re: Rumor from Washington post: Zelalem nearing U.S. eligibility

If he played for US olympic team, would that count as him playing for US, in his registration dealio?

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Yeah. If true, I'm really glad we get him in our pool. Just a word of warning though, his star has tapered off a small bit this season. He isn't cesc. Doubt his struggles hurt him much in the eyes of our setup, but it couldn't have helped. He's not particularly close to first team action at arsenal. Probably 15-16 at the earliest. Definitely one for the future

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I know what you're saying, and in many ways you're right. But in terms of U.S. soccer, he is still a major majorrrr upgrade over many other options even if he isn't the next Fabregas. Obviously he's not there yet, but he has the potential to be a world-known player. Sounds weird, but we don't really have many of those. And by that I mean a casual fan, from any country. For example, I doubt many English or Spanish fans really know Aron Bacon...we think he's awesome and he is in many ways, but he's not a top tier Premier league first teamer. Zelalem has the potential to be the quarterback for Arsenal, and Green a winger for one of the best teams in the world. We never would have thought some of this would happen 5, hell, maybe even 2 years ago.

Not to mention what cwil posted the other day with clips from our youth teams. Not just Russia, but if we look towards Qatar in 8 years (assuming it's still played in the desert)that team could be stupid. Rubin, Wright, Pulisic, Gallardo will all be early to mid 20's, Zalalem, Green, Brooks will be in their prime.

Now obviously many things can change and some of this is sunshine pumping and seeing things with Red, White, and Blue glasses...but we've never seen an influx of talent like this. Not even remotely close. Kids can flame out, mature too quickly (Adu), their skills peak too early and don't continue to progress, etc...but man this is just ridiculously exciting to even think about.

I feel like these sunshine pumping threads always happen when I have big exams coming up. Around mid-terms it was Julian Green, now Zelalem...I'm not gonna get shite done