An exodus is underway among Minnesota United’s youth academy players.
With the Loons’ firing or furloughing its entire youth academy staff last week, players on the club’s Under-17 team and others within the younger three levels have left or have been exploring options at rival MLS academies and in college.
Two players departed earlier this year to join New York Red Bulls’ system, another is now with Real Salt Lake and others are believed to have tried out for spots at Sporting Kansas City this weekend.
Patrick Weah, whose cousin Tim is on the U.S. men’s national team and uncle George was a star for Liberia in the 1990s, had been training with the Loons’ first team in March, but the 16-year-old Wayzata High School graduate has signed to play at St. Louis University.
“He was on a trajectory of going professional. We got wind he was available,” Billikens coach Kevin Kalish told the St. Louis Post Dispatch earlier this month. “It was probably the fastest recruitment since I’ve been here.”
Manny Lagos, Minnesota United’s Chief Soccer Officer, held a Zoom conference call with youth academy players and parents on Friday night.
An overview is how the coronavirus pandemic led to suspension of the MLS season in mid-March and shut off major revenue streams the Loons generate from home games at Allianz Field in St. Paul.
“Unfortunately without any revenue from within our club from our local games, and without knowing when MLS will get this (academy) vision up and running, we had to furlough and let some people go because we are going to shift,” said Lagos in a call with reporters Friday afternoon.
Parents were texting each other after the call, sharing disappointment in the lack of answers on what that shift will be toward and whether or not there will be a 2020-21 youth academy season, which usually runs from fall to spring.
“It was just a bunch of words,” one parent of a U17 player described the call. “… It was really just beating around the bush. No answers. Didn’t officially say there wasn’t any team next year, but put it as, ‘Join your local club for now and we’ll call you when we figure out what is going on.’ ”
Lagos said he understands parents’ frustrations, but said United has to wait for MLS to determine its new youth academy structure and a timeframe for a return to play. That could come as soon as July. MLS is filling the void after the U.S. Development Academy folded this spring due to financial implications from the coronavirus.
Amid COVID-19, the league’s primary goal was to organize the MLS is Back Tournament for all 26 clubs to return to games in Orlando, Fla., in July and August. The Loons’ senior team and staff took a charter flight to Florida on Sunday and are scheduled to start tournament play July 12.
“With MLS working and fine-tuning its (academy) vision, that is going to effect when we can finalize and plan our vision, because there is some schedule and coordination that has to go on,” Lagos told the Pioneer Press. “We can’t say what we are going to do until they finalize the national schedule.”
In the meantime, Lagos said they are encouraging players to find spots on local clubs and play 40-45 games in the next year. One parent interpreted that message to mean there won’t be an academy season in 2020-21.
Another parent said he knew changes were coming during a May meeting with United leadership, and multiple parents said they believed there had been an internal struggle on the academy’s direction between Tim Carter, the academy director who was let go, with Lagos and the club’s upper management. “I believe they didn’t want to put money in the academy,” he said. “You don’t get rid of Tim Carter (and other staff) if you are trying to grow something.”
The Loons, which have been gradually adding older teams in the opening three years of the academy, have yet to commit to adding a U19 team, the next rung on the development ladder. So the older kids can’t see what’s next, parents said.
One of United’s most-promising academy players is Bajung Darboe, a 13-year-old Gambian-born attacker from Madison Wis. He has been playing up a few levels on the Loons’ U17 team. Minnesota has invested in Darboe’s future, but the former Chicago Fire product could have opportunities with other MLS academies and possibly elsewhere in the world.
“We are excited about talking about the next steps with Darboe,” Lagos said. “If he doesn’t like the path, he can go somewhere else. But there are caveats at the end of the pathway.”
Darboe’s father, Ousman, said United plans to have a call with out-of-town players next week and doesn’t yet know what the future holds for his son.
“As I speak right now, I have nothing in mind,” Ousman said. “We want to find what is going on with out-of-state players like Bajung. … We need more answers, but they don’t have them.”
Lagos said the Loons hold first rights to draft Darboe, and that could be a drawback for other MLS clubs to spend time and resources to further develop him or other players in the same spot.
Other MLS clubs are signing academy players, parents said, and some families tied to Minnesota’s academy are wondering if they can get releases from the Loons. Lagos said they are working with existing academy players, and more communication is expected.
Minnesota’s top academy success story is 6-foot-5 goalkeeper Fred Emmings of St. Paul, who at 16 became the club’s first homegrown signing in January. Emmings’ contract does not count against the club’s MLS salary budget, a major incentive for youth academies to develop players to potentially feed clubs’ senior rosters.
While Emmings has been training with the Loons’ first team in Blaine, he’s fourth on the depth chart and needs game action to improve. The Luxembourg national team prospect would have been a candidate to play on the Loons’ U17 team.
While United has brought in youth players from across the U.S., including Florida, Georgia, Texas and Nevada, the majority of the rosters are made up of Minnesotans. The Loons’ geographic region to primarily draw players from includes Iowa, Wisconsin and the Dakotas.
One parent of a Minnesota kid said they have no plans to find another academy because this is home base.
In interviews this week, Lagos stressed the need for MNUFC to focus more on youth players from the state as they “recalibrate” its academy structure. And if there is doubt that Minnesota can produce high-level players, Lagos pointed to the abundance of high-level basketball players the state has been producing in recent years.
“How can we use this as an opportunity to think about how we want to collaborate a little bit more within the local market and how we can really get all the (local) clubs to buy in,” Lagos said. “We are kind of on an island. We want to have more representation from … Minnesotans on that roster. That is not just for next year. I’m talking about a five- and 10-year plan.”
But without staff and a lot of uncertainty on if there will be seasons this fall, the future of the Loons’ development academy is murky.
“How many kids will be left?” one parent asked. “Who will be at RSL or KC? Who is going to Cincinnati?
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