WestHamCanadianinOxford Posted July 12 Share Posted July 12 Any word on him yet this year? He is back listed a B team player with Nice on Transfermarket but nothing on their site for over a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueseeka Posted July 12 Share Posted July 12 I saw that Avranches played Brest today but couldn't find a lineup to see if he is still with them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narduch Posted July 12 Share Posted July 12 48 minutes ago, blueseeka said: I saw that Avranches played Brest today but couldn't find a lineup to see if he is still with them He shouldn't be with them. It was only a loan WestHamCanadianinOxford 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted July 12 Share Posted July 12 52 minutes ago, narduch said: He shouldn't be with them. It was only a loan Correct, his loan was from Nice and he is back on their roster, on the B team. And the oldest player on that roster list. So he'd be ripe for another loan unless he wants to be released to sign for another team. https://www.transfermarkt.us/ogc-nizza-b/startseite/verein/8158 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyslexic nam Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 I am still floored by the fact that the talented kid we saw at the u20 level hasn’t been able to push on an hit the next level I think many of us were expecting. He really looked good for us in that context. Corazon, Northvansteve, lamptern and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueseeka Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 (edited) 52 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said: I am still floored by the fact that the talented kid we saw at the u20 level hasn’t been able to push on an hit the next level I think many of us were expecting. He really looked good for us in that context. Yeah, he looked like a step above everyone in that tournament. It has been a little disappointing since. This should be a big year for him. Hopefully, we find out his team soon Edited July 13 by blueseeka Corazon and WestHamCanadianinOxford 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 5 minutes ago, blueseeka said: Yeah, he looked like a step above everyone in that tournament. It has been a little disappointing since. This should be a big year for him. Hopefully, we find out his team soon Except for Kwasi Poku, who was arguably our second best player in that tourney. WestHamCanadianinOxford, Corazon, blueseeka and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlantic Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 Jack1997, Dominic94, InglewoodJack and 14 others 14 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VinceA Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 Not a bad move but I'm a bit sad he's still stuck with reserve team ball. This feels a bit like when Piette joined Deportivo B. We are all excited for the prospect of him getting to La Liga but it became obvious quick he was never anything more than a warm body for training their other youngsters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narduch Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 Spanish 4th Tier. At this point you wonder if he would be better off coming to North America. costarg, P-O, Jack1997 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueseeka Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 Google Translation: OFFICIAL | Justin Smith, new player of Espanyol B The Club has reached an agreement with @ogcnice for the transfer of the French-Canadian midfielder 👋 Welcome, Justin! Looks like he was sold by Nice. Honestly, seems like a step up from the French National League. Hopefully, he is the starting CB Borjans Sweatpants, Unnamed Trialist, narduch and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cronaldo7 Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 This will be a good development route. Although we may not love it, this is where he’s at. Kind of excited to see how this transpires. Obinna, Canuckia, PegCityCam and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_M Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 spanish d4 isnt a step up from french d3...spanish d4 has 90 teams and in the divisions above theres a total of 82 teams...french d3 has 18 teams and above that theres a total of 36 narduch 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macksam Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 4 hours ago, narduch said: Spanish 4th Tier. At this point you wonder if he would be better off coming to North America. This. MLS would be a great litmus test, if he thrives, he's great, if he gets descent playing time and shows he's capable of hanging in that league, he's good, if he struggles, he's in the "time to move on from this one," category. narduch 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 (edited) I am a bit surprised by the comments here. This is a huge move (and Spanish lower divisions are far better than French, whatever you say). I see in the specialized Espanyol press they call him a mid with a defensive profile, although Transfermarkt calls him a CB. There are few clubs as committed to bringing up B players to the first team as Espanyol, take Koleosho. And they are one of the most successful academies in Spain, probably in the top 6. The entire B team is a step from the first team and many former B team players were starting last year in 2nd division: Joan García, keeper, El Hilali, a fullback, Puado was with them in La Liga and has remained after the year in 2nd, they just lost Nico Melamed to Almería (odd move), Jofre Carrerras an attacking wing spent all his youth with them, Kenneth Soler has been brought up now but spent all his youth with them. Sergi Darder did not continue with them in 2nd but went to Mallorca. Then the coach of the first team who got them promoted is Manolo González who was the B team coach for Koleosho and most of last year too, the last and most successful of their various coaches on the way to promoting to La Liga. More to the point: they want to get their B team into 3rd tier and have not been doing great, otherwise they would not sign a guy of his age. Usually the B is a step out of the u-19s, but if you want to promote you have to sign more aggressively, as the lower tiers have gotten harder. He's still one of the older of the group, most are 19-20. So deciding on him is huge in fact, I am a bit surprised. I watch this level regularly, last I saw was a promotion playoff in May from 4th to 3rd tier with a Barcelona based team, Sant Andreu. In Barcelona you have Espanyol B, Sant Andreu, Europa, Cornella, then a few more in the belt around the city. The B team may get a thousand fans on a good day, many rivals could get 5-7 thousand. @Big_M the point is fair, but you are not accurate. Spanish 3rd tier has 40 teams and 4th tier has hundred. But only a few years ago there were 80 in third tier and (no kidding) 340 in 4th tier. It is no question a drop in tier, but the perspective of Liga play and the exposure is far higher than a 3rd tier in France. Edited July 24 by Unnamed Trialist FC_Hali, johnyb, Corazon and 3 others 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_M Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 1 hour ago, Big_M said: spanish d4 isnt a step up from french d3...spanish d4 has 90 teams and in the divisions above theres a total of 82 teams...french d3 has 18 teams and above that theres a total of 36 9 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said: @Big_M the point is fair, but you are not accurate. Spanish 3rd tier has 40 teams and 4th tier has hundred. But only a few years ago there were 80 in third tier and (no kidding) 340 in 4th tier. It is no question a drop in tier, but the perspective of Liga play and the exposure is far higher than a 3rd tier in France. total of 82 teams above spanish d4(20+22+40) and total of 90 teams in spanish d4(5 groups of 18) total of 36 teams above french d3(18+18) and total of 18 teams in french d3 Unnamed Trialist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 (edited) Oh right @Big_M, 5 groups of 18, 90 in total. Better in fact. You are right there. I should have understood you better, since I often defend the value of German 3rd tier, as there are only 36 teams above it (now I get what you were saying), and I argue that significantly raises the value of B3. The key difference is that France lower tiers are a serious step below the big 4 leagues. Their 2nd is far weaker, their third is a single division so that raises it. I suppose Espanyol saw something at his loan club in 3rd, which would surprise me given how many players are out there. J Smith, when I looked last year, had a very small and weak agency representing him, but now he's with Wasserman, good move. Edited July 24 by Unnamed Trialist cronaldo7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_M Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 Just saw that his team Avranches in the third tier actually got relegated and they didnt trust him to start in the do or die games at the end of the season...the year before he barely got on the field for Quevilly in the second tier and mainly played in their second team in the fifth tier...the story here is most likely that there was no serious interest in him in the top three tiers of France and he jumped on this opportunity to go abroad...he has two years now to make a name for himself in Spain FC_Hali, Olympique_de_Marseille and The Real Marc 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadaFan123 Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 It’s ironic that France is arguably the deepest nation in world football today yet their pyramid is ranked quite low. Obviously the top division is 5th but then you would expect the lower divisions to be of a higher relative quality and that is not the case. In a Canadian context this has to give us hope for the future. blueseeka and Canuckia 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueseeka Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 10 hours ago, Big_M said: Just saw that his team Avranches in the third tier actually got relegated and they didnt trust him to start in the do or die games at the end of the season. That part isn't fair. He was their starting back in pretty much the whole season. If memory serves me, he had an injury late in the year and then returned on the bench for the last couple games. He was on a loan, so they obviously saw something in him to start almost all of the games over their own players. Espanyol owning him gives me hope for this year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InglewoodJack Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 Good move. Think we’ll have our answer by season’s end if he’s an upper tier player or future MLSer. Can’t imagine he stays at Espanyol B for more than a season, 2 max Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonovision Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 5 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said: Good move. Think we’ll have our answer by season’s end if he’s an upper tier player or future MLSer. Can’t imagine he stays at Espanyol B for more than a season, 2 max Future MLSer as the floor of one's career prospects seems awfully generous. Jack1997 and Kusch to the Corner 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obinna Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 3 hours ago, CanadaFan123 said: It’s ironic that France is arguably the deepest nation in world football today yet their pyramid is ranked quite low. Obviously the top division is 5th but then you would expect the lower divisions to be of a higher relative quality and that is not the case. In a Canadian context this has to give us hope for the future. Few things come to mind reading this: Firstly, when you say their "pyramid is ranked quite low", what you actually mean is that it's ranked lower than a few elite countries, like Spain, England, and Germany, and probably Italy too. Then besides that, you basically just have Brazil and Argentina, which must have very large pyramids. Are there more and better teams and divisions in those places? Not sure. Secondly, when you say France is arguably the deepest nation in world football, you are really talking about the top talents, and all the big clubs are littered with French players, whether it's Bayern, Real Madrid, etc. BUT funny enough I don't really notice a lot of French exports at the mid and lower levels, unlike Brazil or Argentina. So, what country is the deepest in the world, is it France because they seem to have the biggest and best crop of top players, or would it be Brazil or Argentina, since they seem to have the largest crop of players period? Thirdly, I am very hopeful for Canada, but the case of France doesn't change my outlook for us either way, I don't think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rydermike Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 The fact that he's born and raised in France is probably a reason why he preferred a move to Spain lower tiers over MLS. It's closer to home for him. Obinna, Corazon and HochelagaFC 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obinna Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 Also, more to the point of the thread, I am happy for Smith. Nice seemed to be a dead end, even if we believe it shouldn't have been, that was the reality of the situation. Fresh start to life in Spain with a club notorious for producing a lot of players. I could see him work his way up to the first team one day, why not? If you think he is good and didn't progress because he was just hard done by Nice, then you'd have to believe a new environment should be exactly what he needs. If he fails to progress at Espanyol, then we can talk MLS, CPL, or whatever. Too early for me right now. HochelagaFC, Corazon, YorkRegionFan and 2 others 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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