The new season is underway, so it’s time for a new thread!
I think it’s increasingly clear that we are on the cusp of an exciting era for the USMNT. The cohort of players born from 1998-2002 seems like the strongest generation we’ve had since at least the 1979-83 cohort (Donovan, Dempsey, Howard, Jones, Beasley, Onyewu, Bocanegra, Cherundolo, Beckerman, et al). It certainly has the potential to be the best American generation of all time when all is said and done and, frankly, I think that’s the most likely outcome.
There’s a lot of good young American talent abroad and in MLS, but the biggest stars are in Europe as one would expect. The 2020-21 season is one in which we’ll have more players in significant roles at huge clubs than ever before. Exciting times!
I'll start with an overview of the Big Five leagues and build out smaller leagues & academy kids later on. A lot of teams haven't confirmed their youth rosters yet, etc.
England
Premier League
GK Zack Steffen, 1995, Manchester City
RB DeAndre Yedlin, 1993, Newcastle United
CB Tim Ream, 1987, Fulham
CB Matt Miazga, 1995, Chelsea [candidate to be loaned/sold]
CB Cameron Carter-Vickers, 1997, Tottenham Hotspur [candidate to be loaned/sold]
LB Antonee Robinson, 1997, Fulham
AM Christian Pulisic, 1998, Chelsea
AM Indiana Vassilev, 2001, Aston Villa
Championship
RB Matthew Olosunde, 1998, Rotherham United
CB Giles Phillips, 1997, Wycombe Wanderers
CM Geoff Cameron, 1985, QPR
CM Duane Holmes, 1994, Derby County
League One
GK Duncan Turnbull, 1998, Portsmouth
RB Niall Mason, 1997, Peterborough United
RB Marlon Fossey, 1998, Shrewsbury Town (on loan from Fulham)
AM Lynden Gooch, 1995, Sunderland
AM Shane McLoughlin, 1997, AFC Wimbledon
FW Jordan Adebayo-Smith, 2001, Lincoln City
League Two
AM Vaughn Covil, 2003, Forest Green Rovers
FW Charlie Kelman, 2001, Southend United
For Americans, the EPL remains The Pulisic Show. Long may you stay healthy, Christian.
Antonee Robinson's move to Fulham is an important one for the USMNT left back position, which basically has no incumbents whatsoever. If he can win a starting job, it will go a long way towards shoring up a gaping hole for the US.
Steffen returns to Man City where he seems poised to be Ederson's backup. Hopefully he gets a few games along the way.
The chances of Yedlin leaving Newcastle seem to have decreased, but we'll see. Miazga definitely needs a move. CCV has been playing a bit for Spurs in preseason but it is unlikely that he'll stick around as a deep backup.
Other players worth noting: Vassilev got a few minutes for Villa last year; we'll see if he can build on that or whether he was just the beneficiary of some injuries. Holmes is a contender for a backup CM for the USMNT if he stays healthy and in form. It definitely wouldn't be shocking to see him on a B-team Gold Cup roster next summer. Owen Otasowie '01 is a CB/DM for Wolves U23 who is the likeliest EPL academy kid to break through this year; he even got into one Europa League game last year. Fossey was a nice U20 prospect who has been injured and could back on track while on loan. Kelman has had a variety of interest from bigger clubs; if he stays at just-relegated Southend hopefully he'll tear up League Two.
Germany
Bundesliga
RB Timothy Chandler, 1990, Eintracht Frankfurt
CB John Brooks, 1993, Wolfsburg
CB Chris Richards, 2000, Bayern Munich
CM Tyler Adams, 1999, RB Leipzig
AM Nick Taitague, 1999, Schalke
AM Gio Reyna, 2002, Borussia Dortmund
FW Josh Sargent, 2000, Werder Bremen
2.Bundesliga
CM Alfredo Morales, 1990, Fortuna Düsseldorf
AM Jann George, 1992, Jahn Regensburg
AM Julian Green, 1995, Greuther Fürth
AM Kevin Lankford, 1998, St. Pauli
FW Marc Heider, 1986, Osnabrück
FW Bobby Wood, 1992, Hamburg
3. Liga
CB Ryan Malone, 1992, Lübeck
AM Jalen Hawkins, 2001, Ingolstadt
FW Terrence Boyd, 1991, Hallescher FC
FW Justin Butler, 2001, Ingolstadt
Reyna's been on such a rocket ship of a career trajectory that it'll be really exciting to see what he pulls off this year. No moment seems to overwhelm him and BVB clearly like him very, very much. I hope Adams stays healthy and becomes an every game mainstay at CM.
This is a huge year for Josh Sargent, who had ups and downs on a bad Werder team. He won't get the best service and will need to do a bit more to help carry the team.
Nick Taitague is a well-regarded prospect who has always been injured. He's played very few games over the last two years for Schalke II, but the club like him enough to keep renewing his contract and now he has a first team number and is with the team in preseason. I think his first team status is partly a testament to his skill that he's in the mix despite missing most of two years, and partly due to Schalke's dumpster fire status where they are desperate for anyone who can help. In any case, here's hoping his body holds together and he makes the most of the opportunity. We could always use more attacking midfielders.
We hope that Uly Llanez will get his first team breakthrough this season. The winger looked good in his lone USMNT cap, and has been in some first team games in preseason, but it remains to be seen whether he'll start with the reserves.
I've also taken the liberty to list Chris Richards, who made his Bayern debut last year, but he may well end up in the reserves for most of the year, or on loan.
There are LOTS of prospects on Bundesliga reserve and U19 teams, so it wouldn't be surprising to see a couple more players emerge by the end of the season.
Italy
Serie A
CM Weston McKennie, 1998, Juventus (on loan from Schalke)
Serie B
FW Andrija Novakovich, 1996, Frosinone
Serie C
CM Gennaro Nigro, 2000, Potenza (on loan from Roma)
Juve! Wow. I've always liked McKennie, but I didn't expect this kind of move for him. It's exciting, and even if you worry that he's bitten off more than he can chew, at the end of the day ambitious players are going to be ambitious and we just have to let them take a crack at it. The good news is that the loan seems to be an accounting quirk, as reportedly it will become permanent if Juve qualify for the Champions League — not exactly a high bar for them. If so, it's a good sign that Juve are spending something in the range of €20m on him because it shows they're not just taking a flyer on him.
Spain
Segunda Division
RB Shaquell Moore, 1996, Tenerife
AM Josh Perez, 1998, Castellón
Segunda Division B
GK Victor Vidal, 1999, Lleida
CM Armando Shashoua, 2000, Atlético Baleares
We've never had many players in Spain and right now there's no one in La Liga. Shaq Moore had a nice season last year, but it's hard to see him as more than a fringe USMNTer. Konrad de la Fuente, the '01 winger with Barcelona, is the best hope for a player in La Liga, but obviously that's a very difficult lift and Konrad hasn't even played much for Barça B yet.
France
Ligue 1
AM Timothy Weah, 2000, Lille
FW Jordan Siebatcheu, 1996, Rennes
Ligue 2
FW Nicholas Gioacchini, 2000, Caen
FW Patrick Koffi, 2001, Paris FC
Weah is back as of this weekend!
Siebatcheu was a relatively big-money buy for Rennes who has been a bust. It seems like he's totally out of their plans now (he hasn't played in preseason) and hopefully he moves. He had some hopes of being involved with French YNTs a some point, but that's past now and it's not clear that he'll be US quality either.
Gioacchini had a breakout season last year and if he's able to improve on that in year two there will be bigger clubs calling.
I think it’s increasingly clear that we are on the cusp of an exciting era for the USMNT. The cohort of players born from 1998-2002 seems like the strongest generation we’ve had since at least the 1979-83 cohort (Donovan, Dempsey, Howard, Jones, Beasley, Onyewu, Bocanegra, Cherundolo, Beckerman, et al). It certainly has the potential to be the best American generation of all time when all is said and done and, frankly, I think that’s the most likely outcome.
There’s a lot of good young American talent abroad and in MLS, but the biggest stars are in Europe as one would expect. The 2020-21 season is one in which we’ll have more players in significant roles at huge clubs than ever before. Exciting times!
I'll start with an overview of the Big Five leagues and build out smaller leagues & academy kids later on. A lot of teams haven't confirmed their youth rosters yet, etc.
England
Premier League
GK Zack Steffen, 1995, Manchester City
RB DeAndre Yedlin, 1993, Newcastle United
CB Tim Ream, 1987, Fulham
CB Matt Miazga, 1995, Chelsea [candidate to be loaned/sold]
CB Cameron Carter-Vickers, 1997, Tottenham Hotspur [candidate to be loaned/sold]
LB Antonee Robinson, 1997, Fulham
AM Christian Pulisic, 1998, Chelsea
AM Indiana Vassilev, 2001, Aston Villa
Championship
RB Matthew Olosunde, 1998, Rotherham United
CB Giles Phillips, 1997, Wycombe Wanderers
CM Geoff Cameron, 1985, QPR
CM Duane Holmes, 1994, Derby County
League One
GK Duncan Turnbull, 1998, Portsmouth
RB Niall Mason, 1997, Peterborough United
RB Marlon Fossey, 1998, Shrewsbury Town (on loan from Fulham)
AM Lynden Gooch, 1995, Sunderland
AM Shane McLoughlin, 1997, AFC Wimbledon
FW Jordan Adebayo-Smith, 2001, Lincoln City
League Two
AM Vaughn Covil, 2003, Forest Green Rovers
FW Charlie Kelman, 2001, Southend United
For Americans, the EPL remains The Pulisic Show. Long may you stay healthy, Christian.
Antonee Robinson's move to Fulham is an important one for the USMNT left back position, which basically has no incumbents whatsoever. If he can win a starting job, it will go a long way towards shoring up a gaping hole for the US.
Steffen returns to Man City where he seems poised to be Ederson's backup. Hopefully he gets a few games along the way.
The chances of Yedlin leaving Newcastle seem to have decreased, but we'll see. Miazga definitely needs a move. CCV has been playing a bit for Spurs in preseason but it is unlikely that he'll stick around as a deep backup.
Other players worth noting: Vassilev got a few minutes for Villa last year; we'll see if he can build on that or whether he was just the beneficiary of some injuries. Holmes is a contender for a backup CM for the USMNT if he stays healthy and in form. It definitely wouldn't be shocking to see him on a B-team Gold Cup roster next summer. Owen Otasowie '01 is a CB/DM for Wolves U23 who is the likeliest EPL academy kid to break through this year; he even got into one Europa League game last year. Fossey was a nice U20 prospect who has been injured and could back on track while on loan. Kelman has had a variety of interest from bigger clubs; if he stays at just-relegated Southend hopefully he'll tear up League Two.
Germany
Bundesliga
RB Timothy Chandler, 1990, Eintracht Frankfurt
CB John Brooks, 1993, Wolfsburg
CB Chris Richards, 2000, Bayern Munich
CM Tyler Adams, 1999, RB Leipzig
AM Nick Taitague, 1999, Schalke
AM Gio Reyna, 2002, Borussia Dortmund
FW Josh Sargent, 2000, Werder Bremen
2.Bundesliga
CM Alfredo Morales, 1990, Fortuna Düsseldorf
AM Jann George, 1992, Jahn Regensburg
AM Julian Green, 1995, Greuther Fürth
AM Kevin Lankford, 1998, St. Pauli
FW Marc Heider, 1986, Osnabrück
FW Bobby Wood, 1992, Hamburg
3. Liga
CB Ryan Malone, 1992, Lübeck
AM Jalen Hawkins, 2001, Ingolstadt
FW Terrence Boyd, 1991, Hallescher FC
FW Justin Butler, 2001, Ingolstadt
Reyna's been on such a rocket ship of a career trajectory that it'll be really exciting to see what he pulls off this year. No moment seems to overwhelm him and BVB clearly like him very, very much. I hope Adams stays healthy and becomes an every game mainstay at CM.
This is a huge year for Josh Sargent, who had ups and downs on a bad Werder team. He won't get the best service and will need to do a bit more to help carry the team.
Nick Taitague is a well-regarded prospect who has always been injured. He's played very few games over the last two years for Schalke II, but the club like him enough to keep renewing his contract and now he has a first team number and is with the team in preseason. I think his first team status is partly a testament to his skill that he's in the mix despite missing most of two years, and partly due to Schalke's dumpster fire status where they are desperate for anyone who can help. In any case, here's hoping his body holds together and he makes the most of the opportunity. We could always use more attacking midfielders.
We hope that Uly Llanez will get his first team breakthrough this season. The winger looked good in his lone USMNT cap, and has been in some first team games in preseason, but it remains to be seen whether he'll start with the reserves.
I've also taken the liberty to list Chris Richards, who made his Bayern debut last year, but he may well end up in the reserves for most of the year, or on loan.
There are LOTS of prospects on Bundesliga reserve and U19 teams, so it wouldn't be surprising to see a couple more players emerge by the end of the season.
Italy
Serie A
CM Weston McKennie, 1998, Juventus (on loan from Schalke)
Serie B
FW Andrija Novakovich, 1996, Frosinone
Serie C
CM Gennaro Nigro, 2000, Potenza (on loan from Roma)
Juve! Wow. I've always liked McKennie, but I didn't expect this kind of move for him. It's exciting, and even if you worry that he's bitten off more than he can chew, at the end of the day ambitious players are going to be ambitious and we just have to let them take a crack at it. The good news is that the loan seems to be an accounting quirk, as reportedly it will become permanent if Juve qualify for the Champions League — not exactly a high bar for them. If so, it's a good sign that Juve are spending something in the range of €20m on him because it shows they're not just taking a flyer on him.
Spain
Segunda Division
RB Shaquell Moore, 1996, Tenerife
AM Josh Perez, 1998, Castellón
Segunda Division B
GK Victor Vidal, 1999, Lleida
CM Armando Shashoua, 2000, Atlético Baleares
We've never had many players in Spain and right now there's no one in La Liga. Shaq Moore had a nice season last year, but it's hard to see him as more than a fringe USMNTer. Konrad de la Fuente, the '01 winger with Barcelona, is the best hope for a player in La Liga, but obviously that's a very difficult lift and Konrad hasn't even played much for Barça B yet.
France
Ligue 1
AM Timothy Weah, 2000, Lille
FW Jordan Siebatcheu, 1996, Rennes
Ligue 2
FW Nicholas Gioacchini, 2000, Caen
FW Patrick Koffi, 2001, Paris FC
Weah is back as of this weekend!
Siebatcheu was a relatively big-money buy for Rennes who has been a bust. It seems like he's totally out of their plans now (he hasn't played in preseason) and hopefully he moves. He had some hopes of being involved with French YNTs a some point, but that's past now and it's not clear that he'll be US quality either.
Gioacchini had a breakout season last year and if he's able to improve on that in year two there will be bigger clubs calling.