Film_Fan

I think this is the year that quite a few of our homegrown players get significant bumps in opportunities. The roster is setting up that way over the next few years and the 2s are going to be nearly all in-house players. Right now, Robbie Mertz and Darwin Matheus are the only two that came in as free agents (McFadden as a draft pick is the other). The 2s are going to be heavily academy, 2s signees, and homegrowns in their last USL season and in the new MLS NEXT PRO league. The kids are ready to take over. Our 4 draft picks this year will probably also get at least 1 year with the 2s to fill out that roster.

Ambrose and maybe Alex De John will be that veteran presence down there most of the time like how Bradley Kamdem Fewo and Mo Jadama were. I say maybe for De John because they may want Washington to play nearly every match next to Cobb for the 2s so that they can maximize their development, so De John may just ride the pine with the MLS club again and continue to be a good presence at training. He is likely in line to become a staff coach like Valentino in the next few years or an academy coach with upward mobility like Collison.

Washington actually played a ton at right-back and right centerback for us last year with the 2s. He and McFadden held down that spot since we were so deep at CB and so thin at RB. It is just adding flexibility to his player profile.

Efrain Morales is a very interesting player because he actually looked good as a central defender but they want to try him as a defensive midfielder due to his impressive ability on the ball. He looked a little slow in pace and response time last season in his small sample size of appearances before his injury. I think they may continue that experiment this season, as shown by his positioning today.

I feel really good at a 4-5-1 line-up since I believe that gets most of our best players on the field and in the best positions for them to succeed. It also allows for players like Wolff to play in a much more natural position as a 10 who can range from sideline to sideline in the attack. It will unlock him this year. I think the plan for Almada is to play him out left and Moreno will be the 10 with Wolff as the back-up at that position. Centeno will take some time to develop and get up to speed but he will be able to be a change of pace wing off of the bench from either flank.

A strong case could be made for George Bello as the first one but Wiley is certainly taking the world by storm. I have a feeling Campbell will be in these kinds of conversations if given the chance to consistently show what he can do with meaningful minutes.

Two local 4th Division teams that may end up fielding some of our former academy guys. A second division team from Mexico. A Liga MX team. And finally a tough and physical USL Championship side.

Josef, Hernandez, Miles, Bello, and Lennon will all likely miss the two local matches against Revs and Storm, but should be back for the Mexico trip. I expect those first two matches will heavily feature 2s players and academy guys.

Some of both. Vines is about 3 years older than Bello and Bello is already significantly more advanced for his age than Vines. It also comes down to the league that is recruiting the players. Vines got about what a Belgian side would pay for a player that they intend to flip but who doesn’t have many years before he reaches his prime. The potential return for Bello is higher because there is more time before he is considered a finished product. If Bello can go to a league that rewards his physicality and lets his technical ability continue to develop alongside his athleticism, then he could be worth double what Colorado got for Vines, so between Busio and Buchanan money.

This would be his 5th year under contract which is pretty much par for the course for Homegrown contracts which we’ve seen on average run for 4-5 years at the most for most clubs. He just had an option year picked up for the second straight year. 1-2 seasons left feels like a decent guess.

We’ve had quite a few unsigned academy prospects head to Europe for free already, but your point still stands for a Homegrown, especially of Bello’s stature. Makes me wonder whether the club would temporarily try to re-sign with Lopez’s U-22 slot and try to sell after the WC.

This could actually make a lot of sense if the club isn’t getting the offers they want for him and want to let him raise his value in MLS. This spot is partially designed for HG player 2nd contracts and allows teams to convert up to $1.05 million in GAM for the sale of that U-22 player and the entire sale fee will go to the club instead of MLS getting their 5% cut. Bello could be sold or loaned at any time under this roster designation to open up that U-22 spot.

It would be really interesting to see these numbers out in the open so we don’t have to speculate. I’d guess Atlanta may want Alphonso Davies money ($10-12 range), maybe even Bryan Reynolds or Tajon Buchanan money ($7-8 million), but the bidding clubs may see Bello in the Jack Harrison to Busio range of $4-6 million. Low-balling us would be Sam Vines, Yedlin or Cannon money for $2-3 million.

I think Bello is sold and Wiley is on a season-long loan to the 2s. That gives you Gutman, Ambrose, and Hernandez as your left-back cover.

He filled in well in rotation with the 2s when Wiley was resting or with the U-19s. I think he may do a bit of that to be veteran leadership between the two teams this year.

Wiley is a good bet for the starter at some point in 2023 but I don’t think they want to rush him. Gutman, Ambrose, and Hernandez will keep the left flank warm for Wiley while he finishes getting ready with the 2s. He’s purely a left-sided player and is fantastic at that so I don’t think they move him to the right.

That’s all probably true but that’s not what Aberdeen’s Front Office is saying to their fans and media.

That’s fair. If it were not a capped league, I’d be completely ok with us being patient with Damm. And honestly, if it were not a capped league, we’d probably still have Villalba but that’s a different conversation. I’d have to think this will be his last season under contract so they probably just want to give him a shot at a stable season in the same 4-3-3 system with the same coaching staff. The reason I’m guessing 4-3-3 is that he can only play in a system that allows for two wide players up top that won’t require him to help as much on defense like a 3-4-3 would.

Commenting on the deal, chairman Dave Cormack said: "This is a good outcome for the Club and for Ronnie. We’ve recouped the vast majority of our investment in the player with the potential for future returns through a sizeable sell-on. It’s also good for Ronnie who is now settled in the States with his wife and children. As the Club has stated on numerous occasions, there was nothing out of the ordinary in this signing or subsequent loan and transfer. Ronnie is a super player, with a great attitude and professionalism and we’re obviously disappointed it didn’t work out for him or us at Aberdeen. He was identified as a young talented international right back which was a position that our football management team wanted to address. He was known to AFC but under contract. Atlanta United’s scouts recommended Ronnie too, from their vast experience of recruiting South American players. The football management team did their homework, spoke with the player, knew the transfer fee, and made the decision to sign the player, subject to board approval. The investment for Ronnie’s transfer came from an interest-free loan from my family, which was subsequently converted to shares. The board believed this to be a good investment for the Club. Had we any inclination that he would rarely play, we would never have signed him."

Context:

Aberdeen signed Hernandez in the winter window in 2020 right before COVID shut the world down for the 4th largest incoming transfer in club history, the largest since the mid-90s for $1.02 million. After sitting on the bench away from his family in the Scottish winter and Spring with no prospects of playing, they and he had enough and begged Atlanta to do something for them and for him. He gets a loan to Atlanta to help them offset his salary ($250,000) and to help hopefully continue his development in case soccer returned to "normal" in 2021. It didn’t. But anyway, Hernandez has no intention of going back to Aberdeen and trains with his childhood club in Venezuela over the winter break. Atlanta United finalizes a transfer for an unspecified amount of money that "nearly recoups [Aberdeen’s] investment" with a sell-on clause of some amount that they are praying will be big. For Aberdeen, their largest ever transfers windfalls have been $3.6 million and $2.48 million so anything for them in sell-on will be historic.

I’m concerned that they feel he hasn’t been given a fair shake at showing what he can do. They may be planning to keep him for another year and try to play a system that suits him as a wide forward. At least that is what Boca has been saying about Damm.

My view is similar to most of y’all. He’s an inefficient use of resources as an extremely expensive backup for Luis Araujo who is not effective when he is occasionally healthy enough to get on the field.

RRN is very quick and agile, has great field vision for a keeper, and essentially plays like a sweeper or extra centerback in possession due to his strong ability with the ball at his feet. In a 2 CB set, he moved up between them as a 3rd CB often to help circulate the ball and stretch the field wider.

Both RRN and Reyes are 19, Garces is 22. In goalkeeper years, they are all babies. Something to consider (check out the new Jeff Rueter article on the Athletic or my summary/analysis of it coming out here soon), is that MLS NEXT PRO does not have a salary cap and allows for U-24 "special discovery priority rights" players for protection. If RRN doesn’t get signed by another team before next winter or before the summer when we may sign him to a 6-month loan-back deal, It would make sense for him to be one of those options. Darwin Matheus would also fall under that category, too, as would players like Erik Lopez who are not ready to contribute as a MLS U-22 Young Money Player.

But if he’s coming back as the starter, that low TAM designation for a young sellable player is starting to look better when your backups are still on the Supplemental Roster