By Andrew Rogers

This time last year when sat in my London home, I thought I’d hit a jackpot of sorts, as a football writer with a niche in U.S players based in Europe. I was loving the fact that, every other day another American was being linked with the English Premier League.

However, this year I’m starting to wonder if MLS is heading for a “talent crunch” of sorts. The pickings are meager, in fact it’s worse than that, there is now a U.S talent deficit in the EPL because goal keepers don’t count.

In England the goalkeeper is by definition the worst athlete on the team. At school level they are determined by poor ability, a lack of social influence and gullibility in giving up the right to shoot and dribble, in return for having the ball blasted at their face on miserable English winter days.

They are accepted as part of the team because they are prepared to endure, and are spared some dignity because they would rather slave in sporting heaven, than exist as citizen’s in the Hades of lower talent sports like rugby, rowing and athletics.

U.S soccer has forged an excellent reputation for producing footballers for the lowest caste in the profession, but this season there is a dearth of outfield players in the Premier League. The reason for this is they have been benched, transferred or relegated.

Unfortunately for the U.S outfield player, the novelty of hard work and professionalism has faded in England’s top flight, and the current crop of defenders and play makers have not been considered good enough. Clint Dempsey despite starting last season strongly and looking comfortable has not found favour with Roy Hodgson.

Eddie Johnson, has been told he might find life easier in the Championship, which incidentally he hasn’t, Benny Feilhaber was dismissed by Paul Jewel on first glance, and Johann Smith, failed to cut out a career in the lower leagues.

Furthermore MLS’s leading lights, Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu were deemed not sufficiently promising by any of England’s top clubs, or by the European clubs they have moved to.

The players, which ever way you look at it are decent, and MLS has done a good job in producing them, but what has happened while U.S soccer has progressed to developing talent, is the game in England has moved on at a startling rate.

In 2006 Manchester City where taking a serious look at DaMarcus Beasley, last week their new owner Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan smashed the British transfer record on the same day he purchased the club - when he secured Brazilian winger Robinho. 

The impact of Sheikh Mansour is astonishing, for the last 5 years Roman Abramovich has dominated the Chairman scene like no other in the history of the game, on the last day of the transfer window he was swept aside without a moments thought.

The Chelsea owner may intimidate some with his cool $15 billion in the bank, but Sheikh Mansour and his relations would not lose any sleep over his wealth, given the Al Nahyan family is supposedly worth over $1 trillion!!

This pushed to put a winning team on the pitch at any cost neatly brings me back to MLS’s export of players. When Sheikh Mansour turns up in Manchester, to see his middle ranking Premier League club, on his diamond entrusted Boeing business jet with his wife Sheikha Manal bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.

It would be reasonable to suggest they will not be expecting to watch, hard working professionals pass the ball sideways, rather they will expect to see, 11 Ronaldo’s and a manager who makes Jose Mourinho seem dour and pedantic.   

MLS has done a great job thus far on all fronts. A good MLS player can now transfer to a Championship club and make a better living than in MLS, but the Premier League marches furiously on by the day.

Middle to low ranking clubs like Sunderland forked out $16 million for rising talent Anton Ferdinand, Bolton shelled out a cool $20 million on Johan Elmander, and Stoke found $10 million to invest in proven EPL talent Dave Kitson.

The scale of the finance and ambitions of these clubs, mean the talent now has to be eye wateringly good, and belief has to be suspended by their skills. This is the chasm MLS is looking to close and in securing David Beckham have pulled off a master stroke.

MLS players now have role model who was the man clubs’ would willingly shower in cold hard cash for the privilege of wearing their team’s colours. He won every trophy on offer and made a number of big plays in the clutch domestically and on the international scene. 

MLS players likely to meet that kind of criteria need to be recognized in the 7-11 yr old bracket. Unfortunately the elite clubs and the national set ups don’t have too much access to this talent unlike Europe. 

It will be 3-5 years before MLS players are being spoken about in Arabian Royal Courts, but there is hope. Every time the former England Captain steps out in the L.A Galaxy shirt, tomorrow’s talent know they have a shot of being like Beckham.

Andrew Rogers can be reached at andrewrogers@optonline.net

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Has the level of U.S. talent dropped off over the past couple of years?  Why are more players not getting a closer look at Premier League teams?  Send your emails to Soccer 365 by CLICKING HERE.

READER FEEDBACK

Andrew,
 
Your article on the dearth of top US talent hits the nail on the head,  good work

Orlando, FLA

I think that Johnson made himself a no show for Fulham, I see him on the bench at Cardiff, unless he turns it around.

Unfortunately Dempsey is next, none have the killer instinct they used to have.
 
Ray D