Daryl_dike_-_asn_top_-_west_brom_-_2022_preseason
Preseason notebook

Preseason notebook: Forwards producing, young Yanks seek minutes, & transfer watch

The preseason is winding down but ASN's Brian Sciaretta offers up another preseason notebook to offer up how he sees things shaping up for a number of players ahead of the opening games. 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
July 27, 2022
2:50 PM

PRESEASON IN EUROPE is entering into its final stages and, in some cases, the season is underway. The results are often to be taken with a massive grain of salt, but how players are used does offer a glimpse into what we can expect at the start of the season.

In short, it has been somewhat of a concerning preseason for top American players. There hasn't been anything too much among top U.S. national team players. Yunus Musah has done well but in terms of McKennie, Pulisic, Adams, Weah, Dest, or Reyna - it's been very quiet. Strangely enough, it's been the forwards getting the most production. 

Here is my notebook from the past week.

 

Bassett scores for Feyenoord

 

This is an interesting topic. Cole Bassett is at Feyenoord on loan from Colorado. Last month it was reported that Feyenoord were looking to loan Bassett, who turns 21 this week, Fortuna Sittard. These reports were accurate. But the problem, however, is that players on loan can’t be sent out on a subsequent loan. That decision must be made through Colorado.

Normally, it could be expected that Feyenoord would cancel the loan and then Colorado could loan him to Fortuna Sittard – one of the smallest teams in the Eredivisie. The problem, however, is that Feyenoord still wants to retrain its interest in Bassett, because it owns an option to buy with its current loan. It doesn’t want to give that up. But the minutes are probably not there yet at Feyenoord, which is one of the top teams in the Eredivisie. So how does Bassett find another club to play regularly and Feyenoord continues to hold the loan and option on him?

Bassett came off the bench today for Feyenoord in a preseason friendly today to start the second half. He scored in the 50th minute to give his club a 4-0 lead. Feyenoord ended up winning 6-1.



As I have mentioned, Bassett is a player who could have a big role ahead for the U.S. U-23 team as it prepares for the 2024 Olympics.

The good news is that all parties are still talking to find a way to make this loan happen.

 

Busio likely to remain at Venezia

 

As the always reliable Tom Bogert reported this week, Gianluca Busio seems likely to remain at Venezia this season and is negotiating a contract extension that removes the financial incentives to loan him if the club remains in Serie B.

Last season, Busio made 29 appearances for Venezia as the club suffered relegation out of Serie A. Busio’s playing time dwindled, however, in the second half of the season as his starts became infrequent.

There are some substantial pros and cons. If Busio remains in Serie B, it hurts his chances of making the World Cup team this year. On the other hand, if he remains it will probably help his development in the long term.

Last year, Busio’s strengths remained the same as they were at Sporting KC. He’s an excellent passer and can move the ball well. But he needs work on defensive aspects of the game including handling the physicality of top-flight soccer and having a non-stop motor to close down on attackers for the duration of the game. In a relegation battle, it was risky to trust Busio in such situations.

But in a league where Venezia is among the better teams, the pressure on him won’t be as dramatic. Serie B isn’t a great league, but it is intense. He should be allowed to play to his strengths while working on his weaknesses. In the long-term, it will serve him well.

Internationally, Busio could be left on the outside of the World Cup team this fall. The team has more options in the midfield than it did during World Cup qualifying. Gio Reyna is slowly returning to health. Brenden Aaronson is likely going to be a midfielder at Leeds. Eryk Williamson was ahead of Busio last summer at the Gold Cup and he is returning to health.

Like Bassett, Busio is a strong candidate for the 2024 Olympic team and that could be a big transitional tournament for him to springboard into the national team when he is more ready.

 

Sands & Tillman at Rangers

 

In terms of Americans playing well, James Sands has been earning positive reviews for his first preseason with the club (while on loan from NYCFC). Both Sands and U.S. international Malik Tillman played the final 21 minutes for Rangers in a 2-1 loss to Tottenham over the weekend in their most recent game.

An important note on Sands is that while he was signed as a defensive midfielder, he has been playing almost entirely at central defense where he has potentially put himself in he mix as a starter alongside Connor Goldson. It will be competitive for Sands given that the Rangers signed centerbacks John Souttar and Ben Davies. But Sands has been effective with his passing and that fits the style of manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst who wants to play out of the back.

As for Tillman, he will be a regular for Rangers this season although it seems likely he is going to come off the bench to start the season while getting minutes in cup games.

 

Forwards keep scoring

 

In terms of preseason, Jordan Pefok, Daryl Dike, Ricardo Pepi, and Haji Wright are four players who all have a lot to prove early this season. Pefok is making the move up from Switzerland to Union Berlin the Bundesliga but the track record of top goal scorers in the Swiss Super League moving to a bigger league is mixed. Haji Wright will remain with Antalyaspor on a permanent deal. That will allow him to continue with his momentum. Daryl Dike is finally healthy after suffering an injury immediately after arriving with West Brom in January.  Ricardo Pepi, meanwhile, needs his first goal for Augsburg soon (in a game that counts.

Three players scored in friendlies over the weekend. Pefok scored in Union’s 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest. Dike scored the winner in West Brom’s 2-1 win over Hertha BSC. Haji Wright scored in Antalyaspor’s dismal 6-2 loss to Bochum. Ricardo Pepi assisted Maurice Malone in Augsburg’s 3-2 loss to Rennes.

From a national team perspective, these four players seem to be fighting for one or two spots on the World Cup roster to take the roles as a pure center forward as opposed to a hybrid version of Jesus Ferreira. But they’re also not the only four. Josh Sargent probably is still in the mix even if his preseason isn’t going well. Brandon Vazquez has been in fantastic form for Cincinnati and might also get a look in September.

Of the players I mentioned, it seems like Dike is probably in the best position to succeed. He’s had success over a much longer time than Pefok or Wright and he is also extremely mobile.

“He (Dike) is someone that can attack the deliveries I’m going to put in the box,” said West Brom attacker Jed Wallace of assisting to Dike against Hertha. "I have played with some very good centre forwards that like to get on the end of crosses in my time. When I think of Millwall, I had Steve Morison and Matt Smith. Daryl falls into that category. But not only is he a big lad, he is very, very, mobile and you saw that with the goal. He got across his man really well. The cross is one thing but, for me, it’s all about the end product. Any good striker can make an average cross look a good one. That is what he did there. It was a really great header."

 

Other notes on who played

 

Taylor Booth is another player firmly in the mix for the United States U-23 team. He started for FC Utrecht on Wednesday in a 1-0 loss to AEK Athens but nearly scored on a free kick.

 

On the preseason Americans tours for both teams, Barcelona drew Juventus 2-2 in Dallas. Sergino Dest played for Barca while Weston McKennie was not in action, despite the game in his home town.  Dest played between the 34th and 77th minute and was hung out by poor position from his teammates on the first Juventus goal. Other than that, it was an uneventful performance.

Will Dest be a starter for this team at the beginning of the season? It doesn’t seem so.

As for McKennie, Max Allegri said the U.S. midfielder would return to the team tomorrow but didn’t say if it was for injury or personal reasons.

"He is an important player for us, tomorrow he will return with the team and on Saturday he will be able to play,” Allegri said.



It was a tough week for Yunus Musah. While he has been making big progress with Valencia in central midfield, he started for the club over the weekend in a rough 5-2 loss to a VfB Stuttgart team managed by Pellegrino Matarazzo.

Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson both started for Leeds United under Jesse Marsch in a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace to conclude the Australian preseason tour. Both Americans were subbed out at halftime with the score 0-0 and both look like potential starters to begin the season. 

Tim Weah started and picked up an assist for Lille in a 2-2 draw with Las Palmas. The USMNT winger picked off a poor pass from a Las Palmas central defender and quickly fed it towards goal for an assist. It will be interesting to see how Weah is used this year. It seems as if it is only a matter of time before Jonathan David is sold (Bayern are the latest interested) but that will certainly affect Weah and it will increase his responsibilities in the attack until further reinforcements are added.

Joe Scally started and played 75 minutes for Borussia Monchengladbach in a 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad. Scally was quiet in this one. Mexican-American Jonathan Gomez played the second half for Sociedad and it seems as if another season with Sociedad B could be in the cards.

Austin Trusty made his debut for Birmingham City (on loan from Arsenal) when he started in the club’s final preseason game, a 2-2 draw with Rayo Vallecano in La Liga. Trusty will wear No. 5 and will open the season this weekend against Ethan Horvath and Luton Town.

 

Will Trusty play for Birmingham City? It seems likely. Birmingham City were terrible defensively last season as the club finished 20th out of 24 in the Championship. That being said, Trusty struggled the first half of the season with Colorado.

 

2.Bundesliga/Belgium updates

 

Two leagues with several Americas which are already into their season are Belgium’s top flight and Germany’s 2.Bundesliga.  Results have been mixed.

Two top performers have been Sam Vines and Terrence Boyd.

Sam Vines was strong for Royal Antwerp in its 2-0 season opening win over Mechelen on Sunday. There is an opening on the U.S. team for the backup left back spot as George Bello has been unconvincing.

Elsewhere in Belgium, it wasn’t good for Americans. Mark McKenzie was an unused sub for Genk in its 3-2 loss to Club Brugge. For McKenzie, his World Cup hopes seem to be fading quickly. Owen Otasowie didn’t get off the bench either for Brugge. Bryan Reynolds was an unused sub for Westerloo in its 2-0 win over Cercle Brugge while Griffin Yow is still finalizing his work permit to suit up. Kyle Duncan, meanwhile, was suspended for Oostende’s 2-0 loss to Anderlecht due to the red card he picked up in last season’s finale.

In the 2.Bundesliga, Terrence Boyd scored for Kaiserslautern in its 2-2 draw with Holstein Kiel while Nico Carrera is still not in Holstein Kiel’s lineup. Boyd now has a goal and an assist in the first two games of the season.  Julian Green and Timothy Tillman each started for Greuther Furth in a 2-0 loss to Nurnberg. George Bello started and played 86 minutes for Arminia Bielefeld in a brutal 3-0 loss at home to Jahn Regensburg. Former Springfield college defender Ryan Malone started for Hansa Rostock in an impressive 1-0 away win over Hamburg.

From an international perspective, Bello was the big story and things clearly aren’t clicking for him at Arminia Bielefeld. While he was on the USMNT June roster, I would expect Berhalter to look at other options in September. Whether that be Sam Vines, John Tolkin, DeJuan Jones, or perhaps just moving Sergino Dest to the left, Bello has probably lost his grip on a ticket to Qatar.

 

Player movement

 

There have been a lot of moves so far this summer including key national team players. Luca de la Torre moved to Celta Vigo, Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams moved to Leeds, Zack Steffen was loaned to Middlesbrough, and there have been several other smaller deals or loans. But Chris Richards is a big one and his transfer from Bayern Munich to Crystal Palace has now been announced.



I wrote about this last week in the preseason notebook, but this is a great deal. He will probably be the third central defender, but he is moving because manager Patrick Viera wants him and he will now have to raise his game to get on the field. He wasn’t challenged that way at Hoffenheim. It’s also great for FC Dallas, who could net nearly $5 million from this transfer if the bonus incentives are met.

In other moves, former U.S. U-20 international Charlie Kelman has been loaned from Queens Park Rangers to Leyton Orient in fourth tier League Two.

Jordan Bender last fall saw the option on his homegrown contract declined by Orlando City and now he will return to his parents’ native Cape Town City FC which finished last season in second in South Africa’s top tier. Bender was called up to the only U-20 camp of the previous cycle in January 2020 before Covid cancelled the 2021 U-20 World Cup.

As mentioned, Cole Bassett could rework a situation where he goes on loan to another club, likely in Holland.

Justin Che could be in a different situation as he does not appear to be in the plans right now at Hoffenheim. He is at Hoffenheim on an 18-month loan but based on reports, it doesn’t seem like Bundesliga minutes will be there for him soon. He might remain at Hoffenheim but moving on loan to another club is certainly in the mix.

Tyler Boyd has been starting for Besiktas this preseason but hasn’t stood out. It seems unlikely that he will make their roster for the Super Lig season and Besiktas will probably settle for any decent offer.

The quiet nature of the John Brooks saga has been very interesting. There are reports of teams interested (we’ve seen Marseille, Union Berlin, top Turkish teams, and others all rumored) but then things go very quiet. It seems like it will be resolved soon but Brooks has been able to sign a contract with any team since January and still has yet to put pen to paper.

Richard Ledezma is a bigger story to watch and this one is going to come down to the wire – but it is a positive story. He is still in the plans at PSV and is performing well but Vitesse wants him on loan. PSV will likely wait for a few more weeks to determine if Vitesse is a possibility.

Matthew Hoppe is coming off a lost season at Mallorca and hasn’t been involved in preseason. Tom Bogert reported that an offer from Middlesbrough has been made. But would Hoppe play at Middlesbrough? There is a lot of heavy turnover in the Championship. Duncan Watmore and Josh Coburn are returning from last season. Watmore had seven goals and three assists last season, which is lackluster for a player in his prime (but still far beyond what Hoppe accomplished last season), and Coburn is only 19, but is highly rated with four goals last season.

Chuba Akpom, 26, returns to Middlesbrough from a loan to PAOK in Greece but has five goals in 39 games for Middlesbrough. Uche Ikpeazu also returns to Middlesbrough after a positive loan to Cardiff City where he scored three goals in 13 games (but started only once). That loan was due to an emergency need at Cardiff and Ikpeazu was popular in Wales.

For Hoppe, there is competition but none of the existing options seem unbeatable.

 

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