re: Young Players Tracker and Americans Abroad Thread presented by Sheep

Guzan

Johnson-Cameron?-Brooks-Chandler
Bradley - Someone
Green-Zelalem-Bacon
Jozy


I'd take that.

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I know I made this lineup, but it's terrible defensively, ha.

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frick it. Let's go all Liverpool and just outscore everyone.

switch Diskerud and Zelalem(more like Bradley in the deep lying playmaker role) and Green and Bacon, Besler is gonna be our #1 for this cycle too, he is only 27

For most German - American soccer players, I agree with that. But Gedion is not like the others. He would be starting for Germany in the next WC. The playing time isnt an issue for him because hes that talented of a player. If he progresses like he should from now til the next WC, he would be starting for whatever country he is playing for.

The issue is that he was in Germany when he was born til 8 or 9. So when he was a baby and early life. He grew up in America and that shaped him as a person and individual. He considers himself to be American and people with Arsenal say he "acts American and is laid back and very confident in an American sort of way."

And supposedly when he was with the German youth teams he felt like an outsider and didnt fit in there. Which is a huge reason why he declined to play for their youth team and is in the process of getting his US citizenship IMO.

And another issue with him becoming a US citizen is that he would lose his German citizenship. They have some rule where if you apply for citizenship to a non EU country, you lose your German citizenship. Which means he would lose his EU rights and status as well because he would then be an American and Ethiopian citizen, and not a citizen of any European nation. He would have to apply for a work permit to continue working and training for Arsenal. And work permits are a bitch to get over there and takes a lot of time. Which could cause some issues with he and Arsenal. And this has never happened before so theres no precedent for it.

But it sounds like hes already applied for a US passport and citizenship. So they most likely found some type of loophole with lawyers or has already been cleared for a work permit.

I agree. And after that sentence I said " if he progresses like everyone thinks he will..." So I should have added that to the Germany sentence.

But his bulking up will come with age. He made 17 in January and has only been in a the Arsenal system since last April. Right over a year. Before that he was playing in high school in America. He just has freakish natural talent.

And Crowley is most def a very promising player. But everything I have read and seen, Zelalem is superior in his technique and first touch and all that, but Crowley has the physical advantage. And it sounds like people believe Zelalem is the more promising player due to the technical advantage over Crowley and that he will get bigger as he gets older. Might take him a little longer to become a regular for the 1st team than Crowley, but once he gains some weight and breaks through he has a higher ceiling than Crowley.

Would you want to see Arsenal loan Zelalem out to a mid level Bundesliga side or a Championship level team?

It sounds like Wenger is smitten with him and does not want to loan him out though...

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He would be starting for Germany in the next WC.

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Woah. You're definitely going too far here.

Sure it's possible, but he is a long, long way from being on that level. IMO

The next World Cup is 4 years away... Plenty of time to improve. And I should have said "If he keeps progressing like everyone thinks he can / will, he would be on the German roster and have a decent shot at getting on the field."

i disagree with your take a bit, crazy. he played the rambo/box-to-box role for the U21s, not the arteta/DLP role (olsson played the arteta role). i'm not sure why we played him in the box-to-box role instead of as a no. 10, but i don't think it was because of crowley. i think it's pretty clear, at least coming into this season (and surely that didn't change after playing zelalem out of position) he was internally regarded as our most promising prospect. a lot of that is circumstantial evidence (what AW says about him, how much he was used in preseason, involvement with first team training, etc.) and what ITKs "say they hear", but i'd tend to think he's our most highly regarded prospect. also, he didn't play no. 10 at all for the U21s, and Crowley was out injured for a long time this season.

as for why he is playing in b2b, i don't know, but i wouldn't necessarily project him playing there for club and country long term. wenger has frequently played players out of position at first in order to give them skills he thinks will be useful in the position they project into. i tend to think he could have been a standout in the no. 10 role for the U21s, but perhaps it was better for his development. i don't know. i also think he is very much an ozil-type (even before we landed ozil, i think i posted that in the arsenal thread). he's a great, great supporting character, but he's not the guy who can take the game by the scruff of its neck and dominate. he needs a supporting cast that can make the runs or intelligent movement to allow him to create the opportunities he can create. he is languid but surprisingly athletic. maybe we played him at the b2b role to work him into exploding forward. idk.

he clearly is a prospect and at least a year or two away from contributing for anyone's first team best case scenario (and is in no way a germany starter in 2018), but he could be a starter for the US in 2018 if all goes well and could end up in a few different MF roles in the future.