench for a good Ligue 1 side and we are concerned that he hasn't made any France youth national squads.  I'm sorry but maybe people do not understand the depth that France has.  You could make a couple squads of teenagers that are currently playing regularly in Ligue 1.  This is not a Mitrovic situation with Serbia.  This is a country that puts out more talent than any other country besides maybe Brazil and England.

In case anyone is wondering, OGC Nice currently sit 2nd in Ligue 1 this season behind only PSG.  Ahead of Marseille, Lyon, Rennes, Lille, Monaco.  So it's not like the men in front of him aren't performing.

He plays CDM & CB (a position we desperately need).  If he starts making appearances, I suspect it won't be long before we try and call him in.  It might not be this season but maybe next season when he is 19.

As for his Canadian eligibility.  The only flag in his Instagram bio is Canada, not even a French flag.  This could be a strategy to let our program know he is Canadian and ready for a call.   I don't know for sure.  But like I said, an 18 year old making bench appearances for the 2nd place team in Ligue 1, at a position we need depth and only Canada being represented on his IG bio makes me think that he is eligible and will eventually get a call for us unless he has a Busti type fall from grace.

[Obinna]

17 minutes ago, Corazon said:

An 18 year old making the bench for a good Ligue 1 side and we are concerned that he hasn't made any France youth national squads.  I'm sorry but maybe people do not understand the depth that France has. 

I don't think it's about being concerned, it's about being realistic about how much impact he'll make to us.

He can probably be a useful rotation player right now, but I don't think he's walking into the starting line up. 

The point was that maybe if he's playing for a France youth team we could expect him to walk into our line up, because France is that good top to bottom. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

23 minutes ago, Corazon said:

An 18 year old making the bench for a good Ligue 1 side and we are concerned that he hasn't made any France youth national squads.  I'm sorry but maybe people do not understand the depth that France has....

They have a huge amount of depth. Very true.

2 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I don't think it's about being concerned, it's about being realistic about how much impact he'll make to us.

Exactly, our young talent has developed so well recently (Davies, David) that we need to set realistic expectations.

He doesn't have a single pro minute yet. 

If he doesn't get his Ligue 1 cameo, a loan to Ligue 2 or MLS would be cool to see because he'd actually get some professional experience.

[Obinna]

6 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

They have a huge amount of depth. Very true.

Exactly, our young talent has developed so well recently (Davies, David) that we need to set realistic expectations.

He doesn't have a single pro minute yet. 

If he doesn't get his Ligue 1 cameo, a loan to Ligue 2 or MLS would be cool to see because he'd actually get some professional experience.

I see your point brother and I agree with it. Like everyone else I am encouraged by the bench appearances at such a young age, but he's going to need minutes to break into our squad in a meaningful way. 

[Aird25]

24 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

They have a huge amount of depth. Very true.

376 players currently in Europe's top 5 leagues vs our 2. Talk about humbling, and Spain has even more

[dyslexic nam]

I get that he needs to play first team footy before coming on board but it is really exciting to think about a prospect like this.  It is exactly what we have been hoping for - a very young CB with a very good team.  At his age it seems pretty likely that he will turn into the kind of player than can strengthen our program.  Even if he isn’t getting first team minutes yet, a team like Nice doesn’t put him on the bench to make him feel good.  They see him as someone who can step in if needed and do the job at this level  - and that alone is impressive.  I don’t want to get too far ahead of things but it seems like he would jump up the list of top prospects pretty quickly given the position he plays.

[El Diego]

1 hour ago, sandman said:

Are we 100% certain that he's eligible? I only ask as FM22 puts him down as 100% French, and they are usually pretty accurate about nationality's of top flight players. Maybe he's just eligible for a Canadian passport/citizenship and just hasn't applied yet. 

I mentioned this in another thread, but FM isn't as accurate as people make out. There were about 4 or 5 inaccuracies in FM 21 regarding Canadian players that weren't updated until I pointed them out on the SI games forum. I don't have FM open currently as I'm, uh, working... but I don't think Ike Ugbo was Canadian or Matty Cash was Polish before they were called up IRL

[Kent]

20 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

I get that he needs to play first team footy before coming on board but it is really exciting to think about a prospect like this.  It is exactly what we have been hoping for - a very young CB with a very good team.  At his age it seems pretty likely that he will turn into the kind of player than can strengthen our program.  Even if he isn’t getting first team minutes yet, a team like Nice doesn’t put him on the bench to make him feel good.  They see him as someone who can step in if needed and do the job at this level  - and that alone is impressive.  I don’t want to get too far ahead of things but it seems like he would jump up the list of top prospects pretty quickly given the position he plays.

I don't follow Nice, so I don't know specifically how they operate. But you and I are both familiar with TFC. Just think about all the players they have signed to pro contracts before they believed they were ready. For all we know Smith was signed to Nice for his as of yet unrealized potential. If he doesn't realize that potential, maybe he ends up at lower and lower levels. I mean I'm rooting for him to break into Nice, make an impact, commit to Canada, and lead us to World Cup glory, but we really don't know anything about him since he hasn't even played a pro minute yet.

[dyslexic nam]

37 minutes ago, Kent said:

I don't follow Nice, so I don't know specifically how they operate. But you and I are both familiar with TFC. Just think about all the players they have signed to pro contracts before they believed they were ready. For all we know Smith was signed to Nice for his as of yet unrealized potential. If he doesn't realize that potential, maybe he ends up at lower and lower levels. I mean I'm rooting for him to break into Nice, make an impact, commit to Canada, and lead us to World Cup glory, but we really don't know anything about him since he hasn't even played a pro minute yet.

I get it.   And I am not advocating we bring him into WCQ at this point.  But Nice see enough in him to put him on the bench for a Ligue 1 game so that represents something IMO.  And we need good young defenders - there is no way around it.  
 

We called up a guy like Corbeanu before he had first team minutes so at minimum I would like to get him into a camp to see how he compares to our other CBs.  

[baulderdash77]

At the moment I think that Justin Smith and Scott Kennedy are the highest upside CB prospects that we have.  
 

Kennedy’s team looks like it’s going to be promoted to Bundesliga next year which is great and then Smith is our next best prospect I’d say.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Reading the comments: I agree with many here, if he's being called into the team instead of playing with the second team it is because they think he's ready. He only occasionally gets games with their 2nd side, he travels with the first team and is part of the group. Very positive sign, and its Galtier the coach, who may be better than we thought when we were watching Lille last season. 

I'm pretty sure he'll get first team minutes this year, though it may be in a Cup run. It is not usual to sub out a CB, even when a team is winning, unless there are card problems. Subbing in a CB is complicated as it is not like a mid or attacker in garbage minutes, they can just have a run. A CB is under another kind of pressure. 

BTW Todibo the young CB at Nice was bought by Barça, was on the first team, and did not play, he got almost zero minutes. And he is (was) considered a major French prospect at CB. So he has only been getting time back at Nice. Just saying that minutes are hard to come by. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

4 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Reading the comments: I agree with many here, if he's being called into the team instead of playing with the second team it is because they think he's ready. He only occasionally gets games with their 2nd side, he travels with the first team and is part of the group. Very positive sign, and its Galtier the coach, who may be better than we thought when we were watching Lille last season.

I don't think the U19s play this weekend, and yet he wasn't included in the 20-man squad for tomorrow's match.

[Unnamed Trialist]

13 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

I don't think the U19s play this weekend, and yet he wasn't included in the 20-man squad for tomorrow's match.

I have no idea how the youth or 2nd teams work in France, tell us more. Surprising that they would not even play the u-19s, isn't it?

Also odd that they have 20-man rosters, that is short.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I have no idea how the youth or 2nd teams work in France, tell us more. Surprising that they would not even play the u-19s, isn't it?

Also odd that they have 20-man rosters, that is short.

I honestly don't know how the U19 football league is organized in France, and I don't know why they have 20-man squads for senior-level ( Ligue 1 ) matches.

[Mattd97]

5 hours ago, Kent said:

I don't follow Nice, so I don't know specifically how they operate. But you and I are both familiar with TFC. Just think about all the players they have signed to pro contracts before they believed they were ready. For all we know Smith was signed to Nice for his as of yet unrealized potential. If he doesn't realize that potential, maybe he ends up at lower and lower levels. I mean I'm rooting for him to break into Nice, make an impact, commit to Canada, and lead us to World Cup glory, but we really don't know anything about him since he hasn't even played a pro minute yet.

Also from watching TFC we know how many talented youngsters are either benched, burried, or dropped in favour of mediocre vets they think can help them save face and win a couple more games 

[narduch]

1 hour ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

I honestly don't know how the U19 football league is organized in France, and I don't know why they have 20-man squads for senior-level ( Ligue 1 ) matches.

Most bigger French clubs have their reserve teams playing within the pyramid. Perhaps that's how teams are able to carry only 20 players. 

The highest tier reserve teams can reach is 4th. Which is a regional league.

Nice's reserve team is in the 5th tier.

So it is kinda weird that Smith plays for Nice U19 but not their reserve team when he isn't sitting on the bench in Ligue 1

[frmr]

2 hours ago, narduch said:

Most bigger French clubs have their reserve teams playing within the pyramid. Perhaps that's how teams are able to carry only 20 players. 

The highest tier reserve teams can reach is 4th. Which is a regional league.

Nice's reserve team is in the 5th tier.

So it is kinda weird that Smith plays for Nice U19 but not their reserve team when he isn't sitting on the bench in Ligue 1

What’s the logical explanation of this?