Playing time is obviously important.
But the rigor, intensity and quality of training at a top flight european club is much better for player development than the equivalent at an MLS club.
USMNT Talk
- Thread starter MyBoyVilla
- Start date
But the rigor, intensity and quality of training at a top flight european club is much better for player development than the equivalent at an MLS club.
ZYanksRule
Registered
I don't think I agree. I think game experience is more valuable than practice time, no matter how good your practice opponents are.
Would say that being in a European club environment provides a lot more value than high quality practice opponents.
I don't think you can just blanketly say playing in Europe is more valuable compared to MLS. Outside of the 2-3 top-table superpowers, teams in Belgium and the Netherlands are not much better than MLS teams. Even the top leagues in France and Italy fall off hard in quality towards the bottom of the table. Sure if a guy can make it in the Premier League or Bundesliga that is a much higher level of competition week in and week out and they should go for it but that's not the situation a lot of these guys are in. They are floating around to teams outside of the top leagues and still just sitting on the bench. Even the players on the top teams in places like Italy spend half their season playing on a super team against some crap team at the bottom of the table.
In MLS they would get consistent time in a parity-driven league where most matches are close and competitive. Many of the teams in MLS have former European coaching staffs so it's not like some secret coaching methods are happening in Europe that don't exist in MLS. Going to Europe is wildly over-glamorized by USMNT fans who act like every player is going over to start for Real Madrid when in reality a lot of them are sitting on benches in leagues that are not any better than MLS.
Last edited:
I tried to clarify in my previous post, "top flight" european club. I just didn't mention it again in my response.
I agree with you that second tier european clubs are on par or worse than MLS.
The initial debate was regarding Gio Reyna and other Americans at top tier clubs struggling for playing time. I think in Gio's case (as much as I love NYCFC) he's better off playing limited minutes with Borussia Dortmund.
Would it better if he were playing? Absolutely.
Would it be better for his career development if he were playing full time at NYCFC? I'm not sure.
Yeah, Gio is an enigma, Dortmund has such a good track record of development yet Gio seems to have plateaued there after a promising start. His PL loan was horrible. This is his 6th season there and he's playing fewer league games than he did in his second season in 2020-2021. I generally agree with you that Dortmund should be one of the better places to be in Europe for a young US player but with Gio in particular it seems like he needs to move on.
