Ricardo Pepi’s impressive loan spell in the Dutch Eredivisie has not only been beneficial to FC Groningen but has also reportedly garnered interest from one of the division’s top clubs.
PSV is targeting Pepi for a potential transfer to Eindhoven this summer, Dutch outlet Voetbal International reported Thursday. Former U.S. men’s national team sporting director Earnie Stewart recently joined PSV’s front office and is familiar with Pepi due to his time in the U.S. Soccer program.
Pepi, 20, has scored 10 goals in all competitions for FC Groningen, with nine of those coming in Eredivisie action. The FC Augsburg loanee failed to make an impact in the German Bundesliga last season, but has followed that up with a bounce-back campaign in Holland.
A former FC Dallas academy product, Pepi scored 16 goals in 59 MLS appearances with FC Dallas before moving to Augsburg in January 2022. Pepi made four appearances for Augsburg last summer before earning a loan move to Groningen for continued playing time and development.
Pepi’s contract with FC Augsburg is set to run until June 2026.
Pepi was not part of the USMNT’s 2022 World Cup squad last fall but currently is with Anthony Hudson’s squad in Orlando ahead of Friday’s Concacaf Nations League match against Grenada.
FC Groningen is currently 17th in the 18-team Eredivisie table with 17 points earned through 26 league matches. PSV sits third in the table, eight points behind league-leaders Feyenoord.
Bundesliga was undoubtedly going to be a competitive challenge and culture shock for Pepi- but I don’t think a lower table team there is absolutely above his level. However- making the move mid-season to an abysmal club absolutely devoid of service- offensive ambition… on the razors edge in relegation battle heightened these challenges exponentially. Add to that the pressures of the immense fee… dude was definitely was NOT set up for success.
my deal is we know “holland” works, why mess with the formula. we also know the german move ended his world cup chance. why are we gonna double down? because germany is impressive on a resume? because people imagine it rubs off even when his treatment says it didn’t? because the fanboys want to vicariously live through him in a league seen as a bigger thing with a wider tv deal? to me the fanboys get emotional — all invested in us being all over the big 5 leagues — not rational and like what helps this player now.
i’m not saying he can’t come back like landon — established as a NT and club player later in his 20s. what he needs right now is slow and steady, find someplace that will start him and where he starts. he finally got back with the NT after being left off for qatar. why on earth do you mess with that?
i do think the one thing people are forgetting is this is a loan. they are going to have some degree of control in how this comes out. i don’t think they really want him back but it’s a question of does he get loaned again or sold, and to where. the tension on that is that usually a smaller club where he would have a better chance has less to spend while a bigger club with more to spend probably has redundant options and no guarantees. the fanboys always seem to miss there is often some other equally interesting prospect in that position already.
We’re all aware of the rich history of offensive talent developed in Holland- it is a great place for him to develop. Not that he or anyone cares, but I think it smart place for him stay. Was just making the point that there’s much more to the picture than the league it happens in, many factors a player and agent ought to consider, plenty of reasons Pepi had a hard time at Augsburg that had nothing to do with it being Bundesliga. The outlandish $$$$ thrown his way obscured putting him in the best place for his long-term development. That huge fee will unfortunately come with a price… immensely limit his opportunities.
PSV would be a good step up for Pepi
So wherever Pepi lands next season for good or bad, he’s playing in an important tournament for the US.
Copa America starts June 13 and end’s July 14.
Olympics start July 26 and
end’s August 11. I hope Dike, Sargent, Pefok go to Copa and Pepi, Hoppe, and Figueroa get selected for the Olympics. …then that leaves Haji, Vasquez, Ebobisse, J Mo, Yapi, and a player who catches fire that comes out of nowhere to fight for position in one of these tournament. We never had this many options or choices at the CF position. Pick 3! If they start scoring for their clubs, the chances they’ll score for the US decreases. Club stars do not make good international stars. Ronaldo & Messi are special. The rest of the world is closer to James Rodriguez of Colombia, or Ruidiaz of Peru. Jozy Altidore or Guillermo Ochoa for the CONCACAF region. Wout Weghorst and Spinazzola of Europe. Examples of players who play better in tournaments/ internationally for their country than for their clubs. The biggest reason why I think rotating players at a 70/20 or 60/30 split is necessary until you find a visible pecking order. Every competitive country has this except the USA. Pepi just has to continue forward.
you’re expressing in a different, prescriptive way what i have been saying. instead of racing to annoint players as The Starter, based on statistics (or worse, a streak — when’s the last time hoppe did anything since his one streak), spend the first part of the cycle identifying players who might be the level, spend some time after that having the players who play best in our games rotate and compete for the job, and only settle on a proven winner at the end. not sure why we are trying so hard to avoid “friedel vs keller.” personally i think part of it is in the 2000s and 2010s USSF switched to marketing individual players hard, and as of klinsi we became obsessed with winning every game we played and being snobby about player resumes.
to me the cart has been put before the horse. i thought it was a joke we never arrived at a proven 9 last cycle, and when you think about how many caps they gave zardes, steffen, or pepi to then leave them off completely, quit picking the starters off spreadsheets before they play games. people knock my experiments but the idea is to figure out who plays well in red white blue. then make a team from guys who play well in NT jerseys instead of because you hope their streaky form continues. as you say there is some history of twellmans and wondos who were league number spreadsheet monsters but useless above a C team international game. and that all is setting aside this isn’t an all star team for snob favorites, if you have a system in mind you should tailor the players to it.
personally i think part of the reason we are revisiting these basic lessons is we hired a complete international novice coach, we lost the institutional knowledge of how international soccer really works, and so we have to relearn basic lessons like “international soccer is often quite physical” or “sometimes league stars are no good as international players.” basic stuff, really, for anyone who’s watched for decades but perhaps surprising to this era’s spreadsheet analysts. personally i think the pendulum has gone too far that way and it’s time to get back to using your eyes and more emphasis on “scouting” as in is the player actually talented and what do they offer.
“If they start scoring for their clubs, the chances they’ll score for the US decreases. Club stars do not make good international stars. Ronaldo & Messi are special. ”
That’s debatable.
Your international team is often very different ( tactics, players, manager) from your club team.
Sometimes what fits in well with your club ( where you have a lot more practice time to make it fit) doesn’t always fit in with your country.
If you research Messi’s scoring record you’ll find that for some time he scored at about half the rate for Argentina as he did for Barca. That should surprise no one.
Of course that just meant he went from otherworldy to just superstar level.
As Argentina became less of a cluster, Leo’s scoring rate got better. You can look it up.
Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane and Lewandoski, just to name a few, are club stars. So were Clint and Landon.
“Examples of players who play better in tournaments/ internationally for their country than for their clubs. ”
You mean like Pulisic?
Competition is tough at his club so he doesn’t play as much as he does for the USMNT where his competition is non- existent .
And the teams and players the USMNT plays against are far weaker than what Chelsea faces, Christian playing better for the USMNT than he does for Chelsea is to be expected.
“The biggest reason why I think rotating players at a 70/20 or 60/30 split is necessary until you find a visible pecking order. Every competitive country has this except the USA ”
We’re not really “competitive”.
Now that Gregg has left us with more of a solid core that we can build on I would expect a better competition between candidates. That competition should heat up even more when Gregg gets back or they name some other person as manager.
I feel like PSV and Ajax have any striker in the Eredivisie on their radar. I don’t see PSV paying Augsburg 20 million nor do I see Augsburg taking a loss on Pepi this early in the deal so another loan would be the only way it makes sense to me. PSV has only spent more than 10 million 4 times in the last 6 years and only Lozano did they sell for a profit.
lemme put it differently — most of these dutch teams are selling teams. develop, play, sell. known for their academies. ajax, in recent years most transfers are under 10m euros and they max out at about 16 or 17m, with a couple exceptions. PSV is even lower, 5 guys ever over 10m euros, highest of 14m. their sporting and financial models are scout well, teach well, buy low, sell high. lozano exemplifies how they want to operate.
what i see pepi up against is what many of these kids the fanboys urge towards elite leagues hit. if you don’t play. if you end up loaned. you are an expensive signing. those leagues value even their bench and loan players high. but to see the field they have to loan you down. teams weak enough that can field our players on loan may not be able to afford them in purchase, or may be picky who gets that reward. weah couldn’t get permanent at celtic!
this is one reason i push for “sign smart.” calibrate your choice and land someplace that wants you to start there. if you are signed as an asset or they turn out to like someone else, you can get in “loan hell” where if you play well the signing team can’t afford you, and if you have a rough time you’re on another loan next season. so rather than play that game, dial down the ambition ever slightly, cut out the middleman and go straight to the level club that actually wants to play you. you control that most at the outset on your first transfer. after that, after they own your contract, augsburg says when you leave, to where, and for how much. even if it goes well at gronigen, even if PSV would be interested at a cheap price. because the first move set your market for a while.
the one wrinkle is if his salary is high or augsburg gets relegated, then they may need to just offload salary. at any price. but if they are safe or his contract isn’t crippling, they can wait this out. chelsea waits out players for half a decade…….so maybe don’t sign these places unless you’re sure.
The issue for a guy like Pepi is does FCD sell him if it’s only 5 million to Feyenoord? Like ATL isn’t going to sell Wiley for I’m guessing under 10 million so now there’s not many teams outside Top 5 league that is going to pay for you.
“scoring regularly next season in the Bundesliga means more.”
Means more to who? Big clubs who buy forwards?
Name me that last halfway decent player Augsburg sold to a bigger club. I can’t think of any.
In the recent past, by comparison PSV has sold:
Hirving Lozano Right Winger €45.00m
Cody Gakpo Left Winger €42.00m
Noni Madueke Right Winger €35.00m
Memphis Depay Centre-Forward €34.00m
Even if you include Hirving,those guys are not shabby.
Pepi should go where he feels most comfortable and where he’ll score more, If that’s PSV I don’t see it as a problem.
The key is finding a place where the kid can develop and not be too quickly pigeonholed into a certain club’s stereotypical needs at the moment. My mpression is that a move to PSV (or Ajax), would be great and another step in a developmental process, even for a team the usually at the top of the Dutch league – can’t spell Eredivisie and won’t look it up for posting purposes.
Not only will PSV continue to develop Pepi, there are continental competitions. This would be unlike some EPL teams who in the past have wanted a big, strong hold-up forward — like those who turned poor Jozy into the anti-score forward.
I truly hope that the US gets a player with quality who can be a scoring forward on the international stage. Maybe it is Pepi.
PSV would have to pay a significant sum to Augsburg. Augsburg top brass have stated they want Pepi back for next season. Augsburg is currently not in a relegation battle. I am torn because no doubt it would be cool to see Pepi with PSV, but the Bundesliga is a higher standard. Staying with Augsburg and scoring regularly next season in the Bundesliga means more.
“scoring regularly next season in the Bundesliga means more.”
Means more to who? Big clubs who buy forwards?
Name me that last halfway decent player Augsburg sold to a bigger club. I can’t think of any.
In the recent past, by comparison PSV has sold:
Hirving Lozano Right Winger €45.00m
Cody Gakpo Left Winger €42.00m
Noni Madueke Right Winger €35.00m
Memphis Depay Centre-Forward €34.00m
Even if you include Hirving,those guys are not shabby.
Pepi should go where he feels most comfortable and where he’ll score more, If that’s PSV I don’t see it as a problem.
it’s usually (though not always) contradictory to act like you want back a player who you currently could care sufficiently little about they are on loan. that to me often signals, we expect you to pay up. you cannot take such things at face value, especially when he generally rotted in germany.
the idea his best move is back to the league that got him dropped off the NT for the world cup, is laughable and self-refuting. he just unscrewed his career and you want him someplace cross-threaded again?
Last I looked Augsburg has no obligation to sell him. If they do then cool. Good for him. Regardless of where he is at next season he “the player” has to produce on the field.
Also just because he gets sold to PSV does not guarantee success for him. So it comes down to how PSV sees him in their set up, how Augsburg may see him for next season and him and his agents making the right choice.
Augsburg sent him on loan to get more European experience, and then to come back and do good things for the club who paid a substantial transfer for him. Now if Augsburg are ok with selling him then it’s going to take a significant transfer fee from PSV for Augsburg to sell. We are talking about probably a 25 to 30 million dollar transfer fee. Eredivisie teams are not known to pay that price. Even the big three don’t pay those type of transfer fees. Ajax scouted Pepi hard and pulled out of the race to sign him because they weren’t going to pay the asking price Dallas had set.
You all act like Augsburg are just going to let him leave to PSV for Pennie’s. He is under contract until 2026.
Probably a good move for him. I honestly thought that moving to the Bundesliga so young – especially for a striker who isn’t fully developed yet – was an iffy move for Pepi. They rough you up in the B1, like, a lot…it’s probably as physical as England is. Augsburg also is a borderline B1 team that spends most of its time in the B2 and the service just was never going to be there for him, especially with the, uhm, “highly negative” (to put it politely) tactics that Augsburg uses. Pepi would have to be patient, cold-blooded, and clinical to succeed in those circumstances and those aren’t usually a young man’s assets. (Which is why I was never quite sure why Augsburg went on him. Did they think they were getting a ready-out-of-the-box striker at age 19? Really?)
But moving to the far more open Dutch league is a very good step up from MLS, it gets you used to Europe and to living abroad, and moving from a team at the bottom of the Eredevisie to one at the top in half a season ain’t bad progress at all if it happens for him. I’d always figured Pepi was going to be a guy who really didn’t peak until his mid-20’s anyhow and then probably plays for a good long while after that; his game isn’t really speed-based (unlike the pacey guys who taper off by 30) and the more he fills out and the better his understanding and movement get, the better and more clinical he’s going to get. He’s certainly not Didier Drogba yet (and probably doesn’t have that kind of potential, how many Didier Drogbas are there really?) but he is a striker in the same mold…kind of a lanky skinny kid with a very high soccer IQ who can score any which way and has a nose for the goal, and like Drogba did he’s likely going to grow into his frame and his game and peak a little later than the young phenoms do.