14 year old homegrown

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The San Jose Earthquake signed a 14 year old goalkeeper. I’ll chalk this up as a publicity stunt. Has the MLS league office instructed teams to start signing more academy players?

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/...ampaign=unpaid

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Way too young. He may be the next Tim Howard but he's not mature enough yet to make that decision. Sixteen should be the minimum age.

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Since goalkeepers come into their prime later than field players this seems very premature. I wish the kid the best but he has an awful lot to live up to.

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Isn't this crazy from the standpoint that this player has now given up any decision making in his future to the Earthquakes?

[Unregistered]

The San Jose Earthquake signed a 14 year old goalkeeper. I’ll chalk this up as a publicity stunt. Has the MLS league office instructed teams to start signing more academy players?

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/...ampaign=unpaid

They are actually late. Chicago Fire did this last year when they signed a 2004 keeper to a home grown. I realize keepers develop later but the Fire kid was already 6'4" and had the physical maturity to do the job. BTW a home grown is like 58K a year for 3 years. Pennies if he works out. With training compensation now an MLS club can get 6 figures per year of training when they sell a player on. That is the minimum.

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They are actually late. Chicago Fire did this last year when they signed a 2004 keeper to a home grown. I realize keepers develop later but the Fire kid was already 6'4" and had the physical maturity to do the job. BTW a home grown is like 58K a year for 3 years. Pennies if he works out. With training compensation now an MLS club can get 6 figures per year of training when they sell a player on. That is the minimum.

Physical maturity is very different than emotional maturity. As you said the Fire kid is an exception to the physicality rule as well.

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From the article:
Earthquakes GM Jesse Fioranelli said in a statement. “We have established players we are going to lean on for 2020 and the years to come, which will allow Emi to develop at his own pace with achievable goals year over year, including ones from an academic and life perspective."

The above doesn’t sound like this young GK is being taking advantage of or pushed along too fast. They have their mature starting and backups for the next couple years and he’s going to get the benefit of practicing and learning alongside these pros and presumably a chance to get pro minutes in a few years if all goes well. Happens all the time in foreign clubs.

[Unregistered]

A week ago the Earthquake signed a 16 year old homegrown and now this week they sign the youngest homegrown in MLS history.

This is a fluffy PR move.

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Physical maturity is very different than emotional maturity. As you said the Fire kid is an exception to the physicality rule as well.

6’2” and 148 lbs. He’s a skeleton.

[Unregistered]

A week ago the Earthquake signed a 16 year old homegrown and now this week they sign the youngest homegrown in MLS history.

This is a fluffy PR move.

“Ochoa’s commitment marks the Earthquakes’ fourth signing of a player under age 22 in two weeks.”

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6’2” and 148 lbs. He’s a skeleton.

Meh. At that age mine was similarly skeletal. It's easy to add pounds and muscle, genetics can only get you so far with height.

[Unregistered]

From the article:
Earthquakes GM Jesse Fioranelli said in a statement. “We have established players we are going to lean on for 2020 and the years to come, which will allow Emi to develop at his own pace with achievable goals year over year, including ones from an academic and life perspective."

The above doesn’t sound like this young GK is being taking advantage of or pushed along too fast. They have their mature starting and backups for the next couple years and he’s going to get the benefit of practicing and learning alongside these pros and presumably a chance to get pro minutes in a few years if all goes well. Happens all the time in foreign clubs.

"From academic...perspective"? He's 14 years old and has walked away from college soccer. Sure he can go to college, but not as an athlete.

If the NCAA has pushed to keep kids from being recruited too young, shouldn't the same standard apply to kids signing professional contracts? Sorry but I don't think any player should be making this call until at least 16 years old. I don't give a sh*t what they do around the world. Many of those players never make it and regret not focusing enough on school.

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This will end poorly for this child.

[Unregistered]

This will end poorly for this child.

The Thorns "signed" a 14 year old girl a few months ago. Same. Not surprisingly her parents promote her on social media all the time.

[Unregistered]

"From academic...perspective"? He's 14 years old and has walked away from college soccer. Sure he can go to college, but not as an athlete.

If the NCAA has pushed to keep kids from being recruited too young, shouldn't the same standard apply to kids signing professional contracts? Sorry but I don't think any player should be making this call until at least 16 years old. I don't give a sh*t what they do around the world. Many of those players never make it and regret not focusing enough on school.

You do realize focusing on school and being a student-athlete on a competitive scholarship aren’t usually mutually compatible goals? Tons of young players waste their best athletic years in a college dead end without ever earning a degree or getting an unmarketable nonsense degree. Also, these are boys (not girls) we are talking about where 1/3 of the spots and most of the scholarship $ are already going to internationals.