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Joya leaving Fire, has options in MLS and Argentina

BenjiJoyaChicagoFire1-SeattleSounders2014 (USATODAYSports)

Photo by Mike Dinovo/USA TODAY Sports

 

By DAN KARELL

Benji Joya has played his last match with the Chicago Fire, and could be heading way south of the border for the next destination of his career.

The Chicago Fire declined their option to buy that they had on Joya’s season-long loan deal, leaving the 21-year-old to return to Santos Laguna this winter. Joya could be headed elsewhere though for next season, with options in both Major League Soccer and in Argentina’s Primera Division, Joya’s agent Maximiliano Roditis confirmed to SBI.

It’s not clear yet which clubs are interested in Joya, but Roditis is currently in Argentina negotiating Joya’s move.

Joya endured a frustrating first season in MLS with the Fire, playing only 12 times with nine starts and one goal. The 21-year-old midfielder only played once for the Fire, a six minute substitute appearance, after July 1, sitting out 19 of the last 20 games of the season.

The Fire declined to reveal whether Joya was coming back next season, stating that they would release roster information in early December.

Despite his lack of playing time, Joya has remained an integral piece of a potential U.S. Olympic squad. Joya was called up to the U.S. Under-21 Men’s National Team last April and earned two selections to the U.S. U-23 Men’s National Team for a match against the Bahamas in August and a match against Brazil in October.

The San Jose, Calif.-native scored a pair of goals in the U.S. U-21’s victory over Club Tijuana and started both games for the U.S. U-23’s this fall.

Joya, a dual national with Mexican and American citizenship, joined Santos Laguna’s academy in 2012 and made his professional debut as a 19-year-old, a day after his birthday, in a scoreless draw with Chiapas.

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What do you think of this development? Would you like to see Joya move to Argentina? Do you think he should head to Europe? What went wrong for him in Chicago?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. The Fire are now the official worst club in MLS. The organization can help but shoot it self every opportunity it gets. Every league needs a laughing stock. With Chivas now RIP the Fire have stepped up and inhertited the mantle with gusto. Bravo Fire – can’t wait for your next misadventure.

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  2. Frank is on the clock now he doesn’t have the luxury of carrying a player like Joya. I hope he finds his way back to SJ. I think Joya has the potential to be a spot starter or solid depth off the bench. Dom will be doing a complete rebuild, so the expectations will be lower. He might have the flexibility to bring Joya along over a couple seasons.

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    • This makes too much sense. As they open the new stadium, the Quakes could use a hometown guy who plays in the midfield and is young enough to grow. They are unlikely to shell out DP money on a midfielder, so this might be a chance worth taking–he’ll be cheaper. People saying he’s not very good ignore that he did play quite a bit early on. He wasn’t great, but he certainly showed flashes. I think he just fell out of favor–there’s enough there to take a chance on him…

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  3. It’s frustrating to see a lot of these guys not getting playing time on bad teams, not saying they all should get PT but Joya seemed to have a lil something. Wouldn’t mind seeing him end up at RSL or FCD where they seem to have staffs in place who understand cultivating young talent. Guys like Yallop probably should have moved on by now, he seems stuck in MLS 2.0

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  4. Vermilion slim, the fire chose not to pick up his option meaning they determined he was not worth the option to buy from santos. He didn’t play much, I’m not surprised they opted to not pick up the option. When he did play he certainly didn’t light up the pitch

    Saying that I would have liked to see him get more chances. It’s not like those that were playing over him were lighting the league up as well. And it’s weird that yallop was so high on him and victor. Victor was loaned to Indy (good choice) and benji played very little.

    Hopefully benji finds a team to get pt consistently. It would be good for him to even be loaned out to a lower division just to find the pt. The lack of it is hurting his progression

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  5. Dear lord why do the Fire make it so hard to root for them.

    You’ve got an up and coming national team player and you don’t pick up the option?????

    Not using myself as the bellwhether here, but I live in Illinois, am a big soccer fan, and like MLS and have no desire in following the Fire…. shows you how bad that organization is.

    Honestly, the Indy 11 interest me more…. Yikes!

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    • The worst part was Yallop’s response, saying he wasnt fully healthy. Yet, Joya would be going 90mins with the U23. Similar to how Klopas treated Pineda: promising youth national teamer who did not get any minutes w/club. So frustrating.

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      • Hear me out but I think I figured out why Yallop did that. What if Yallop is telling the truth about Joya being hurt and declined the option so that he can tell the Earthquakes to bid for Benji’s services. Not only is Joya a good USA national team up and comer but he is a San Jose native and who wouldn’t want to play in front of friends and family?

      • Watched Pineda here in Indy. Apart from Kleberson, he was one of the few technical players the Indy Eleven had. He is going to be a great player.

        What do you expect from an English style manager in Yallop? Joya is not going to fit in Yallop’s crappy system. Not sure if he will fit into San Jose’s system either. A player like Pineda is going to struggle too.

        Get the English influence out of our game. Most important, get out of Chicago, it does not belong there.

    • Glad Vermilion Slim doesn’t work for the Fire FO. You’re telling me you’re going to pick up an option to BUY a young 21-year-old MIDFIELDER loanee from Santos Laguna, a midfielder roster that includes Rookie of the Year (probably) winner Harrison Shipp, and have to go through a protected XI that’s going to go through a dispersal draft AND an expansion draft??? Are you kidding me? As a rabid Fire fan, I’ve seen Joya play a lot, and he’s not even worth cracking the top 15. Let’s say the Fire did select his option to buy. Oops, dispersal draft and expansion draft comes – crap, Houston buys him. With 2 drafts, it only makes sense.

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      • Correction: not Houston, I meant either NYCFC and Orlando for Expansion Draft. You know either teams will take Joya. Also, dispersal draft: I’d rather get my hands for the Fire on some of that individual talent from Chivas than Joya.

  6. Argentina??? They pay very little and the competition with club-grown players is super intense with the added disadvantage of being foreign.

    Not wishing ill, but if it happens I’d be surprised he gets to even dress.

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    • If he can sign with a good team in Argentina, he should jump on the opportunity. He is young and Argentina’s clubs have a much better track record in developing young players than MLS does. You are right that the competition would be very intense, but so would be the case in any decent league. He he can play, they won’t hold him back simply because he is a foreigner.

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      • I agree; as if Argentina is short of talented players that they need to import talent from US. LOL

        Ask why Luis Hernandez ever played for Boca in the league matches. Not good enough, just made appearances in
        Copa Libertadores but never Argentine league.

    • well, for what it’s worth, the 2 guys from portland, valencia and other forward can’t remember his name are with tigres and olimpia both are playing pretty much every game. so is bengston with godoy cruz, on loan from the revolution. if he’s good enough, he’ll play.

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