This video got me thinking about potential and how we evaluate young prospects.
It seems pretty clear from watching the highlights of one game that this 16 year old is something special. I can’t say for sure how much my hindsight is weighing in on that opinion though.
When I’m trying to be objective and view it as though I don’t know what he becomes, I can see some flaws!
“This young player appears to have one foot, and relies on the same move over and over to get past defenders, and there are alarmingly no defensive highlights.
Sure he has burst, balance, touch, and vision, but until he gets a right foot, learns to play defense, and expands his bag of dribbling tricks, he’ll never make it as a pro in the Top 4.”
One thing you see in both of these highlights, that I’ve yet to mention. . .
Messi stays on his feet as best he can in his mid-teens, and late-twenties!
He has a drive to make beautiful things happen, even though he’s a beast at direct free kicks, he stays upright around the box even in dire straights because he knows he has the ability to create something out of nothing.
Adu was our closest player to this 16 year old prospect, but he never had the right mindset. His InstaGram is still mostly all pictures of himself.
He is just incredible. I remember clearly the first time I ever saw him. I was watching a US youth team in the world cup. I think it was U-19. In their first game the US played Argentina and did very well in the first half, they were actually playing them about even. I think the US might have even gone ahead in the first half 1-0. About 10 minutes into the second half Argentina brought on Messi, whom I had never heard of (he hadn’t yet made the Barcelona first team). The announcers were aware of him, though and right away you could see he was special. It was like everyone else was wearing cement boots and running in sand while Messi was in regular soccer shoes on grass. The US was lucky and managed to come out of the game with a draw and it was the only game that Argentina didn’t win that whole youth World Cup.The amazing thing was why the Argentina coach waited until the second half to play Messi.
“The amazing thing was why the Argentina coach waited until the second half to play Messi”
The general consensus is that you could really hurt a player’s development if you put them in situations they’re not mentally or physically ready for. Patience is key.
Looking straight and Adu and Julian Green on this.
Almost as good as me.
This video got me thinking about potential and how we evaluate young prospects.
It seems pretty clear from watching the highlights of one game that this 16 year old is something special. I can’t say for sure how much my hindsight is weighing in on that opinion though.
When I’m trying to be objective and view it as though I don’t know what he becomes, I can see some flaws!
“This young player appears to have one foot, and relies on the same move over and over to get past defenders, and there are alarmingly no defensive highlights.
Sure he has burst, balance, touch, and vision, but until he gets a right foot, learns to play defense, and expands his bag of dribbling tricks, he’ll never make it as a pro in the Top 4.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lKDfoI0xjs
One thing you see in both of these highlights, that I’ve yet to mention. . .
Messi stays on his feet as best he can in his mid-teens, and late-twenties!
He has a drive to make beautiful things happen, even though he’s a beast at direct free kicks, he stays upright around the box even in dire straights because he knows he has the ability to create something out of nothing.
Adu was our closest player to this 16 year old prospect, but he never had the right mindset. His InstaGram is still mostly all pictures of himself.
In my professional opinion: that guy projects pretty highly.
nah, way too small–he’ll never last in the big leagues.
He is just incredible. I remember clearly the first time I ever saw him. I was watching a US youth team in the world cup. I think it was U-19. In their first game the US played Argentina and did very well in the first half, they were actually playing them about even. I think the US might have even gone ahead in the first half 1-0. About 10 minutes into the second half Argentina brought on Messi, whom I had never heard of (he hadn’t yet made the Barcelona first team). The announcers were aware of him, though and right away you could see he was special. It was like everyone else was wearing cement boots and running in sand while Messi was in regular soccer shoes on grass. The US was lucky and managed to come out of the game with a draw and it was the only game that Argentina didn’t win that whole youth World Cup.The amazing thing was why the Argentina coach waited until the second half to play Messi.
“The amazing thing was why the Argentina coach waited until the second half to play Messi”
The general consensus is that you could really hurt a player’s development if you put them in situations they’re not mentally or physically ready for. Patience is key.
Looking straight and Adu and Julian Green on this.