As MLS Academies Blossom, Foreign Scouting Must Improve

Last Friday, D.C. United announced that German Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg had signed one of its academy products, 18-year-old Kevin Paredes, for a transfer fee north of $7 million.

The deal wasn’t exceptional by itself. Paredes is one of the best young prospects in Major League Soccer. He was going to make the jump to Europe sooner or later. The fee Wolfsburg paid is what a promising left back/left wingback fetches on the European market.

As part of a trend, however, it was another piece of an extraordinary winter of business for MLS clubs.

This tweet from MLSsoccer.com writer Tom Bogert sums up just how much money has changed hands from foreign clubs to MLS sides in exchange for the rights to sign players to new contracts:

The list above doesn’t include two more deals at or near completion, where the players are likely to remain in MLS until summer: Arsenal’s moves for Colorado Rapids center back Auston Trusty and New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Turner. Nor does it include George Bello’s move at the deadline to Bundesliga relegation battlers Arminia Bielefeld.

That MLS players are in such demand is certainly worth celebrating. And a lot of work has brought MLS to this point since it implemented the Homegrown Player rule in 2008 as a needed incentive for teams to invest in their own youth academies.

At the same time, a careful glance at Bogert’s list reveals that where MLS academies are succeeding after a decade-and-a-half of investment, more recent forays into the young international player market are not yet yielding similar results.

Of all the players to make an upward transfer move this winter, only former LAFC midfielder Eduard Atuesta began his professional career in another domestic league (Colombia). Paredes, Ricardo Pepi, James Sands and Cole Bassett are all MLS academy products. Turner, Daryl Dike and Tajon Buchanan all played college soccer.

And that comes despite a growing number of young players entering MLS from abroad with an eye toward using the league as a stepping stone.

That lack of foreign MLS players making high-profile moves is more noticeable now given the growing number candidates who fit that profile.

Here’s a summary of the most prominent international players age 24 and under who arrived in MLS viewed as potential future European prospects and played most of last season in the league:

• Ezequiel Barco (Atlanta United)
• Santiago Sosa (Atlanta United)
• Ignacio Aliseda (Chicago Fire FC)
• Brenner (FC Cincinnati)
• Eduard Atuesta (LAFC)
• Jose Cifuentes (LAFC)
• Francisco Ginella (LAFC)
• Diego Palacios (LAFC)
• Brian Rodriguez (LAFC)
• Emanuel Reynoso (Minnesota United)
• Cristian Casseres Jr. (New York Red Bulls)
• Fabio Gomes (New York Red Bulls)
• Patryk Klimala (New York Red Bulls)
• Thiago Andrade (New York City FC)
• Valentin Castellanos (New York City FC)
• Talles Magno (New York City FC)
• Jesus Medina (New York City FC)
• Santiago Rodriguez (New York City FC)
• Yeferson Soteldo (Toronto FC)

It’s not as though these players have been colossal duds. Jesus Medina, for example, moved on to CSKA Moscow this offseason but only after his NYCFC contract expired. Castellanos was widely expected to move this winter, but remained on City’s books after winning the 2021 MLS Golden Boot and could still move this summer. Aliseda did not entirely live up to his expectation with Chicago, but still earned a transfer to FC Lugano in Switzerland, which some might consider a lateral move.

But there are others of whom more was expected. While Barco has had stretches of brilliance, his inconsistency means he’s unlikely to recoup the transfer fee Atlanta paid to garner his services when he was still a teenager. Brenner struggled to meet lofty expectations for lowly Cincinnati. Ginella and Rodriguez have both been spotty at LAFC, even if Rodriguez scored a genuine goal of the year candidate in 2021. Toronto sent Soteldo to Liga MX not to turn a profit, but to clear a Designated Player spot for incoming defender Carlos Salcedo.

Major League Soccer teams are a good deal less experienced at mining other countries for young talent than developing their own So it makes sense that teams’ scouting networks are less mature than their academies, and that the miss rate on young foreign players is higher.

But the league is banking heavily on teams improving in this arena in the near future with the launch of its U22 Initiative last year. The program allows salary cap relief outside that provided by Designated Player roster spots and allocation money, on up to three contracts signed by players age 22 and younger.

Clubs have already proven they can build successful academy operations. Now is the time to pause briefly to celebrate that achievement, and then to refocus on building the same infrastructure in international scouting operations.