After a summer full of interest, Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla is reportedly ready to depart from Montreal.
The 18-year-old Impact winger has reportedly told the team that he wants to leave, according to ESPN FC. The Impact rejected several offers for Tabla this summer, as the young talent has picked up some serious interest, and Tabla is supposedly unhappy at the team’s limiting of his opportunities.
According to the report, a number of European clubs are interested in Tabla’s developing talents, including defending Premier League champions Chelsea. However, to this point, the Impact have refused to open talks to sell the winger, at which point Tabla made clear he wants to leave the team for European pastures.
Tabla has been a revelation this season for the Impact, making 19 appearances and finding the back of the net three times in his debut MLS season. The Homegrown midfielder previously played in the Impact’s youth set-up and spent the 2016 season with the team’s former USL affiliate, FC Montreal, where he scored five goals over 21 appearances.
Tabla was born in the Ivory Coast, but has appeared for the Canadian U-17 and U-20 youth teams.
Terrible attitude from Tabla! More often than not, 18-year olds who start making demands after half a season don’t live up to the hype. He is not even an established starter for Montreal yet
Yea! How dare he have ambitions and seek greater opportunity, pay raise and a better league!
After all, none of us do this in our professional lives. That’s why we’re all happy sacking groceries until we’re 60 and never seek professional progression.
A little too dramatic, don’t you think? There is a big difference between 18 and 60 (even if 60 is 32 in soccer years). If he was upset in 2 years, I would be on his side. However, this getting into public when he is 18 and signed a contract about a year ago (no one put a gun to his head as far as I know)….
Yes, it was intentionally hyperbolic. However, I don’t associate his ambition with having a terrible attitude, or being a bad professional.
If you’re visiting this site, I’m safely assuming you share a healthy knowledge of the game (as does most everyone on here). This is just the way of soccer, and the way business is done. I like that players, generally, have a lot more say with the direction or location of where they ply their trade if they see fit. As a fan, it adds to the drama and in the job market it’s fairly normal.
Of course, MLS does their best to remove said professional freedom (and there are justified reasons, dont get me wrong), but I think it reflects well upon the league if MLS is developing players from their academy that are garnering attention within bigger leagues. While it may sound counter-intuitive, I believe for MLS to make the next step it needs to be able to showcase this young talent and flip it for a profit, and become a reputable league for young players to want to play in, and get their start. Decades from now, we can move to the next phase which is retaining said talent and acquiring world stars in their prime.