USMNT Snubs Ricardo Pepi, Zack Steffen Show Leaving MLS For Europe Can Backfire

There’s a general consensus that the best young American MLS players should try to test themselves at the top levels of the European game if they have the opportunity. Where there is less agreement is just how eager those prospects should be to take any European offer at the expense of waiting for one that will offer a better long-term fit.

And Wednesday’s announcement of manager Gregg Berhalter’s 26-player U.S. men’s national team World Cup squad — and particularly the omission of striker Ricardo Pepi and goalkeeper Zack Steffen — may influence future young MLS talents to be pickier about when and how they make the move.

While it’s impossible to say either Pepi or Steffen would be heading to the 2022 tournament in Qatar if they’d stayed in MLS, it’s almost certain their paths since leaving have not contributed positively to their chances. And in both players’ cases, the obstacles they faced to continuing to develop as players were predictable before their European moves became official.

When Steffen left the Columbus Crew for Manchester City after winning the 2019 MLS Cup, Ederson had been established as City’s No. 1 goalkeeper for two-and-a-half seasons. It was already apparent Steffen would have to gain his first playing time on a loan assignment, which he did at Eintracht Frankfurt in the German Bundesliga.

None of those factors played into the recurring injury issues he has faced in that time. But he faced a lack of playing time regardless of his health when he returned to City for the 2021-2022 season. And he appeared to clearly suffer from it in his outings for the U.S. national team during international breaks or his occasional starts in a City shirt in cup competitions.

His jarring error for City in a 4-1 FA Cup semifinal defeat to Liverpool in April may have ended his time at a club that are defending back-to-back Premier League titles. He’s officially still on the City payroll, but now on a year-long loan to Middlesbrough of the League Championship, where he’s finally found regular playing time again.

There were also early reasons to fret over Pepi’s move to FC Augsburg in the German Bundesliga. The 18-year-old had only one full season as a regular MLS starter, and not only was he going to a new country, league and club, but to the kind of situation where center forwards with more experience often struggle: a defensive-minded team focused on staving off relegation. To ratchet the pressure higher, a reported $20-million transfer fee was a club record for Augsburg and an MLS record for an outgoing American.

Pepi struggled profoundly, never scoring in a league match for Augsburg, and struggling for the U.S. as well after he produced three crucial goals early in Concacaf World Cup Qualifying. It got bad enough that Augsburg eventually agreed to a loan to Dutch Eredivisie side Groningen early this season. Pepi has regained his scoring form with the move, but apparently not convincingly enough to recapture Berhalter’s attention and confidence.

Pepi and Steffen may yet live up to their European expectations. But the instability of their early journeys there certainly seems to have cost both men at a critical juncture in their international careers.

Beyond implications for other young Americans in MLS, it also probably gets at a more global truth in professional sports, that stability is rare and underrated.

Just take the newly unveiled U.S. squad. Of the players that were likely the “last in” to Berhalter’s 26-man squad, nearly all of them have spent more than one season with their current teams, be it Seattle’s Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan, Norwich City’s Josh Sargent, Fulham’s Tim Ream or Antalyaspor’s Haji Wright. The probable “last out” have all been on the move more recently, from Steffen and Pepi to Union Berlin’s Jordan Pefok and FC Dallas’ Paul Arriola.