Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIPhotos.com
FC Dallas fell short in its quest for an improbable MLS Cup title, but the club took a major step toward making more runs at a championship by signing MLS MVP David Ferreira to a new contract.
Dallas announced the signing of Ferreira's new multi-year deal on Wednesday, securing the services of the Colombian playmaker, who helped guide Dallas to the 2010 MLS Cup Final. Terms of the new contract were not released.
Ferreira garnered MLS MVP honors after posting eight goals and 13 assists.
In other MLS news, the Philadelphia Union has signed 15-year-old midfielder Zach Pfeffer as its first Homegrown Player. He is the fourth-youngest player to ever sign an MLS contract.
What do you think of the news?
Messi moved to Barca when he was either 11 or 12. He was playing with the first team when he was 16. I’m not comparing Pheffer/Philly to Messi/Barca, just pointing out how early kids start working with professionals in other countries. Plus, this way Pheffer is training in a professional environment but can still be close to home and with family, I assume. Sometime freaks like Lebron James come along that are ready at 18.
If Davies’ coach is such a “teenage girl” as you say, then why does Charlie want to stick with him and not go out on loan? Does he know something you don’t?
Major League Baseball
I’m 100 percent sure. First of all, any mention of how someone performs in high school is ridiculous. It is the absolute lowest level of the game. And at that lowest level he was neither an all-league player or an all southeastern pa player. Stop pretending that he is something already that he isn’t. Right now, this signing is a novelty. He may turn out to be a good pro but he’s nowhere close to ready yet.
Its hard not to look at the dirty world of scholastic athletics with all the prospect hyping and shady backdoor dealing with elite schools and agents who are quick to throw these kids away if they don’t pan out and not get a little sick. But the reality is that if MLS doesn’t sign them, somebody else will. Also there are many kids at that age that are simply prodigies whose skills would be maximized with the pro atmosphere and training.
Maybe the answer is every academy setting up something like Bradenton that doesn’t completely disregard the academic aspect.
This. These kids are gonna go abroad anyways if they can’t get signed here. It strengthens MLS (and is beneficial for the kids to get pro training early) to be able to get money when they sell them off.
You sure about that. I’ve seen him dominate high school ball as a freshman. Also I have seen him dominate for his delco teams and in ODP. Do some research. Hes not a sure bet but this keeps him from jumping to europe
“…who helped guy Dallas…” Who’s guy Dallas and has he signed a new deal, too? 😉
(SBI-I’m pretty sure he was the ref in 2002 that missed the Frings handball. LOL)
Nobody is telling him he’s the answer. He is still going to school and training with the big boys like he did last year. Now he is just getting paid and gets the opportunity to fight for a spot. These youngsters getting signed as homegrown are waaaay different than when Adu entered the league.
at least wait until he has hair on his balls before telling him he’s the answer, yes other countries do it and other sports do it but look at how screwed up those athletes are and how many of them fail.
Yes they sign them at 15 years and even younger. In some places, like Peru for example, many kids graduate high school at age 16. I don’t know if this is the case in Europe. But still, in top soccer nations the norm is to sign players as soon as they’re ready to play, whenever that might be.
MLS needs to do it too IMO.
It is not a shift to signing young guys. Baseball signs straight out of high school.
Read Moneyball on my opinion.
It is gambling, plain and simple gambling.
If he can play like a man, pay him like a man. If it turns out he can’t play, he can return to HS with the $$$ he made from MLS and fund (or at least partially fund) his own higher education.
Yeah, Hackworth has described him as an attacking midfielder.
Anyone who has seen this kid play as a youth player would know that he may turn out to be a reasonable professional and he may not. He doesn’t dominate in his own age group. Talk of him as a future USMNT member is WAAAAY premature.
Are 15 year old soccer players signed to professional sports contracts in Brazil, Germany, Spain, Italy, England, Argentina, Netherlands?
If not, this is insane.
If they are, this is perfectly sane.
Right? Shouldn’t what is done in the top soccer nations be the standard?
Pfeffer came in as a sub for the last 15 minutes of the Union’s friendly against Chivas Guadalajara and played in an attacking midfield role. The Union’s website also has him listed as a midfielder.
The problem is that European clubs don’t worry about age and aren’t shy about taking kids from America and putting them in their academies. In order to make sure they (Philly and MLS) don’t lose out on players, they need to sign him. There was interest in him from Hoffenheim in Germany, so you either sign him or risk losing him with no compensation.
Zorb, I could not agree with you more.
I understand the comment about student/athletes at the college level, but this kid still has like 2 years of HS left though….its one thing if the kid was 18, but he can’t even drive yet! Its too young…..
His coach sounds like a teenage girl. Playing games with the poor kid’s mind. Charlie seemed pretty pumped up to be on the bench last weekend.
It mentions he’s a defender any chance he’s a LB?
I know it’s a shift in paradigm for US fans, but I prefer a 15 y/o sign a contract and start being paid rather than the “student/athlete pantomime” that we call college athletics. I loathe how college kids make millions for their schools and worse the NCAA for free (yeah, I know scholarships). Our system is unique, in the rest of the world colleges focus on education not athletics.
Nice interview with Bocanegra
http://www.ligue1.com/ligue1/article/bocanegra-we-mustn-t-sell-ourselves-short.htm
Yup just confirmed it on Sochaux website no CD9
Did anyone else notice in the link about Pfeffer, the headline says he’s the 4th youngest to sign a contract, and then the photo underbar says he’s the 3rd youngest?
As for him being 15, to be fair, and not that it really matters, but he’ll be 16 in 2 weeks.
Doubt it – his coach came out and said he wasn’t in his plans until the end of the season and only put him there last game as a reward for his hard work.
Anyone know if CD9 is going to be on the sidelines again today?
Am I the only one who thinks signing 15 year olds to professional sports contracts is insane?
So Stoked about Pfeffer. Dave Zeitlen said he spoke with Hackworth about Pfeffer a while back and he thought Pfeffer would be a legend at the college level but wanted to be a pro…good stuff Union!