photo by ISIphotos.com
U.S. Under-17 national team midfielder Luis Gil has ended speculation over his future and has agreed to a deal with MLS.
After failing to agree to a deal with the league prior to the 2010 MLS Draft, Gil reached an agreement with MLS on Friday, snubbing interest from high-profile clubs such as Arsenal and Real Madrid. As we reported last month, Gil will be allocated via a weighted lottery, which will be held on Monday.
What do you think of this development? Share your thoughts below.
Does he have Mexican heritage? Wouldn’t it be better for him to develop in Mexico? Close to home – fewer issues with passport etc., and *very* technical soccer.
Wow, I am stunned! Another Quakes fan, like me, with the same feeling!!!
Not to worry, Andrew – unless he’s close to 6’0″, 175 lbs and over 30, he is unlikely to come to the Earthquakes.
I am surprised that we still consider them a PROFESSIONAL soccer team – it’s an assembly of overage veterans year-in year-out now.
Perfection. Bravo
As an RSL fan, I would love to see him playing at Rio Tinto…I just can’t understand how the weighted lottery would send him to the defending champs.
If he stays in MLS he needs to be starting or at least getting 30+ minutes every MLS game, Kinnear doesn’t start young guys often, Danny Cruz is U-20 star and hardly plays him, maybe this year he will but Kinnear doesn’t play that type of posession 1-2 touch style.
I think NY, Seattle and even and LA team is his best scenario. Maybe KC? They need a playmaker and can use a cheap contract?
Was not my intent to imply he would sign at all. In fact it seems that family and country are foremost in his mind – this may have led you to believe that I was saying he would not sign (and assume that meant you thought that I believed he could) – Arsene Wenger’s comments were very good, I agree.
I actually hope Gil goes to LAG. He will not be expected to play right away, and he will stay in his native state. Plus bruce arena is a good coach. And learning from the likes of class players like donovan and beckham will be good for the kid. Say what you want but it looks like the galaxy are the best fit.
P.S. Hopefully he is MANDON’s future replacement…..Hope Landon never leaves Goodinson.
Another Adu? Sure hope not, this kid has some real talent.
Could any team have used one of there draft choices to select his rights? Wouldn’t that be a steal for the last pick of the draft which probably would otherwise be spent on a player with no likelihood of making the team?
is he too old for the residency program in Florida? that has seemed to be the best place for developing prospects.
I bet John thinks hes so clever…
wishful thinking…
Here’s what Wenger had to say about Gil’s situation in general:
http://watchsocceronline.blogspot.com/2010/01/arsene-wenger-speaks-on-donovan-and.html#more
I know him personally he told me that arsenal was low balling him with the money they had offered him the mls offer was better than theirs and he tpld me he told is agent that his choices were Seattle or rsl
Dont forget Geoff Cameron. 3rd round pick to MLS best 11.
You missed my point he was saying how much better Alridore, Dempsey and Bradley would have been if they started in Europe. I used examples of American players who signed with major clubs in Europe at young ages who didn’t turn into great players.
You realize that Altidor actually started at MLS, right?
Curious to see what he is paid. I recall that Rogers was started at $50 k when he returned from Holland and was handled to the Crew via lottery.
Ummmm… There only 2 differences between going through the draft and this system. First is that Philly is at the bottom of the list, rather than the top. Second is that he’s not being measured against other players. Given that NY has the best chance of landing him, I’m not sure he’s succeeded in manipulating anything. He wants to be on the West Coast, but if NY gets the nod, they get him. In the draft, they might have passed him over for Tchani.
MLS may be getting too good but too underfunded to develop young players. Too many deserving 23 year olds in starting/sub roles, not enough money to run a reserve league. 🙁
This seems very calculated on his part, doesn’t want to risk being drafted by some team he doesn’t want to play for, so he tells the league he will hold off til after the draft to sign and then the magical weighted lottery happens, and he lands at either LA team or SJ. Shocker! I am betting Chivas USA lands the kid btw.
How do we know there is no reserve league for the next year? I think this is a great move especially if he can stay close to home finish school and train as a pro day in and day out. he is 16 he can sign a 4 yr deal and go to europe at 20 with 4 yrs professional experience that sounds like a good deal to me honestly how many of you where making 6 figures at 16??
Is he still part of the U-17 team or has he moved on to U-20 only?
Alas, if only that was a joke.
…to live forever.
California life alone is just too hard to bear.
I live in a house that looks out over the ocean.
And there’s some stars that fell from the sky
livin’ up on the hill.
Please come to LA,
She just said no, boy, won’t you come home to me
Doesn’t cover expansion teams….
I would absolutely love to see this kid up in Seattle. West Coast(close to home), the fans will love him, and he will get great coaching under Sigi. Either way, I hope he ends up on a team that suits him.
Thank you United for pointing out how short sighted Moose’s argument is. I love how he simply ignores the proven successes from MLS by saying they would be better- that is BS, there is no way knowing if they would be better or not. Dempsey was really immature at the beginning of his time with the Revs which might have ruined an earlier attempt at Europe considering he has said numerous times how hard it was to get a starting spot then lose it then get it. There have been numerous examples of americans starting in europe and abysmally failing- how about Bennardo- Europe really helped him- KC said no thanks and now he is trialing with Rochester. Good thing he got playing time in the 4th lowest Italian division, it really has catalyzed his progression.
I have mixed feelings on this.
On one hand, I’m glad that MLS was able to retain a young American prodigy like Gil, but I’m not sure how much he’ll develop here.
On the other hand, he would receive fantastic training & development by going to a monster club like Arsenal or Real Madrid, but you know the chances of him progressing through the academy, youth scheme and into the first team is small.
But being a MLS fan, I will (hopefully) get to see him play.
Yeah Bradley, Altidore and Dempsey could have been stars like Jovan Kirovski, John Thorrington, Zac Whitbread, Kenny Cooper, Frank Simek and Johnathan Spector have all become.
I wouldn’t mind this kid developing with Red Bull. We’ve had good players coming out of our youth system historically. But we really need to trade his rights to wherever he wants to go for some allocation money.
Oh yea, Garber, STOP LOW BALLING JUAN AGUEDELO AND LET US SIGN THE KID!
that is all…
Anywhere he will play. Right now, Houston and DC look like there’s a spot for a creative midfielder. Though wouldn’t hurt to learn from someone like Ljundberg.
I agree that the lack of a reserve league is worrisome for dev players, it’s also nice to see so much new talent coming into the league just as we lose some big players like cooper, holden, rolfe, clark… and others. Hopefully these rookies will get some first team action and keep the quality in the mls as good or better than it’s been in the past.
Yep, I’m sure riding the bench with a big European club would really help with his “training.” It sure has worked well with Eddie J, Adu, and others like Zizzo and Zimmerman.
Way to take advantage of a perfect opportunity.
Well welcome to the end of your career Luis. Unlike Davies you went for the money instead of the training. (Davies turned down more money from MLS to go to Sweden). Good luck actually developing. Please dont lecture me about Bradley, Dempsey, Bradley etc. They could all be a thousand times better if they were developed at a young age in foreign countries. Dempsey didn’t even become relevant until he had a couple years of EPL level training.
Very smart of him to sign with MLS. He can learn and grow and mature while getting a real opportunity to play. Then when developed, can head on over to Europe and probably make a mark. Well done. More of our youngsters should do the same, IMO.
Heard the red bulls might get a chance at him i like what i’m seeing so far in NYC it would be nice to bsee him there.
I’m starting to like the Kinnear logic. As a USMNT fan, you’d have tolike the prospects.
As a Chivas USA fan, COME TO SO CAL!
classic
Or Sigi
please cite said “promising talent” that has wasted away on an MLS bench and eventually disappeared…
they way you word it there are mulitple players that fit this mold, so fire away please.
Exactly, although CD went after some college time.
Donovan is just now fighting that stigma that’s been with him 7-8 years that he couldn’t hack it in Europe.
come to the dark side luis.. come play for the galaxy.. learn from cienfuegos and cobi jones..
hopefully my jedi mind tricks work.
Well, the 2011 draft class just got a whole lot weaker.
Q: How do you know Nguyen trained with Arsenal?
A: Because he won’t stop talking about it.
MLS did not win or lose. There was not a competition to be had. Gil cannot sign a contract with Arsenal because he doesn’t have an EU passport and it’s impossible he’d be granted a work permit in England. Cooper, Spector, and Grella have EU passports. Arsene Wenger made some great comments about this about one month ago. Wish I could easily find the link. Anyone have it?
That was great. XD
Not to mention Brian Ching, but i’m sure whether he’s been good for the national team or not is a point of conflict for most. I agree overall though.
I also agree regarding Kinnear. However, Pontius and Wallace developed quite nicely at DCU.