Another U.S. national team player has officially headed south of the border to ply their trade.
One day removed from Omar Gonzalez officially departing the LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake midfielder Luis Gil decided to move to Liga MX side Queretaro on a free transfer, which was reported by Goal USA early on Wednesday.
The club confirmed the addition of Gil on Wednesday afternoon.
Gil’s contract expired at the end of the 2015 season, and the 22-year-old midfielder decided to end his stint with RSL at six years after joining the team at the age of 16. He scored 11 goals and provided 9 assists in 134 appearances in MLS.
Most recently, Gil was a member of the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team during October’s Olympic qualifying.
Queretaro, which missed the Apertura playoffs in 2015, will kick off the 2016 Clausura on Jan. 8 against Atlas.
What do you think of Gil’s decision? Think he will succeed in Liga MX?
Share your thoughts below.
I would have liked to have seen Gil sign that Arsenal contract in 2010. Feel like he’d be higher on the development curve by now.
Agreed, I was in the camp originally for him to stay. But after several years of watching his progression coupled with comments by him stating that he had to adopt a more physical, simpler version of his play for MLS, lead me to believe that his technical ability would have been better suited under Wegner.
I agree
A better development environment usually produces more developed players.
Remind me.. What were the conditions around that move and why it didn’t happen? He couldn’t get a permit?
There was no issue, it has his choice. I guess he thought Kreis and Cassar were better coaches than Wenger.
Yeah gotta agree with r.benjamin. Lots of roadblocks were in place for that transfer. I think I read somewhere that he would have been on loan for at least 2 years before he would have been able to actually join and train with Arsenal. Maybe that wouldn’t have been a bad thing, but thats just my opinion.
But I get your point. I also wonder where he would have been had the Arsenal deal come through. I still remember watching him at the U20 WC; he was the ONLY American who looked like he belonged on the same field as the likes of Jese, Deulofeu, and Pogba. Talk about developmental gap.
Maybe he wanted to play in a league with real parity.
Luis has been a huge disappointment.
RSL gave Luis every chance to take over that role, he simply wasn’t up to the job. As a USMNT fan I really want him to succeed. As an RSL fan I’m not surprised or terribly concerned to see him go. I actually think he’s regressed a bit over the last couple of years and maybe some different coaching will help his progression.
Legit Question – But how has RSL given him every chance to take over? I was under the impression these chances were 3 or 4 game stretches as Javi was injured. Because those ‘chances’ then come with a caveat; you’re only a spot filler.
A playmakers role is more than just ability. In game chemistry, knowing what you’re attackers are gonna do before they do it is extremely crucial. That is only built on the field, and certainly over a long, extended period. Took Ozil almost 2 years to start making magic consistently at Arsenal (granted he was also adjusting to a new country/league/club).
Now I’m not saying Gil should’ve just been handed the role just for the sake of it; he’s gotta earn it. But as far as I know, he was never given a REAL opportunity TO earn it. It always seemed to be slanted more toward “it’s Javi’s to lose” more than “it’s Gil to earn”.
As an actual RSL fan (I was only loosely interested in Gil from his USMNT development perspective), maybe you could give a little more insight.
During this past offseason there was a big deal made about how Gil was being given the number 10 shirt and that he was expected to fulfill that role. I’m pretty sure management was looking at this as a transitional year where Gil was going to assert himself and Javi would be allowed to leave the club after the season. Gil started ten of the first eleven games of the season and I’m pretty sure that at least part of the reason Cassar went to the 4-3-3 was to accomodate Gil in midfield with Morales. He they started the season with Gil and Morales as two playmakers in front of Beckerman. He played the point of the diamond for several games while Morales was injured. They also played him as the right winger for several games. The problem was that what was supposed to be a high-scoring attack wasn’t scoring goals at all. I think Cassar felt like Gil was a big part of the reason.
I didn’t watch every game this season, but I watched a lot of them, and Gil simply wasn’t consistently effective enough to take hold of the position. His work rate was not the greatest and he would simply disappear for large stretches of the game. He would make an occasionally brilliant play, but they were too few and far between. Eventually, Luke Mulholland pushed him out in midfield because he had a more consistent impact on the game.
I’m certain that RSL management would’ve much preferred that Gil had a breakout year so they could’ve either let Javi go or at least have more leverage in negotiations. Instead Javi was the one who had the great year and Gil is out the door.
Better pay day? Dude has made over 300k every year that’s the average in LIGA MX. I think this move is good for him RSL are going backwards in my opinion and not letting Luis take over that role and still preferring Javi means Luis had to go find another team, its a nice step for him.
That 300k was due to his Homegrown contract. I could be wrong, but when that expired, his new salary would impact the cap. Regardless of whether you think Gil was misused or is a bust, he isn’t worth taking up that much of the salary cap. So he was going to see a severe pay cut if he stayed in the MLS. He’ll probably see a little bit more money in Liga MX since he’s coming on a free transfer.
Average salary in Liga MX in 2014 was over $400K/year. That includes benchwarmers and starters and it is a lot more evenly distributed, unlike MLS which is very top heavy. That being said, if he can establish himself as a regular starter, he could earn about double that. It is a step up in level and pay.
Dumb of RSL to let him go on a free transfer.
Isn’t “dumb” of RSL to let him go on a free transfer. He is out of contract. They can’t force him to sign a contract and then sell him. They made him a “bon-a-fide” offer, so they will retain his rights if he ever returns to MLS.
I think it’s healthy for MLS to see more transfers in and out. It means MLS is doing a better job at player development. More young and promising players will be willing to come to MLS if it is seen as a viable path to a career, either in MLS or by raising their profile for scouts in other leagues.
Players like Gil are a dime a dozen in Liga MX. He will be a squad player but doubt he will be an impact for them.
He was basically a squad player for RSL last season.
Form can return, though. Gil, for the time being at least, cannot.
Hercules Gomez was essentially a squad player in MLS before he moved to Liga Mx . The guy made a name for himself in Mexico and went on to represent the U.S. at the World Cup in South Africa.
We are talking different type of players here. Gomez was a hard working player off the ball, and athletic and this type (as a forward) will succeed as long as he improved his finishing technique which kept him from scoring goals during his time in LA.
Gil is good technically and with good vision, but other than that, he has no quickness, speed, and individual skill to beat players 1-on-1. He has peaked in terms of ability. Unless he develops in a two way player or works harder without the ball, he will be a dime a dozen in Liga MX. Liga MX has tons of guys who are good technically and understand the game but they don’t run or work hard off the ball.
They will probably loan him to the Mexican 2nd divsion (1A or whatever it is these days).
@ Hellium
Not true. For a period Gomez was a solid contributer for the La Galaxy but lost his form and then bounced around MLS for a few years. By the time he moved to Puebla he was already in his late 20’s and while he was always a workhorse, he was never particularly fast and it was the speed and style at which the game was played in Mexico that helped him regain his confidence and form and not simply a change of scenery.
Similarly, Gil I think would also benefit from a more tempo, posession oriented style of play that wont expose any of his weaknesses, while highlighting his quality. He does very much seem to be a more prototypical Liga MX cm in the sense that while he may be percieved as physically underwhelming by American standards, he does have a good amount of technical ability and field awarness (Paco Torres comes to mind as an example).
Yes. This is what can happen when you go abroad to a better league. There’s risk, but its also the way players can improve, rising to the challenge. We should be encouraging this, not sneering at it but dismissing a players chances.
Exodus! Movement of the people… So how many more of our Mex-American players will be making the move to Liga MX for better style of play and better day of pay?
I think it has more to do with a change of environment for these guys. Both have played their entire pro careers in MLS and their level of play has stagnated (and arguably decreased) this past season. A fresh environment will hopefully give these a guys a kick start for their careers.
it’s only a “better style of play” if you think defense is useless and should be abolished
Its only not a superior style of play if your some sort of delusional patriot or have only ever known MLS