Top Stories

Jordan Morris will extend trial at Werder Bremen

Jordan-Morris-Werder-Bremen-Getty-Images

After impressing in a recent trial with German club Werder Bremen, U.S. Men’s National Team forward Jordan Morris will extend his time with the team as it prepares to resume the 2015-16 Bundesliga campaign.

The 21-year old confirmed to Kreiszeitung that he will travel back to Germany on Saturday and continue training with the club.

“I will stay in Bremen for a few days. We’ll see what happens after that,” Morris said. “They are all very good lads. It’s always fun to play against strong players. I am happy and excited.”

Head coach Viktor Skripnik expressed his delight with the young American as well.

“On the first real day of training, the impressions are very positive,”Skripnik said observing Morris. “I am surprised in which great shape this young man from America is. And he’s got a good understanding of football, looks for open spaces.”

While any potential deal between Morris and Bremen would be speculative at this time, a move for the U.S. striker is seemingly in the cards. The Seattle Sounders, who hold the player’s rights, are eagerly awaiting Morris’ decision to become the highest Homegrown player in MLS history, although the Stanford product could still sign with the German club.

What do you think of this development? Is Werder Bremen the right fit for Morris?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. nice assist today. i think it’s a done deal he gives Germany a try. i’m sure MLS owners will complain about it and how the USMNT coaches are anti-MLS. as if a professional soccer player dreaming of playing in Europe is all JK’s fault.

    Reply
  2. The fact that Jordan is part of Seattle’s “Homegrown Academy” is a joke.
    His father is the Chief Medical Director for the team. He played for the Sounder youth team for 1 season. And now Seattle deserves rights for his development? Stupid.

    The great part about the Sounders offer for Jordan is that he can shop it to Werden. I bet that is what is going on. They liked what they saw, saw that he is a legit player and the extension is to further think about whether he is worth paying more than Seattle is offering.

    Reply
  3. My reading of this is that probably they’re not sure about the value of Morris , that’s why they’re requesting more time.

    Reply
  4. I really don’t care where Morris goes BUT I do think MLS should stop cooperating with Klinsmann so much if he continues to encourage our youngest players to go to Europe rather than MLS. His advice is not in the best interest of the league. I think that if Klinsmann is going to live here, work here and coach the NAT team, he should be more supportive of our domestic leagues. Morris would play a lot here. He may make the bench in Germany…maybe. If he doesn’t there where is the advantage? He’s been doing just fine so far without going overseas and would continue to do fine right here. This is one of the reasons we need an American coach… one that believes in the domestic product. JK is not that man

    Reply
    • This is the STUPIDEST comment on this thread. You do know that Bradley and Arena encouraged players to go abroad. Every coach wants their players playing at the highers level where they can be regular players even if that means a sub appearance every other game.

      You really need to understand that the USMNT and MLS or any other national team and domestic league have divergent interests. It might in the Eredivisie’s best interest for all the Dutch players to stay in the league, but it is in the players’ and national team’s interest for players to be playing on Champions League knock out stage caliber teams (if they play) — both monetarily and developmentally.

      Reply
  5. So what about the compensation factor like in the Yedlin case? If Morris signs for Werder, does Seattle see any compensation for this? Or I guess the question is “Will” Seattle get compensated and the MLS takes it all?

    No mention of that in the article or the comments yet

    Reply
  6. You guys are speaking as if Morris wants to play in Seattle, and our USMNT coaches are telling him he can’t. They’re not pageant moms, nor are they the dad from Varsity Blues.

    Let the kid play wherever he wants to play and be happy we have such a highly praised young player

    Reply
    • To be fair, you are right in that we don’t know for sure if he wants to play for Seattle, but that is what reports seem indicate, it is his hometown, and his dad works for the team. It’s not a crazy assumption to make. And of course, they are not telling him he can’t, but they certainly appear to steer him in that direction very strongly (Hertsog said so)

      Reply
      • Wouldn’t Seattle still retain his MLS rights if he went to Germany, thus allowing him to play for them if things didn’t work out in Europe. There are a lot of 21 year olds that don’t want to move back to their hometown and work for Dad’s company, but keep that as a backup if they struggle making their own way.

      • I actually don’t know if they would retain his rights. Can’t think of any examples. That being said, even if they do, retaining his rights (which would only matter if he ever came back to MLS) is not the same as signing him and having an asset that is worth several million (potentially)

      • Then again…. not at all a stretch to speculate that a highly motivated, independent 21 year old might want to spread his wings a bit… bust out of his hometown and the shadow of his old man.

        As for the influence of Herzog…. he is one in many… no better or worse… with an opinion/advise given through the lens of his own bias and self interest. Hopefully Morris has a good agent, sure his parents and his own judgement to guide him. No guarantees whatever path, but the young man…. er lad…. is blessed with some nice opportunities.

  7. I think it’s also fair to say the players at Bremen make more than $200k which is around what Morris would’ve made at Seattle I believe. You can’t take that out of the equation either.

    Reply
    • Definitely a fair point, but it’s not obvious either. People forget that EPL pay is on different level from everywhere else. There are players who get minutes for Barcelona main team making EUR 200k a year. Also, there are many teams in Serie A where the 10th best paid player makes EUR 200k or less and the bottom of the roster is EUR 80-90k. If Werder signs him with the idea of him being on their U23 or U21 team, I can easily see him not making more than what Seattle offered.

      Reply
      • Your be a little misleading from what I found, Sandro Ramirez is the only Barcelona player anywhere near 200,000 and he is by no means a regular, when Messi is healthy, and will likely be making over a million by the start of next year either through a transfer (14 million is about the asking price) or a renegotiated contract. If you look at recently promoted teams like you are talking about in Serie A of course they will have lower salaries as they haven’t had the TV revenue needed to support, Werder Bremen has been in the top flight for almost all of the last 40 years.

      • Yevgeniy,

        Except that the Bundesliga is the 2nd highest paying league in the world with an average salary of $2.3 million a year in a study done by Sportsmail. The article is in a December 2014 article in the Dailymail (I cannot post it or my message won’t post). Additionally, some of the listed Serie A (which is 4th or 5th in terms of pay) salaries people cite are actually POST-TAX. Not to mention that usually pay for your housing.

        While you might be right that there are some (very few) who make Eur 200k, but they are usually people straight from the reserve team or recently promoted teams (and near or at the bottom of the pay scale). Werder is MUCH better than that situation. If they see potential and take him on a flyer, I don’t see him making less than roughly Eur 600-800K/year. If they see him as an integral part of the team, he will be on 7 figures.

  8. I like how the article states that Morris would garner the highest homegrown contract ever…..the contract is apparently worth $200k per year!

    If Bremen want him, they are likely to pay multiples of what Seattle is talking about….

    Reply
  9. There’s no reason to believe that JK/Herzog acted against/in spite of Morris’ wishes. It’s just as plausible that Morris asked them for help/a placement and they found him one at a 1st tier club in what Fifa has ranked the best league in the world (with a fellow American striker on the roster, to boot). The only other places that could have been better might have been Dortmund, Stoke, Moenchengladbach. Otherwise, Werder makes a lot of sense.

    Seattle won’t like it if he leaves, but that’s the gig.

    Reply
    • Herzog gave an interview a few days ago on ESPNFC or GOAL (I forgot where exactly) where Andy stated that Werder has been tracking Jordan Morris for 6 months. He stated they first reached out to him to discuss Morris 6 months ago. This has a lot more to do with tracking a prospect for a long time than Andy forcing something.

      Reply
    • Ooh…I think I might know the answer to this one. I read the interview in German first, and they had “Jungs” in there. I suspect Morris said “guys”, which was probably translated to German as “Jungs,” which was then probably translated back into English as “lads” to capture the implied meaning of “Jungs” as referring to youngish dudes.

      Conclusion: It’s too soon to say that Morris has contracted Friedelitis, but we should nonetheless remain vigilant.

      Reply
  10. I know my opinion will not be very popular because most people will way that it’s obvious that playing for Werder is better than playing for Seattle. However, who knows what will end up being better. I think playing for Seattle for 2 years would be great for him. He has Dempsey and Martins to learn from. No offense, but Werder doesn’t have any forwards who have even been as good in their prime as those 2. And they are getting older + will be called up for their national teams (Dempsey will be away for a month). So, he is assured of some playing time.

    But it’s not even about Morris. This definitely stinks for Seattle. He was set to sign for them and they are trying their best to change his views and as a result, the league will lose an asset because he will go to Germany for free.

    Of course, in the meantime, the hypocrite’s own son who rightly or wrongly is a goalie for US U20 team is not going to Europe to “challenge himself” and playing in college.

    Reply
    • This is what people need to understand: Players don’t develop other players. Coaches do. Dempsey can only teach Morris how to play like Dempsey plays since that’s all he knows. A coach can teach a player how to play according to his strengths/ weaknesses.

      Reply
      • I think both players and coaches contribute to the development of players. In this case, I would rather Morris develop at Bremen…

      • Players certainly teach how to train, how handle yourself as a professional, and how to put in work outside normal hours to make yourself better.

    • In the real world terms of the sport, Seattle is not being hard done by any stretch of the imagination. In a literal or legal sense- Morris is not their property- they merely have a right to him should he choose to play inside the MLS bubble. That’s it. If MLS (and Seattle w/ the league) wants to be what they claim to be- world class- they first need to crawl out of their self imposed incubator.

      And I’ll add if it really is the players best interest you speak of…. you give Morris far too little credit in making decisions regarding his own life and career. He is armed with muuuuch more pertinent information about his own needs, the situations at both clubs and quite possibly a much higher IQ than the both of us.

      Reply
      • Very well said.MLS lost 20 years on development young players in this country.On professional club level development is poor.MLS have stupid rules which only hold this league back.Average player in MLS is way below good standards if you compare it to top european leagues.Talk is cheap Mr. Garber.They don’t have a chance to be one of the few top leagues in the world in another 20 years.

  11. Whether they sign him or not, always great to see young American players impressing, as Werder Bremen called him back. Usually, it’s just a quick trial/training, and then the player leaves. The guy is surely making an impression.

    Reply
  12. Jordan M and AJ develop a great striker partnership playing of each other, scoring and creating goals left and right. The chemistry they develop is transferred to the USMNT and we have a strong striker core and suddenly Jozy isn’t our only choice at forward, in fact we can now play a few different styles up top as Jozy presents a nice alternative to the 1-2 punch of the Werder duo.

    I love day dreaming.

    Reply
    • I’m holding out more hope for JM than AJ at this point. AJ is reaching the age where if he hasnt shown it yet, he’s probably not going to. IMO he’s going to be hard pressed to get to a level much above other leading US striker options we’ve had. Depth is nice, but having a legitimate high level threat, or two, is what we need.

      Reply
      • AJ just needs to stay healthy for a consistent period of time. There’s no rule that says a player won’t have anything to offer at a certain point or age. Some players are late bloomers or just something clicks and they raise their level when it counts…

      • “AJ is reaching the age where if he hasnt shown it yet, he’s probably not going to.”

        Dude is 25-26, has proved he can be a scoring threat in the Dutch league, earned a contract with a Bundisliga team, earned a starting spot with said team and was on the right track prior to his injury. Im not sure what you mean by hasn’t “shown” and to think he is done developing at his age is naïve. You should not be so quick to give up on players.

    • I’m right there with you on that sentiment. Here’s to hoping. Maybe if Jozy gets benched for a spell again, it’ll light a fire under him and lead to more productive performances out of him…

      Reply
    • If it hadn’t wasted time in NCAA soccer, he’d probably be an established pro somewhere at least as good as Bremen. Surely, playing super low level soccer against future lawyers and dentists in the PAC 12 is not the best preparation for big boy soccer.

      Reply
      • Maybe yes, maybe no. Everyone takes his own path. He got called up and played well with the USMNT while at Stanford. Not many 21 year old Americans getting signed by Bundesliga teams. If he ends up signing hard to say he made the wrong choice.

      • We’ll never know what would’ve happened had he turned pro earlier. It’s not that i think the NCAA ruins careers, I think it stunts development because the level of soccer is very low and players are only playing in the fall.

    • The NCAA severely limits how many games and how much practice time players in the various sports can participate in. When you are a pro, it is your job and that is basically all you do. And you compete against other pros, often who play at the same or higher level. This is why college soccer is never as good as playing professionally.

      Reply
  13. You have to wonder if Seattle would be mad enough to refuse to release Dempsey, Evans and everyone else to the USMNT going forward any time they have a right not to release them.

    Reply
    • Why? Because a player that never belonged to them decided to take a better option than playing for MLS? It doesn’t work like that in the adult world.

      Reply
      • This may or may not be a better option for Jordan (even time may or may not tell). However, it is certainly not what Seattle wants. If JK/Hertzog did not interfere, he would be signing with Seattle as we speak. Then, they could sell him to Werder in a year for several million if they wanted to. I know that as USMNT fan and an even bigger MLS hater, you love this, so I understand your reaction.

      • By the rules of the game, they do “own” him. They helped pay for this development, and own his rights in MLS. Seattle has invested money in him, not much, but non zero.

      • That’s what happened.Seattle is mad and they look like idiots.It’s up to the player to decide about his future.Every normal young guy wants to play for better team and better league than Sounders or MLS.People form Seattle and Gerber don’t have a clue.

      • He is not their only option, but a very good option nevertheless. They almost had/have him for $0 transfer fee, so it is an asset to them.

    • Slow, he is right in that Seattle has no reason to be upset?! I think you are better than that. Imagine for a moment that a year from now JK was convincing Miazga to go to Weder on a free transfer when he was about to sign a new long-term deal with NYRB. You don’t think NYRB (and you) would be upset?

      Reply
      • Ultimately it’s the player’s decision and I’m sure Miazga knows JK would prefer he played abroad. I’m resigned to losing Miazga and if he isn’t going to sign long-term, RBNY should sell him now or they’ll get nothing for him (after having developed him for years). Ideally, someone will buy him and loan him back for 2016 but I wouldn’t count on it.

      • It has been my observation that contracts are far from sacrosanct in the world of international soccer/football. Players force teams to sell them all the time. Seattle has far less claim on Morris than many other teams have had on other players who wanted to leave for greener pastures. And players who have no contract or are out of contract are free to go wherever they can get a contract, so Seattle really has no say, recourse, or reason to be upset if Morris decides to go elsewhere. This is the nature of the system.

    • I dunno, not sure exactly why Seattle thinks this is so unfair. My understanding was that Morris attended a 6 week camp there one time (correct me if wrong). I assume this is how they get his MLS rights, but he spent the last 3 years playing at Stanford, so it their program and coaches who deserve the most credit for his development (if anyone does). After Stanford, he spent big part of last year with the USMNT program and coaches, so they seem like #2 to me in his development.

      I’m not one who thinks every player is better off moving to Europe, and I wish very much for MLS to keep growing. But if there is anyone who can make the jump to the bundesliga, it is probably someone who can come straight from college and compete and score goals for the senior usmnt.

      Reply
      • I’ve asked this before and no one seems to be able to answer. If you are in the academy of an MLS team how much time are you actually spending, is it 2 hours a week, 10 hours, one Sunday a month?

    • Umm.. I think the next step would be:

      Develop and adequate scouting system as to identify and target a host of Kordan Morris-like talent..

      Create an adequate marketing/promotional strategy that draws high-level multi sport athletes to choose an association with tge ‘Sounders.’

      Use the Morris situation to encourage the league office to step up its scouting/promotion efforts to mimic those of the other major American sports leagues..

      Or..

      You could act like a b!$ch and blame the USMNT for an agressive approach by Werder Bremen.

      They didnt even have to put the guy on a plane

      Reply
      • Other American sports (at least basketball and football anyway) don’t need to do any scouting. They have a free development system in the NCAA. Now, playing college sports is far from optimal for development in any sport but it doesn’t matter in these sports since we are the only country that really takes these sports seriously anyway.

      • We aren’t any better at basketball as a country if there were some pro development outside of college. We are better at basketball because kids actually play it….like…..in their free time and stuff.

      • Actually I think we’re better at basketball because we are the only country where it’s played by a significant portion of the population. The AAU scene is where most elite kids hone their game and it’s quite structured. It’s a myth that the way to make great players in any sport is to just let them freestyle on the playground.

        People use Brazlian soccer as a supposed example of this but the Brazlian youth development system is highly structured, every bit as much as it is here. Now, of course, they’re doing different things than we are but they aren’t relying on kickabouts in the street to develop their top young players.

      • Thr idea that other professional franchise rely solely on the amateur draft is a joke..

        Regardless of the realities of ‘sabermetrics’ and armchair evaluations.. There are still many many many boots on the ground that both scout and promote the sport to any potential professional talent..

        Ginormous scouting budgets indicate this..

        The NFL is a machine.. So is the NHL and National gymnastics for that matter..

        They find people who perform..

        Apparently the poster above believes that MLS as a Competitive league should play a petty childlike blame game

        Sad

      • They may have scouts checking out amateur players but they don’t have the ability to just sign them. They have to go through the draft. Basketball and football players are developed through school sports (also AAU in the case of basketball) and the NCAA. MLS is developing a scouting/development system but it shouldn’t be based on what basketball and football do. That makes no sense. MLS is only 20 so expecting there to be systems in place comparable to leagues around the world that have been around 100+ years also makes no sense.

    • The MLS holds all player contracts and have already agreed to release MLS players for All FIFA dates and even those outside the calendar. Morris is an amateur until he signs a valid pro contract, Seattle only holds the MLS awarded right to sign Morris to an MLS contract and will receive no compensation should Morris sign for a club other than in the MLS. FIFA allows PRO teams to compensate academies for expense, time and effort, but it has nev er been adopted as a policy in the MLS, so why should teams outside the US honor it? So Seattle will get nothing except for the right to sign Morris for another 3 years

      Reply
  14. Does Seattle hold his rights, or merely his MLS rights?

    I read somewhere that if Bremen signed him, it would be on the free since he doesn’t have a professional contract yet.

    Reply
    • Seattle owns his rights should he choose to come back to MLS after 3 or so seasons because they made him a “bonafide offer”. In terms of compensation for development, FIFA has a clause that allows payment for development before 21, but MLS and USSF eschewed that when Tottenham tried to make a payment to Crossfire for the sale of Deandre Yedlin (in addition to or as part of the payment they were making for Yedlin’s fee). That may now bite them in derriere because there is no way for Seattle to get compensation for Morris, otherwise.

      The clause I am citing:

      ” ANNEXE 4 – Article 1 Objective
      A player’s training and education takes place between the ages of 12 and 23. Training compensation shall be payable, as a general rule, up to the age of 23 for training incurred up to the age of 21, unless it is evident that a player has already terminated his training period before the age of 21. In the latter case, training compensation shall be payable until the end of the season in which the player reaches the age of 23, but the calculation of the amount payable shall be based on the years between the age of 12 and the age when it is established that the player actually completed his training.

      2. The obligation to pay training compensation is without prejudice to any obligation to pay compensation for breach of contract

      Article 2 Payment of training compensation
      1. Training compensation is due when: (i) a player is registered for the first time as a professional; OR (ii) a professional is transferred between clubs of two different associations (whether during or at the end of his contract) before the end of the season of his 23rd birthday.”

      Reply

Leave a Comment