I don’t think much better but maybe slightly. After he retired and before he became SKCs GM Vermes volunteered and remade the entire Blue Valley youth soccer structure so it grew the youth game a ton in town. So quite a few players are from KC, EPB and Gage Akalu would be the top 2. But Vermes is good about recruiting players into the system, Nati Clark - Tulsa, Cienfuegos - Omaha, Little Weah - Minn, Busio/Lindsey - NC. This is the second episode of that “Academy” series I posted a while back and goes into the details of the “host family” set up and convincing a bunch of parents and 13 year olds to move across the country and away from their families.
This is the third episode. Focuses on Nati Clarke. Worth a watch if you don’t know much about the kid. (Born in Ethiopia, no father, mother left him at his grandmas at 1 never to return, grandma put him in an orphanage at 4, was adopted by a random couple from Topeka). Most say he will probably end up at CB but he’s so damn fast and good on the ball it seems like a shame to move him from fullback.
Ugh. I remember him leaving the academy for that Barca program in the desert. Kid stunted his career worse than Sargent unfortunately.
Can't blame him for wanting to play for Germany, but he could walk in and take the job here with the quickness.
what are the rules about becoming the highest paid Ford F-150 spokesman in the world at the age of 17 with a lifetime contract?
I wish my broke ass lived in some 99th story cause I need to leap off that shit to live up to this insanity
This is amazing. I posted Gianluca was the 2nd youngest ever (forgetting Clark) only thinking Jozy. By the end of the day he was 4th.
impressive jump from banging them in with the u19s for nearly a year to occasional sub for the u23s the last couple months to now starting for the first team iirc
He started training with the first team a week ago iirc. Part of it is that one of their strikers just terminated his contract, but still impressive that they decided to go with him basically immediately over someone else.