Post by Futsal Gawdess on Mar 16, 2021 20:42:46 GMT -5
Another former MLS standout has joined the ranks of USL ownership.
Ex-Atlanta United, Columbus Crew, New England Revolution and U.S. men’s national team defender Michael Parkhurst told The Athletic that he has taken a minority stake in the incoming USL Championship club in Pawtucket, R.I. The club, which was founded by Phoenix Rising FC co-owner and prospective Ipswich Town owner Brett Johnson, is scheduled to begin play in 2023.
theathletic.com/2455069/2021/03/16/ Sorry for the long post, but I believe the article is behind a paywall...
Michael Parkhurst joins USL Pawtucket ownership; Andrew Gutman’s winding road leads to Red Bulls: Notebook By Sam Stejskal and Jeff Rueter Another former MLS standout has joined the ranks of USL ownership.
Ex-Atlanta United, Columbus Crew, New England Revolution and U.S. men’s national team defender Michael Parkhurst told The Athletic that he has taken a minority stake in the incoming USL Championship club in Pawtucket, R.I. The club, which was founded by Phoenix Rising FC co-owner and prospective Ipswich Town owner Brett Johnson, is scheduled to begin play in 2023.
Parkhurst is a native Rhode Islander — he was born in Providence and grew up in nearby Cranston. The 37-year-old retired after the 2019 season following three campaigns with Atlanta, then took a job with technology start-up RippleWorx in January 2020. He first connected with Johnson late last summer through his work with the company. Shortly after they first met, Johnson offered him the opportunity to come aboard as a minority owner of his new Rhode Island club. The chance to bring professional soccer to his home state ended up being too tempting for Parkhurst to pass up.
“Growing up in Rhode Island, I went to watch the local professional team — maybe not full professional, but I guess you’d call them that then — all the time, they were called the Rhode Island Stingrays,” he told The Athletic on Monday. “Those were just fun games to go to as a little kid. We had access to the players, we got to know them a little bit, we got to go on the field afterwards, they were guys for us to idolize before the Revolution came to be. And I just loved going to those games, and I want that opportunity and experience for kids in Rhode Island.”
Parkhurst is the latest in a series of notable former MLS players to buy in to USL. The trend started with Didier Drogba, who played two seasons with Phoenix Rising after his time in MLS and remains a minority owner of the club. Former NYCFC striker David Villa is part of the group bringing Queensboro FC to the USL Championship in 2022. Elsewhere, LA Galaxy legend Landon Donovan is a minority owner, head coach and executive VP of soccer operations at Championship club San Diego Loyal; former USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard is part-owner, sporting director and player at Championship side Memphis 901 FC; DaMarcus Beasley is part of the ownership group at Fort Wayne FC, which will play the next two seasons in USL League Two before moving up to USL League One by 2023; ex-U.S. international Charlie Davies is part of the ownership group of a prospective USL League One club that would be based in New Hampshire.
Parkhurst said he leaned on Beasley and Davies when considering whether to join Johnson’s group. Like Parkhurst, both Beasley and Davies are involved with groups in or near their hometowns.
“Those were really good conversations that probably put me over the edge of making this something I want to be a part of,” said Parkhurst, who moved with his family from Atlanta to Columbus last summer. “I think that us coming from these smaller towns, smaller areas where there’s not too many other professionals, we’ve got a bigger opportunity to be a role model and give these other kids that are growing up in these areas something to strive for, a team to look up to, an opportunity that’s right in front of them that they can see and hopefully help push them to achieve something great. Not too many pros have come out of Rhode Island, and I’m hoping this team will help bring out a few more.”
Parkhurst, who said he had a preliminary conversation with Atlanta United sporting director Carlos Bocanegra about a role with the club before ultimately deciding to get out of MLS, isn’t yet sure exactly what his role will be with the Rhode Island team. He won’t work for the club in a day-to-day capacity, but said he expects that he’ll be involved in hiring a head coach and technical director and helping determine the club’s brand. He added that the club doesn’t have any plans to start an academy of its own, but that it will try to partner with some Rhode Island youth clubs in hopes of forming a pathway to the senior team and beyond.
The club certainly has significant ambitions. It plans to construct and play at a soccer-specific stadium in Pawtucket that will anchor a mixed-use development at a site that will straddle both sides of the Seekonk River. A financing plan for the development was approved by the state in February, clearing the way for construction to begin on the stadium — which will seat at least 7,500 — later this year. “I’m just so excited to be a part of it,” said Parkhurst. “I think it’s going to be beautiful and incredible for the area in a lot of different ways.” Andrew Gutman’s bizarre, only-in-American soccer odyssey took another unexpected twist last week, when the 24-year-old left back was loaned by Atlanta United to the New York Red Bulls for the 2021 season. Now entering his third season as a pro, Gutman has already been announced as a member of six different clubs in three different leagues in the last 26 months. His arrival in New York marks the fourth loan of his young career. Only 44 league appearances into his pro career, Gutman has already become something of a living, breathing representation of MLS’s byzantine roster rules.
“Well, it’s been interesting, for sure,” Gutman told The Athletic last week. “It’s not something that a lot of people would expect in their careers.” Gutman’s professional journey began in the winter of 2018-19. He had just capped a stellar four-year career at Indiana University by winning the Hermann Trophy awarded to college soccer’s top player. A product of the Fire academy, Gutman was offered a homegrown deal by Chicago following his senior season. He rejected the club’s offer of the senior minimum salary, but the fact that the Fire presented him with a contract at all gave Chicago the MLS rights to Gutman in perpetuity. Those rights would go on to play a large role in his story.
After failing to agree to a deal with Chicago, Gutman turned to Scotland, going on trial with Rangers before signing with fellow Glasgow giant Celtic FC in January 2019. He never got a chance to break through with the club, however, as his attempt to acquire a work permit was denied. Lacking authorization to actually play for Celtic, Gutman was loaned by the club to Nashville SC just a few weeks after he signed in Scotland. Or so everyone thought.
Despite the fact that the deal had been agreed to by all parties, the loan was rescinded a couple of days after Nashville publicly announced it in February 2019. At the time, the club was still in USL but had already been confirmed as an MLS expansion team for 2020. As such, the team was subject to MLS roster rules, which prevented any MLS club from acquiring Gutman without first getting his rights from Chicago. “At that point, I was just kind of like everyone else,” said Gutman. “Like, ‘Wow, this is something that can happen? That’s a rule?’”
A week after Nashville was forced to back out, Gutman was loaned to fellow USL club Charlotte Independence. He got regular playing time that season, but Gutman felt wasn’t being pushed quite as hard as he would’ve liked. In the summer, he went back to Scotland to train with Celtic during the club’s preseason. He said that manager Neil Lennon wanted him to be “a part of the squad” for the 2019-20 season, but work permit issues again prevented him from joining the club full-time.
That August, Gutman went out on another loan, this time to FC Cincinnati, which sent Chicago a package that included $50,000 in general allocation money for his MLS rights. From there, things stabilized a bit. On loan with Cincy through the 2020 season, Gutman showed decently well in 29 appearances and 20 starts in league play with FCC. He tried to work out a deal to stay with Cincinnati following the expiration of his loan, but, similar to his initial negotiations with Chicago, he couldn’t agree to terms with the club.
Despite still being under contract with Celtic, Gutman was then allowed into the MLS Re-Entry process. Atlanta moved up to the first overall slot via trade with Cincinnati, then used the pick to select Gutman. The club acquired him from Celtic on a free transfer and signed him to a new deal — frustrated by the inability to get a work permit, Celtic transferred Gutman for free simply to get his wages off the books, according to reports. Atlanta then loaned him to the Red Bulls in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft and up to $50,000 in GAM.
Gutman is remarkably serene about all of this, perhaps because he’s still managed to carve out a role for himself at every club he’s actually been eligible to play for. “I don’t think when anyone starts a career you expect something like this to happen, but if you look at it from a different perspective, I think a lot of people my age coming out of college would be happy to be in the situation I’m in,” he said. “I’ve done well with a lot of teams, I’ve shown my skill set, been given opportunities to play and that’s really all you can ask for in my situation.”
He should have another good chance to progress in New York. The Red Bulls’ pressing system should be a solid match for Gutman, who called the club’s style an “exact fit” for how he likes to play. There’s also potential for a real future in Atlanta. The Five Stripes likely loaned him out in part to keep the path clear for talented 19-year-old left back George Bello. If Bello continues developing, a move abroad could be in the cards for him at some point in the next year, which would create a vacancy that a returning Gutman, who had positive conversations about his standing at the club with Atlanta technical director Carlos Bocanegra, could conceivably fill.
Of course, a permanent move to the Red Bulls could also be on the table if Gutman performs well with New York. For now, maximizing his time with the Red Bulls is all he’s focused on. “I’ve learned already that at the end of the year you never know what’s going to happen,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve just got to focus on showing my best qualities every single day.” On Sunday, The Athletic’s Paul Tenorio reported that San Antonio FC attacking midfielder Jose Gallegos was headed to Germany for a two-week training stint/assessment with Bayern Munich ahead of a potential transfer. A finalist for 2020 USL Young Player of the Year, Gallegos has three goals and four assists in 30 USL Championship appearances in two seasons with San Antonio’s first team. The 19-year-old is eligible for both the U.S. and Mexico national team programs but has not yet been capped at any level for either country.
Even if Gallegos doesn’t move to the reigning European champions, he could still be in line for a breakout 2021 in USL. This offseason saw lead playmaker Cristian Parano leave San Antonio for Portuguese club Paços de Ferreira on a free transfer. This came after the USL club rejected at least one offer from an MLS side after Parano won the Young Player of the Year award in 2019, with sources telling The Athletic that the offered fee could have reached $125,000 through realistic performance bonuses. Parano’s departure should put Gallegos — who was a spot starter in 2019 before moving into a more regular role last season — into a more prominent position on a team with postseason ambitions should he remain in San Antonio.
This week, San Antonio also signed attacking midfielder Leo Torres to a contract extension through 2022 with a club option for 2023, sources tell The Athletic. With just 18 league minutes to his name, Torres, also a San Antonio academy product, donned the 10 shirt for the U.S. U-15s in 2019. Now 17, he could conceivably ease into a larger role in 2021, perhaps following the same developmental path that fellow San Antonio academy alum Gallegos took before him.
With several clubs signing players to youth contracts this offseason after the USL Academy League’s formal launch in 2020, San Antonio’s efforts mark significant progress for the league. If Gallegos ends up being sold to Bayern, even if only to the club’s reserve or youth squad, or if Torres ends up progressing into a more notable role with the first team, USL will have further proof that its clubs can identify, develop, promote and move young players.
There are a couple of other players in the mold of Gallegos and Torres elsewhere around the league, too: center back Hayden Sargis and midfielder Mario Penagos of Sacramento Republic and winger Jaden Servania (brother of FC Dallas homegrown Brandon Servania) of Birmingham Legion FC are among other notable players to rise from USL academies. Their progress and the progress of other players like them will be important in convincing USL clubs to attempt to get more out of their youth academies and in pushing the league further into the global market. The league’s young players are already being scouted by big-time foreign clubs — MLS need not be the only American player in those spaces. If USL can get involved in either in a meaningful way, the entire U.S. soccer ecosystem should benefit.
Ex-Atlanta United, Columbus Crew, New England Revolution and U.S. men’s national team defender Michael Parkhurst told The Athletic that he has taken a minority stake in the incoming USL Championship club in Pawtucket, R.I. The club, which was founded by Phoenix Rising FC co-owner and prospective Ipswich Town owner Brett Johnson, is scheduled to begin play in 2023.
theathletic.com/2455069/2021/03/16/ Sorry for the long post, but I believe the article is behind a paywall...
Michael Parkhurst joins USL Pawtucket ownership; Andrew Gutman’s winding road leads to Red Bulls: Notebook By Sam Stejskal and Jeff Rueter Another former MLS standout has joined the ranks of USL ownership.
Ex-Atlanta United, Columbus Crew, New England Revolution and U.S. men’s national team defender Michael Parkhurst told The Athletic that he has taken a minority stake in the incoming USL Championship club in Pawtucket, R.I. The club, which was founded by Phoenix Rising FC co-owner and prospective Ipswich Town owner Brett Johnson, is scheduled to begin play in 2023.
Parkhurst is a native Rhode Islander — he was born in Providence and grew up in nearby Cranston. The 37-year-old retired after the 2019 season following three campaigns with Atlanta, then took a job with technology start-up RippleWorx in January 2020. He first connected with Johnson late last summer through his work with the company. Shortly after they first met, Johnson offered him the opportunity to come aboard as a minority owner of his new Rhode Island club. The chance to bring professional soccer to his home state ended up being too tempting for Parkhurst to pass up.
“Growing up in Rhode Island, I went to watch the local professional team — maybe not full professional, but I guess you’d call them that then — all the time, they were called the Rhode Island Stingrays,” he told The Athletic on Monday. “Those were just fun games to go to as a little kid. We had access to the players, we got to know them a little bit, we got to go on the field afterwards, they were guys for us to idolize before the Revolution came to be. And I just loved going to those games, and I want that opportunity and experience for kids in Rhode Island.”
Parkhurst is the latest in a series of notable former MLS players to buy in to USL. The trend started with Didier Drogba, who played two seasons with Phoenix Rising after his time in MLS and remains a minority owner of the club. Former NYCFC striker David Villa is part of the group bringing Queensboro FC to the USL Championship in 2022. Elsewhere, LA Galaxy legend Landon Donovan is a minority owner, head coach and executive VP of soccer operations at Championship club San Diego Loyal; former USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard is part-owner, sporting director and player at Championship side Memphis 901 FC; DaMarcus Beasley is part of the ownership group at Fort Wayne FC, which will play the next two seasons in USL League Two before moving up to USL League One by 2023; ex-U.S. international Charlie Davies is part of the ownership group of a prospective USL League One club that would be based in New Hampshire.
Parkhurst said he leaned on Beasley and Davies when considering whether to join Johnson’s group. Like Parkhurst, both Beasley and Davies are involved with groups in or near their hometowns.
“Those were really good conversations that probably put me over the edge of making this something I want to be a part of,” said Parkhurst, who moved with his family from Atlanta to Columbus last summer. “I think that us coming from these smaller towns, smaller areas where there’s not too many other professionals, we’ve got a bigger opportunity to be a role model and give these other kids that are growing up in these areas something to strive for, a team to look up to, an opportunity that’s right in front of them that they can see and hopefully help push them to achieve something great. Not too many pros have come out of Rhode Island, and I’m hoping this team will help bring out a few more.”
Parkhurst, who said he had a preliminary conversation with Atlanta United sporting director Carlos Bocanegra about a role with the club before ultimately deciding to get out of MLS, isn’t yet sure exactly what his role will be with the Rhode Island team. He won’t work for the club in a day-to-day capacity, but said he expects that he’ll be involved in hiring a head coach and technical director and helping determine the club’s brand. He added that the club doesn’t have any plans to start an academy of its own, but that it will try to partner with some Rhode Island youth clubs in hopes of forming a pathway to the senior team and beyond.
The club certainly has significant ambitions. It plans to construct and play at a soccer-specific stadium in Pawtucket that will anchor a mixed-use development at a site that will straddle both sides of the Seekonk River. A financing plan for the development was approved by the state in February, clearing the way for construction to begin on the stadium — which will seat at least 7,500 — later this year. “I’m just so excited to be a part of it,” said Parkhurst. “I think it’s going to be beautiful and incredible for the area in a lot of different ways.” Andrew Gutman’s bizarre, only-in-American soccer odyssey took another unexpected twist last week, when the 24-year-old left back was loaned by Atlanta United to the New York Red Bulls for the 2021 season. Now entering his third season as a pro, Gutman has already been announced as a member of six different clubs in three different leagues in the last 26 months. His arrival in New York marks the fourth loan of his young career. Only 44 league appearances into his pro career, Gutman has already become something of a living, breathing representation of MLS’s byzantine roster rules.
“Well, it’s been interesting, for sure,” Gutman told The Athletic last week. “It’s not something that a lot of people would expect in their careers.” Gutman’s professional journey began in the winter of 2018-19. He had just capped a stellar four-year career at Indiana University by winning the Hermann Trophy awarded to college soccer’s top player. A product of the Fire academy, Gutman was offered a homegrown deal by Chicago following his senior season. He rejected the club’s offer of the senior minimum salary, but the fact that the Fire presented him with a contract at all gave Chicago the MLS rights to Gutman in perpetuity. Those rights would go on to play a large role in his story.
After failing to agree to a deal with Chicago, Gutman turned to Scotland, going on trial with Rangers before signing with fellow Glasgow giant Celtic FC in January 2019. He never got a chance to break through with the club, however, as his attempt to acquire a work permit was denied. Lacking authorization to actually play for Celtic, Gutman was loaned by the club to Nashville SC just a few weeks after he signed in Scotland. Or so everyone thought.
Despite the fact that the deal had been agreed to by all parties, the loan was rescinded a couple of days after Nashville publicly announced it in February 2019. At the time, the club was still in USL but had already been confirmed as an MLS expansion team for 2020. As such, the team was subject to MLS roster rules, which prevented any MLS club from acquiring Gutman without first getting his rights from Chicago. “At that point, I was just kind of like everyone else,” said Gutman. “Like, ‘Wow, this is something that can happen? That’s a rule?’”
A week after Nashville was forced to back out, Gutman was loaned to fellow USL club Charlotte Independence. He got regular playing time that season, but Gutman felt wasn’t being pushed quite as hard as he would’ve liked. In the summer, he went back to Scotland to train with Celtic during the club’s preseason. He said that manager Neil Lennon wanted him to be “a part of the squad” for the 2019-20 season, but work permit issues again prevented him from joining the club full-time.
That August, Gutman went out on another loan, this time to FC Cincinnati, which sent Chicago a package that included $50,000 in general allocation money for his MLS rights. From there, things stabilized a bit. On loan with Cincy through the 2020 season, Gutman showed decently well in 29 appearances and 20 starts in league play with FCC. He tried to work out a deal to stay with Cincinnati following the expiration of his loan, but, similar to his initial negotiations with Chicago, he couldn’t agree to terms with the club.
Despite still being under contract with Celtic, Gutman was then allowed into the MLS Re-Entry process. Atlanta moved up to the first overall slot via trade with Cincinnati, then used the pick to select Gutman. The club acquired him from Celtic on a free transfer and signed him to a new deal — frustrated by the inability to get a work permit, Celtic transferred Gutman for free simply to get his wages off the books, according to reports. Atlanta then loaned him to the Red Bulls in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft and up to $50,000 in GAM.
Gutman is remarkably serene about all of this, perhaps because he’s still managed to carve out a role for himself at every club he’s actually been eligible to play for. “I don’t think when anyone starts a career you expect something like this to happen, but if you look at it from a different perspective, I think a lot of people my age coming out of college would be happy to be in the situation I’m in,” he said. “I’ve done well with a lot of teams, I’ve shown my skill set, been given opportunities to play and that’s really all you can ask for in my situation.”
He should have another good chance to progress in New York. The Red Bulls’ pressing system should be a solid match for Gutman, who called the club’s style an “exact fit” for how he likes to play. There’s also potential for a real future in Atlanta. The Five Stripes likely loaned him out in part to keep the path clear for talented 19-year-old left back George Bello. If Bello continues developing, a move abroad could be in the cards for him at some point in the next year, which would create a vacancy that a returning Gutman, who had positive conversations about his standing at the club with Atlanta technical director Carlos Bocanegra, could conceivably fill.
Of course, a permanent move to the Red Bulls could also be on the table if Gutman performs well with New York. For now, maximizing his time with the Red Bulls is all he’s focused on. “I’ve learned already that at the end of the year you never know what’s going to happen,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve just got to focus on showing my best qualities every single day.” On Sunday, The Athletic’s Paul Tenorio reported that San Antonio FC attacking midfielder Jose Gallegos was headed to Germany for a two-week training stint/assessment with Bayern Munich ahead of a potential transfer. A finalist for 2020 USL Young Player of the Year, Gallegos has three goals and four assists in 30 USL Championship appearances in two seasons with San Antonio’s first team. The 19-year-old is eligible for both the U.S. and Mexico national team programs but has not yet been capped at any level for either country.
Even if Gallegos doesn’t move to the reigning European champions, he could still be in line for a breakout 2021 in USL. This offseason saw lead playmaker Cristian Parano leave San Antonio for Portuguese club Paços de Ferreira on a free transfer. This came after the USL club rejected at least one offer from an MLS side after Parano won the Young Player of the Year award in 2019, with sources telling The Athletic that the offered fee could have reached $125,000 through realistic performance bonuses. Parano’s departure should put Gallegos — who was a spot starter in 2019 before moving into a more regular role last season — into a more prominent position on a team with postseason ambitions should he remain in San Antonio.
This week, San Antonio also signed attacking midfielder Leo Torres to a contract extension through 2022 with a club option for 2023, sources tell The Athletic. With just 18 league minutes to his name, Torres, also a San Antonio academy product, donned the 10 shirt for the U.S. U-15s in 2019. Now 17, he could conceivably ease into a larger role in 2021, perhaps following the same developmental path that fellow San Antonio academy alum Gallegos took before him.
With several clubs signing players to youth contracts this offseason after the USL Academy League’s formal launch in 2020, San Antonio’s efforts mark significant progress for the league. If Gallegos ends up being sold to Bayern, even if only to the club’s reserve or youth squad, or if Torres ends up progressing into a more notable role with the first team, USL will have further proof that its clubs can identify, develop, promote and move young players.
There are a couple of other players in the mold of Gallegos and Torres elsewhere around the league, too: center back Hayden Sargis and midfielder Mario Penagos of Sacramento Republic and winger Jaden Servania (brother of FC Dallas homegrown Brandon Servania) of Birmingham Legion FC are among other notable players to rise from USL academies. Their progress and the progress of other players like them will be important in convincing USL clubs to attempt to get more out of their youth academies and in pushing the league further into the global market. The league’s young players are already being scouted by big-time foreign clubs — MLS need not be the only American player in those spaces. If USL can get involved in either in a meaningful way, the entire U.S. soccer ecosystem should benefit.