CPL Introduces “Exceptional Youth Talent” Rule

[Ansem]

I'm thinking of the next big guy playing amateur in a club within says the Atletico Ottawa network. Had that existed years ago, Jonathan David would have burned the CPL and been sold at a good fee to Europe.

I'm just saying that future big stars are very likely to come from CPL has we have the bigger coverage, network via partnership and affiliation with a massive unidentified pool

[Unnamed Trialist]

For me, identifying CPL quality at u18 is really a tough call. The only way it could work across the board would be to have League Ones across the country and discover a player standing out early, playing against men. Meaning it might also work precisely at this time of year, well into the L1 season.

Then there's the possibility of a CPL team having a L1 club and using it to give u21s minutes (Whitecaps do it in L1BC).

Long term I do think we need a CPL plan for B teams, which means all your younger players, on 1st team roster contracts or not, are getting minutes, 20 guys.

Not everyone wants to go to university. As CPL teams forge (small case!) relationships with clubs and leagues overseas, I suppose their channels will be increasingly attractive to younger players. But it seems having a couple u18s and a couple more u21s is too small a sample size.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Unnamed Trialist

[Aird25]

There are very few examples of clubs jumping at top young players from what I've seen. Particularly if there's a fee involved. This is still not a particularly active market, but I hope it becomes so soon. The market that's proven to be more successful though are players that have been overlooked in the past and are performing consistently at this level. Let's not continue to force these types of players into retirement in order to play a bunch of young flash in the bucket type players

Edited July 21, 2023 by Aird25

[Ottawafan]

28 minutes ago, Ansem said:

I'm thinking of the next big guy playing amateur in a club within says the Atletico Ottawa network. Had that existed years ago, Jonathan David would have burned the CPL and been sold at a good fee to Europe.

I'm just saying that future big stars are very likely to come from CPL has we have the bigger coverage, network via partnership and affiliation with a massive unidentified pool

David spurned opportunities at other clubs solely because of the faith he had in his local club coach.  

MLS will scout outside their areas looking for talent and could potentially view a talented kid but miss out on them for various reasons.  Having CPL teams across the country and giving them a spot for U18's will most definitely be beneficial.  

Will the kids be paid?  Will they sign a pro or amateur contract?  How would this affect their NCAA eligibility?  

[Ansem]

21 minutes ago, Ottawafan said:

David spurned opportunities at other clubs solely because of the faith he had in his local club coach.  

MLS will scout outside their areas looking for talent and could potentially view a talented kid but miss out on them for various reasons.  Having CPL teams across the country and giving them a spot for U18's will most definitely be beneficial.  

Will the kids be paid?  Will they sign a pro or amateur contract?  How would this affect their NCAA eligibility?  

From my understanding - it's a regular pro contract which won't count against the cap. I think there's plenty of potential gems to be discovered within Canada outside of the NCAA which is already well covered/scouted by MLS.

[Ottawafan]

Just now, Ansem said:

From my understanding - it's a regular pro contract which won't count against the cap. I think there's plenty of potential gems to be discovered within Canada outside of the NCAA which is already well covered/scouted by MLS.

My point about NCAA has more to do with parents agreeing to their child getting involved with U18 rule while at the same time keeping their options open for a potential scholarship.  Most D1 schools bring in European kids who went thru a club youth squad but were never offered a pro contract.

[h coach]

2 hours ago, Kadenge said:

We've been going gaga over 2 young players...Dixon & Chisholm. Perhaps their plan was always to go to Europe, but who knows if they were signed to a decent pro CPL contact ? There are players on the 3 Cdn MLS teams that get few mins with the first team. Perhaps with this new incentive, they don't sign a MLS contract and opt for the CPL?  lots of Cdn players end up at NCAA. Could be to have the security of a College degree but perhaps some opt for a CPL contract now? There are other players like Sigur..enough said. L1O seems to be producing quality. Point is there are very good U18 players in Canada.  

 

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, Cheeta said:

Have a hard time believing CPL teams are going to spy some as yet undiscovered, unsigned teenager out there in soccerdom.  A real hard time.

Still, if this scheme helps nudge the teams in the league to fill out these additional roster spots then that's a benefit I guess.  

Does bring the benefit of connecting the teams to their community just a bit more doesn't it?

Meh, can live with it.  Why not?  Let's see what happens.

I think it's more about this. 

If teams can find some undiscovered diamond in the rough, it's a bonus.

[Ottawafan]

7 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I think it's more about this. 

If teams can find some undiscovered diamond in the rough, it's a bonus.

Ideally local clubs will be invested in ensuring the CPL squads know their players, scout them and hold camps for them to train.  There should be fewer diamonds in the rough ( not that there are bunch as it is ).

[Borjans Sweatpants]

Any initiative to help improve youth development in Canada, whether mainly to fill rosters or to find the diamonds in the rough, will be good for us overall. 

[Bigandy]

2 hours ago, Obinna said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyler_Rogers @Bigandy here's another name who could have been signed under this rule...had it been implemented a year or two ago.

Great examples.  It feels like theres a handful of guys who could actually contribute before they are 18. The liklihood we get 2 per team every year seems low to me, unless the leagues quality stays stagnant or drops. I love having rosters spots for these guys when they are discovered but I dont like the idea of being forced to field a 16 year old whos not quite good enough because theres a quota.  

[Obinna]

23 minutes ago, Bigandy said:

Great examples.  It feels like theres a handful of guys who could actually contribute before they are 18. The liklihood we get 2 per team every year seems low to me, unless the leagues quality stays stagnant or drops. I love having rosters spots for these guys when they are discovered but I dont like the idea of being forced to field a 16 year old whos not quite good enough because theres a quota.  

I think it is probably area dependent, since local players would be the target.

Calgary has a big enough population of players that it didn't take me long to dig up those two examples. Vancouver similarly should have no problem, nor should Pacific, as both could draw from the large player pool in the Lower Mainland. I would be very surprised if those clubs couldn't find a combined four U18 players capable of playing for their respective CPL first teams.

Obviously the Ontario teams would not struggle in this regard.

Winnipeg and especially Halifax may struggle, however. Smaller populations and I doubt U-18 players are going to up-and-move for such a spot, it's far more likely to be a local player.

The saving grace for Halifax may be the (somewhat) close proximity to Quebec, along with the League 1 Ontario pipeline they seem to be building. Perhaps they'd be able to convince an U18 player to spend a single season with them, living in Halifax for the summer. I know a lot of AUS schools in Nova Scotia sign players from Ontario, Quebec and Alberta...

Max Pepigrass for example is apparently going to play with Cape Breton University (according to the bio I was reading earlier today). CBU are one of those schools who heavily recruit and they're generally ranked in the top 10 of U-Sports soccer and usually a favrouite to win AUS and go to nationals. HFX could perhaps snag a non-local U18 this way - find those already committed to an AUS school in Nova Scotia and offer them a CPL roster spot for the summer before school begins. 

As for Winnipeg I suspect the talent pool is a little deeper than Halifax. It's a bigger city, so that's the logical conclusion. However, in my limited, anecotal experience of playing guys from both provinces (many years ago), it always seemed to me that both were comparable and Nova Scotia perhaps had more the technically sound players (at a "provincial team" level). Back in my playing days they ran a National Training Center in Halifax, which was very Nova Scotia heavy, so maybe that's why. Not sure if they still run these NTCs now a days....

Anyways I am probably splitting hairs between Winnipeg and Halifax, so I digress. Both could indeed struggle.   

[Bigandy]

3 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I think it is probably area dependent, since local players would be the target.

Calgary has a big enough population of players that it didn't take me long to dig up those two examples. Vancouver similarly should have no problem, nor should Pacific, as both could draw from the large player pool in the Lower Mainland. I would be very surprised if those clubs couldn't find a combined four U18 players capable of playing for their respective CPL first teams.

Obviously the Ontario teams would not struggle in this regard.

Winnipeg and especially Halifax may struggle, however. Smaller populations and I doubt U-18 players are going to up-and-move for such a spot, it's far more likely to be a local player.

The saving grace for Halifax may be the (somewhat) close proximity to Quebec, along with the League 1 Ontario pipeline they seem to be building. Perhaps they'd be able to convince an U18 player to spend a single season with them, living in Halifax for the summer. I know a lot of AUS schools in Nova Scotia sign players from Ontario, Quebec and Alberta...

Max Pepigrass for example is apparently going to play with Cape Breton University (according to the bio I was reading earlier today). CBU are one of those schools who heavily recruit and they're generally ranked in the top 10 of U-Sports soccer and usually a favrouite to win AUS and go to nationals. HFX could perhaps snag a non-local U18 this way - find those already committed to an AUS school in Nova Scotia and offer them a CPL roster spot for the summer before school begins. 

As for Winnipeg I suspect the talent pool is a little deeper than Halifax. It's a bigger city, so that's the logical conclusion. However, in my limited, anecotal experience of playing guys from both provinces (many years ago), it always seemed to me that both were comparable and Nova Scotia perhaps had more the technically sound players (at a "provincial team" level). Back in my playing days they ran a National Training Center in Halifax, which was very Nova Scotia heavy, so maybe that's why. Not sure if they still run these NTCs now a days....

Anyways I am probably splitting hairs between Winnipeg and Halifax, so I digress. Both could indeed struggle.   

Good perspective. I think I'd be persuaded to agree. 

As for NTC, they cut the program a few years ago. The mls academies essentially replaced them. A few years ago they hosted tournaments where academy teams will play the "canadian" team made up of kids not in academies. 

[K Edgar]

2 hours ago, Borjans Sweatpants said:

Any initiative to help improve youth development in Canada, whether mainly to fill rosters or to find the diamonds in the rough, will be good for us overall. 

This is another path for young Canadians to develop.  Is it going to produce another David or Davies? - possibly not.  Is it going to produce a few players who fail to make any impression in the CanPL and fade away? - definately.  But, if it helps even 1 Canadian player / year achieve a higher level of play it is a success.

Does it give an advantage to the large market teams?  Yes, but a small one, a U18 player or 2 not likely to make a huge difference.  Any player in this age category who is winning games for a CanPL team is unlikely to remain in the CanPL for any length of time.

[SpursFlu]

EYT

Any "Off the Wall" fans in here?

I stand corrected.. Thriller. Has more of an Off the Wall vibe to me

Edited July 21, 2023 by SpursFlu

[gigi riva]

3 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

EYT

Any "Off the Wall" fans in here?

I stand corrected.. Thriller. Has more of an Off the Wall vibe to me

No way  Off The wall mis far mmore superior to thriller musically

[SpursFlu]

12 hours ago, gigi riva said:

No way  Off The wall mis far mmore superior to thriller musically

I agree. That's why I thought pyt was from off the wall

I think Thriller was written and produced by some random Swedish guy wasn't it? His name Sven Goren Erickson or something like that

[narduch]

9 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

I agree. That's why I thought pyt was from off the wall

I think Thriller was written and produced by some random Swedish guy wasn't it? His name Sven Goren Erickson or something like that

Famous Swedish guy Quincy Jones.

My favourite story from the recording of Thriller is that the speakers caught fire while Eddie Van Halen was recording the solo for Beat It

[gigi riva]

3 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

I agree. That's why I thought pyt was from off the wall

I think Thriller was written and produced by some random Swedish guy wasn't it? His name Sven Goren Erickson or something like that

Out of courosity  do youthink both Off The Wall and Thriller is itr more Quincy Jones or MJ responsible for its success

[Stryker911]

I brought this up in the u17 world cup thread. There has to be some quality players on L1 players that are good enough to make the team. Right now the elite team is MLS academy guys and a few random European players.

[rydermike]

On 7/21/2023 at 12:44 PM, Aird25 said:

A year in CPL probably means they're on better money in Europe or elsewhere than after only time in League Ones. I have nothing to substantiate this though

Playing devils advocate, I almost wonder if a year in the CPL would work against some of them. For example, a guy like Damar Dixon went to a Serie D club before joining Froshione U19. Playing in the CPL with a contract would require a transfer fee. Obviously, it wouldn't affect those bigger clubs, but I have no idea about a Serie D side. Would the transfer fee (even if its like 25-50k) be prohibitive to a player going to a 3rd or 4th tier Euro side? I have no idea how those sides are money-wise.

Conversely, the early year of pro ball, could just catapult them enough where they go straight to a Frosione's reserve side bypassing the Serie D team because they would've already seen them in a senior league (basically Serie D and CPL both being senior leagues)

 

[Overall though, I see this initiative as a positive]

Edited July 23, 2023 by rydermike