Former St. Benedict’s Prep star and Clifton resident Jose Angulo was hoping to have a chance to show off his skills in the MLS Combine and potentially become a high pick in the upcoming MLS Draft.
That chance won’t come.
According to sources close to Angulo, the rights to the high school all-american striker have been awarded to the New England Revolution, which filed a discovery claim on Angulo after he trained with the team last summer.
Yes, you read that right. New England just scored the rights to one of th best high school players in the country by inviting him to train for a week before simply filling out a form. Talk about ridiculous.
The decision is a baffling one for a league that has previously expressed a desire to protect the interests of players coming out of high school. Now, New England appears ready to benefit from the poor decision of a teenager who was simply looking for a professional environment to train in. Now, the Revs have managed to "discover" a high school All American who was the leading scorer on the No. 1 high school team in the nation in 2006.
The precedent being set here is a bad one. What will prevent recent high school graduates from skipping college and the draft, choosing instead to make the rounds looking for a contract? What will prevent teams from making promises to young players in order to circumvent the current MLS Draft system? And lastly, if the league’s decision was based on the fact that Angulo did not graduate from high school (He left high school early to explore his professional options) is MLS sending a message that high school stars can sign with any team they please if they simply drop out of school?
There is at least a small amount of irony in the fact that the team that has succeeded in benefiting from this bad decision happens to be one of only two MLS teams without an MLS-approved player development program. Why bother creating a youth academy when you can simply invite a good young player to a try out and secure his rights by simply filling out a form?
This isn’t an indictment of New England, which simply took advantage of the system that MLS has in place. If anything, the Revs deserve credit for filing a claim on Angulo when two other teams that saw him, the Red Bulls and Columbus, did not. The fault lies with a flawed system that MLS should fix.
Angulo should be in the MLS draft, where his impressive skills could make him a second-round pick at the least. Instead, he must now face the prospects of accepting whatever offer New England makes, which probably won’t be much considering the Revs have all the leverage.
If league officials had some sense, they would reconsider their decision and prevent a very bad precedent from being set. MLS might also want to think about fixing a discovery claim system that can be best described as inadequate.
I’m confused on how this happened. Had he played professionally before somewhere? If not then I thought there were only 2 ways of a player comming into the league. He could go into a draft or he can join a youth accademy and wait 2 years until the team can take him. What’s to stop a team with a youth accademy from brining a kid up to the senior team by “discovering” him after only one year, or heck maybe just one month, rather than waiting the MLS required 2 years? I don’t have a problem with the Revs getting a player, but the method used seems to circumvent some of the structure MLS is trying to put in place.
Ives,
Thanks for the response. That is what I assumed had happened and why I mentioned that MLS rules must be written in pencil. Thanks again for the follow up.
On a side note, best of luck with the new website and keep up the good work.
uhhh, well TK i know they signed and developed andy dorman out of BU. And Jeff Laurentowicz ( i know i butchered his name) from dartmouth…. Thats two. I’m sure theres more but in truth, I like nothing related to boston. Oh, and twellman too.
This is bad if this kid does not want to play for New England. Otherwise, so what. He’ll train with NE and get paid more than an average HS drop out. He’ll get some reserve games and see some first team action but, by the time he is ready to produce on the field, he will leave for Europe on a free transfer. Does anyone remember the names Szetela, Adu, or Bradley. Although talented none made a mark in MLS on the field.
By the way, New England does not develop talent. That line is the biggest load of crap repeated in the echo chamber that we call the American soccer press.
The reason that New England has so many draft picks playing on their roster is because that is the only place they get players. The cheapskate owner runs the team like a NFL franchise that does not want but “free agents”. Please give me the names of the seasoned players that the Revs have brought into their squad.
Christman and Wells get playing time on the Revs but are not any better than average players. And not likely to get much better.
Matt: You’re right, his situation was no different. So why should one team get his exclusive rights for having him train and then filing a paper? If he’s an unemployed soccer player he should be a free agent, free to sign with any team, not forced to negotiate with one. The discovery claim system is pure BS.
Oh – I don’t think that paragraph was there when I posted my second comment, but maybe I just missed it.
By the way, yes, this is the league’s problem. It’s a loophole that needs to be closed. But pardon me for being a little irritated at the image of the NE front office snickering about how they don’t need a youth development program because they can just do this. Taking advantage of loopholes is smart but that doesn’t make it right.
Dropping out of high school and hiring an agent does not make him a professional. Playing in a professional game or a scrimmage between two professional teams does– has he ever done that? No, as far as I can see.
Jose Angulo is not a high school athlete. He is not a college athlete. He is an unemployed professional soccer player. He earned that distinction by dropping out of high school and signing an agent. Therefore, no team is exploiting any rules to invite him to a try-out and then file a discovery claim on him. It’s unfortunate that Mr. Angulo chose to drop out of school before really having anything in place. To me, that’s more concerning than the league’s actions. But based on his decisions, his situation was no different than any other 20-something unemployed soccer player looking for a team.
Isn’t it ironic that it’s not the Galaxy we are talking about when it comes to circumventing and exploiting the rules??
This would be less irritating if NE had an academy. And it would even sort of make sense if they did, just make them use one of their two spots.
It seems like the league is allowing NE to circumvent the academy system much in the same way it allowed LA to grandfather in a DP.
More like MCLS if you ask me. Majorly Crazy League Soccer. Thats right. I went there.
Hey Mr. Boo Hoo, try reading the article before commenting. My piece had NOTHING to do with the Red Bulls. It isn’t about the Red Bulls. Ultimately, the Red Bulls had Angulo in training and he looked awful (he was admittedly out of shape and hadn’t trained in months). They told him not to bother coming back so nobody should feel bad about them missing out on him.
The point is that either you have a draft and make high school kids go through it or you don’t. The league’s setup has made players coming out of high school sign a Generation Adidas contract and go through the draft for years now. All of a sudden the league makes an exception for Angulo.
And I’ll say it one more time. It is not customary in any other part of the world, as far as I know, for a team to secure the rights to a player by simply having them in for training. They must first reach an agreement with the player on a contract. That’s pretty simple to understand but some folks insist on ignoring that to make a point that isn’t valid.
Lastly, to TSingletonVT, I spoke to MLS officials last summer and was told that a player in Angulo’s situation would need to go either into the regular draft, or a discovery draft. Now, several months later, MLS has decided that it won’t bother with that and will grant New England’s Discovery claim.
Whatever New England or the rest of the league does, STAY OUT OF SOUTHERN CALIFONIA!!
We have crap players with no talent!!
Please don’t come looking for HS players over here.
Seriously, this is how Chivas USA has built it’s academies throughout the state. It’s virtually fertile with talented and
skilled players.
Keep in mind Angulo dropped out of school to pursue his soccer career. Considering that, he is not a student of any kind. He’s no different than a 25 or 30 year old guy deciding he wanted to play professionally and trying out with a team. It just so happens that the guy we’re talking about is really young.
Sorry this off topic. But I just read this article that says Eddie Johnson could be going to Derby. Ives please tell me this article is totally false. Why in the hell would he go to a doomed team like Derby. The article also mentions that Reading are in the running.
http://www.soccer365.com/english_premiership/story_4108190806.php
They need to dump the whole dumb-ass concept of a Super Draft. Why do they keep insisting on forcing American mindset and models on an international game. Remember the clock format of the early years and the shootouts. God – still makes me cringe.
Red Bulls filed a discovery claim on Marcus Tracey and Patrick Nyarko. They both trained with the club last week and the Red Bulls are negotiating with both of them to sign with the team.
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Not true obviously but this is what this crazyness of discovery slot usage could become right? Even worse, as Ives points out; it could hit seniors or juniors in high school not just underclassman. This is crazy.
I have been lurking here for awhile, but feel the need to comment here.
While the rules might stink, what team has been better at developing young players then Nichol and the Revolution over the Rev’s run here the past 6 seasons? Nobody has done a better job of developing their own players then the Revs.
Angulo wont have to jump and play right away as he can sit behind and learn from the good attacking players in front of him. Players like Noonan, Twellman, and Raltson. All top MLS players. Plus the two kids who they brought in last season who developed into nice role players,soon to be full time starters, Wells Thompson and Adam Cristman.
Might not be fair for the rest of the MLS, but he has the best chance to become a real player with the Revs compared to whoever else might have drafted him.
“The precedent being set here is a bad one. What will prevent recent high school graduates from skipping college and the draft, choosing instead to make the rounds looking for a contract?”
WELCOME TO WORLD FOOTBALL.
WHERE HIGH SCHOOL AGE KIDS SIGN PROFESSIONAL CONTRACTS rather than go into some stupid draft system.
Hi all,
while i agree that this situation seems to be utterly rediculous (not that i’m complaining this time, i’m a revs fan), what needs to happen is for players like Angulo to be more involved in training professionally from a young age, not more prohibited, or punished.
every MLS team should have some sort of talent development and those players (as i’ve read some clubs have successfully done) are not availible for the draft. that said, there are hundreds of quality players who end up playing in college. I think the draft makes a lot of sense for these players, and perhaps for other players right out of highschool who were not able to train with their local professional team.
Teams should develop their scouting systems, especially locally as most MLS teams won’t have to compete with other MLS teams in their own area (sorry LA). They should then do something to bring the recognized potential into the organization, a few ideas: invitation only camps (see basketball), a youth system, a academy system that partners with a local highschool, a reserves team that plays in the local men’s leagues (i’m sure there are more great ideas out there).
Oh boo hoo! Ives why are you such a Red Bull biased ‘journalist’?
MLS still has some very stupid rules. Sometimes I still think they haven’t realized the simple fact soccer is not an American sport and it can’t follow the same path as the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc.
Soccer talents come from all over the globe, not just America. Let the club signs the players that they scouted. Allow them to develop their own youths. Colleges/High Schools aren’t the only sources feeding MLS. These drafts, allocations, and lotteries and plain idiotic. WAKE UP MLS, run it like the rest of the world, then you can be consider a MAJOR LEAUGE.
Great piece Ives.
I couldn’t agree more with your statement: “If league officials had some sense, they would reconsider their decision and prevent a very bad precedent from being set. MLS might also want to think about fixing a discovery claim system that can be best described as inadequate.”
I can’t figure out how and when discovery claims are used. The rules seem to change but perhaps I’m uninformed. Can someone provide me a link to them?
TSingletonVT points out that they may have changed with this quote from a prior report: “As I stated in the post about his training stint with New England, Angulo cannot be signed directly by an MLS team. As a player straight out of high school, Angulo must go through the MLS Draft, and must actually sign a pre-draft deal with MLS before even being eligible for the draft. If he can impress New England and Columbus coaches it will make landing an MLS contract that much easier.”
Regardless given the current news, KingSnake makes a great warning: “Don’t train with a team unless you have a contract, or you will lose all your bargaining power.”
Great contributions by everyone.
I hope he sues for his freedom, and gets a groundbreaking case in his favor.
This makes me want to set something on fire. Where is MLS HQ again?
Nobody should be mad at the Revs over this decision. All they did was file a claim.
Direct your anger towards the league. MLS knows this kid wants citizenship and a future with the US national team system. They hold all the cards and leave this kid with no choice, unless he wants to play USL.
Bad move by MLS, bad precedent, bad everything.
I too do not understand how being assigned to the Revs makes Angulo’s bargaining position any different than had he gone through the MLS Combine and been drafted. In either scenario, he can negotiate only with a single MLS team or go to any team outside MLS. It seems to me that the only dispute here is among the MLS teams and that it should not affect Angulo’s position one way or the other.
I don’t see why a non-MLS team would be willing to pay him more simply because he was selected in the MLS draft instead of just being assigned to an MLS team–the non-MLS team should pay Angulo on basis of his inherent value and what it would take to lure him away from the MLS team holding his rights (and any other non-MLS team seeking to sign him), not on the basis of “wow, he was a first or second round MLS pick so we should pay him more”.
dwbpnm:
you beat me to it. This may be a way to get talented US players to STAY in the US, at least initially. It gives them a way to align themselves to the club of their choice. (Think Szetela and NY – he would have done this in a heartbeat.)
The way it was done sucks, but it could be very interesting long term
P.S. I don’t blame the Revs either. What they did was perfectly allowed.
I totally agree the league is at fault here, as it always is with all of the dozens of ridiculous things that happen within it every season.
Unbelievable. Some players can choose where they play (Adu, Beckham), some go through the draft, and some are told where to play by the league (Szetela, Angulo) regardless what the player himself wants.
This league is a joke.
Steve – That’s not what Elway did. he played baseball during summers when he was still playing football at Stanford. he threatened to concentrate on baseball, but the Colts blinked first and traded him away.
This precedent essentially brings free agency to MLS for youth players. A top youth player can now solict bids from MLS teams for the player to come train with them thereby allowing the team to file a discovery claim and the player to circumvent the draft. Unfortunately Angulo gets the short end of the stick but now word is out and all youth players can act accordingly.
By the way Ives, this post didn’t show up on the RSS feed, at least not for me. Everything up ’til this post has. Not sure if it’s something that should be looked into or if it’s a problem on my end.
Ives, or anyone that knows… Would it be possible for this kid to skip out for the year.. maybe play in the USL, and then re-enter the MLS Draft in 2009? Kind of like Bo Jackson & John Elway did in the 80’s in the NFL. Except they decided to play baseball… then re-entered.
Just curious as to how long NE retains his rights for.. ?
NailGoesHere,
The kid wants to play for the U.S. MNT but doesn’t have his citizenship. He’s choosing MLS to stay in country for that reason.
He does have interest overseas. But if he follows your advice the league loses a top quality prospect and the US program loses one too.
But hey, as long as the league gets to save money taking advantage of the kids situation, right. It’s all good.
BKUPP,
You should be bitching about the club’s ownership and not MLS. The ownership won’t spend on a stadium. The ownership won’t spend on a DP. The ownership won’t spend to develope their own talent. And I think if you’re looking for anyone missing out on “MLS largesse” you might look to Colorado, RSL, or Columbus before pitying the poor ‘ol Revs.
Ives didn’t attack the Revs anyway. He as much as commended them for using the system to their advantage. It’s the league he has a problem with. And so do I.
What’s ridiculous is the whole Discovery system and the Superdraft. Didn’t the Galaxy sign Alexi Lalas as a Discovery Player at one point?
Abolish Discovery players and the draft. Let clubs go find their own players wherever they can. If teams flop on the field, why should they be rewarded with a high draft position or You Suck Allocations? They should be happy that they can’t get relegated!
Doing away with the draft would force clubs to get better at identifying existing pro talent, or at establishing an effective youth pipeline.
Dude…this ain’t Europe…our labor laws are quite different.
I am a Revs fan so the fact that the Revs have secured Angulo’s rights works for me, but I do have an issue with how the Revs came to acquire those rights. MLS rules and interpretations are most definitely written in pencil. IMHO, constantly changing rules to benefit certain teams or players (or even appearing to) hurts the credibility of MLS.
Ives, not to pick nits (I think you do great work), but how have things changed regarding Angulo since your article on 6/14/07 which stated:
“As I stated in the post about his training stint with New England, Angulo cannot be signed directly by an MLS team. As a player straight out of high school, Angulo must go through the MLS Draft, and must actually sign a pre-draft deal with MLS before even being eligible for the draft. If he can impress New England and Columbus coaches it will make landing an MLS contract that much easier.”
http://njmg.typepad.com/sbi/2007/06/jose_angulos_ne.html
this is how Europe works I don’t know whay your panties are in a bunch. They just get them younger over there.
This would NEVER stand up in a court of law. How can the MLS be so stupid?
They are already a huge target for union loving, anti-business/pro-labor lawyers Why leave themselves even more open to attack?
The how is the player better or worse if drafted. You still accept the contract from MLS or go away. Your only real option is an offer with a USL team because they often pay better. This may be MLS’s way of seeing that talent is better disbursed through all level of American socer.
Joamiq, it is as simple as which team gets the paperwork to the league first. One team could have a player for a month and another for a day and if the second team gets the paper in first they get his rights. It’s a pretty bad system.
Josh, there was no deal. Angulo did not request to have the Revs receive his rights. Angulo wanted to be in the draft and wanted to go to the Combine.
And Nail, that isn’t how the rest of the world works. Simply trying out with a team doesn’t give a team your rights anywhere in the world but in the United States based on this precedent. The way the world works is that your rights go to the team you sign a contract with.
And why does this have anything to do with what other “big” clubs have gotten away with? Nobody is saying he should go to the Red Bulls. He should go into the draft, where any team can draft him. Otherwise, why even have a draft?
Joamiq; Yes, they could have. But I don’t believe they did, which is what I think Ives meant when he said, “If anything, the Revs deserve credit for filing a claim on Angulo when two other teams that saw him, the Red Bulls and Columbus, did not.”
MLS needs to change these rules rapidly so that they benefit the Galaxy and not the Revs.
Perhaps anytime a club files a discovery claim on a player, the Gals get first shot?
Didn’t Angulo train with RB one day last summer (that mildly infamous debacle where he barely played because of blisters on his feet)? Why can’t they file a discovery claim on him too? Is it first come first served?
BKUPP: right on!!
However, Mr. Ives does bring up good points on how this *might* not be good for the player re: his contract.
But considering all the shenanigans MLS pulls with its favored teams, its possible there is some agreement and Angulo was involved in this decision.
“The precedent being set here is a bad one. What will prevent recent high school graduates from skipping college and the draft, choosing instead to make the rounds looking for a contract? ”
You mean like in the rest of the world? If he is that good, then surely his agent can get him a contract in Europe. Not comparing apples to apples, I know, but interesting questions indeed.
Could it be that he said, MLS you want me? Let me go to the Revs. It wouldn’t be that far fetched would it?
What???
This is a joke!
RB should invite all of the nation’s top HS players to train with them for a few days and then file discovery claims on all of them!
Considering all the special treatment the “big” clubs have gotten, including *interesting* lotteries, special drafts, etc., it seems pretty off-base to be jumping all over the Revs on this one. If there’s one team that has always seem to miss out on MLS largesse, it’s the Revs. Without our own smart drafting and good, stable coaching, we’d be nowhere.
Word of warning to all the MLS wannabes out there: Don’t train with a team unless you have a contract, or you will lose all your bargaining power.