Kwasi Poku

[jordan]

The goals

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/ZWgoyzqoRC4gSJbx/?mibextid=WC7FNe

[Obinna]

So he was on the radar of Marsch before he started playing in Belgium and now he's there he has 2 goals in 3 games. I know it's early days and it's the Challenger Pro League but it seems likely Poku gets chosen for the national team in October. 

[Corazon]

27 minutes ago, Obinna said:

So he was on the radar of Marsch before he started playing in Belgium and now he's there he has 2 goals in 3 games. I know it's early days and it's the Challenger Pro League but it seems likely Poku gets chosen for the national team in October. 

I get this is a promising CPL success story but I hope he’s not there unless it’s as a guest trainee invite only.  We’re far too good nowadays to be including a player from the Challenger league.  Especially when we have a debate going on in another forum about a player playing in La Liga and Segunda missing call ups.  Personally, I’d rather see Kulenovic or Promise David included ahead of him right now.  But I do get the idea of including a CPL player on the rise.

[narduch]

With Oluwaseyi going cold and Ugbo and Bair not doing much at their new clubs their may be a spot for him.

Good point above about Kulenovic and Promise David though.

[Obinna]

30 minutes ago, Corazon said:

I get this is a promising CPL success story but I hope he’s not there unless it’s as a guest trainee invite only.  We’re far too good nowadays to be including a player from the Challenger league.  Especially when we have a debate going on in another forum about a player playing in La Liga and Segunda missing call ups.  Personally, I’d rather see Kulenovic or Promise David included ahead of him right now.  But I do get the idea of including a CPL player on the rise.

I would agree in general on calling a player from this division. We are far too deep now to be doing such things, generally speaking. However, if we can get specific, Marsch has mentioned Poku specifically and given his trajectory this time in the Challenger Pro League will be very temporary. The club is at the top of the table and he is replicating his 2024 CPL scoring pace right now. A lot can change, of course, but as things stand now it seems far more likely he gets called before Promise David (who I want called in) and Corbeanu (who I desperately want called in).

Promise David is probably the one competing with Poku and he's got a very interesting profile and is in a good environment with a better club, but I don't believe he was mentioned by Marsch specifically (correct me if I am wrong) and he isn't playing enough to warrant a call. I would call him anyway given his profile and potential and to cap tie, but if we are treating this as a meritocracy he shouldn't be ahead of Bair, Tani, JRR, Ugbo, or even Jebbo (who is to play more than PD, but needs even more minutes... and some goals).

[Obinna]

Forgot to mention Kulenovic...he needs to be in the mix and I would call him ahead of Poku, but if we see Poku first I won't be surprised and it wouldn't be outrageous either. Top team in Belgian 2nd Division vs weaker Eredivisie side. Seems to be no flight risk with Poku so like Promise David, I would look to Kulenovic first, personally.

[Corazon]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

Forgot to mention Kulenovic...he needs to be in the mix and I would call him ahead of Poku, but if we see Poku first I won't be surprised and it wouldn't be outrageous either. Top team in Belgian 2nd Division vs weaker Eredivisie side. Seems to be no flight risk with Poku so like Promise David, I would look to Kulenovic first, personally.

I agree with this as well.  I’m also in favour of using friendlies like this to bring in a couple new players to camp, just as Marsch has already been doing by integrating new players every camp.  In a 1 game window, there’s gonna be 5+ players who don’t play anyways.  I’m all for bringing players into camp to train if we have the funds but come Nations League, it needs to be our best 23 man roster imo.

Edited September 23 by Corazon

[Aird25]

2 hours ago, Corazon said:

I get this is a promising CPL success story but I hope he’s not there unless it’s as a guest trainee invite only.  We’re far too good nowadays to be including a player from the Challenger league.  Especially when we have a debate going on in another forum about a player playing in La Liga and Segunda missing call ups.  Personally, I’d rather see Kulenovic or Promise David included ahead of him right now.  But I do get the idea of including a CPL player on the rise.

I think he's being considered because he's a young talent that has more goals this year than any of our other options but maybe Jonathan David. It's great we have players at higher levels, but form and potential are also factors

Edited September 23 by Aird25

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 hours ago, Corazon said:

I get this is a promising CPL success story but I hope he’s not there unless it’s as a guest trainee invite only.  We’re far too good nowadays to be including a player from the Challenger league.  Especially when we have a debate going on in another forum about a player playing in La Liga and Segunda missing call ups.  Personally, I’d rather see Kulenovic or Promise David included ahead of him right now.  But I do get the idea of including a CPL player on the rise.

We brought in Liam Fraser playing in 2nd tier Belgium and actually his performances for us were pretty solid. But it may be true we've moved past that. We had Brym in 2nd tier Netherlands, and now in 1st tier he is not getting looks from our NT. If Poku can promote with this club and keep performing, then definitely an interesting option.

 

[InglewoodJack]

TI think calling him while he was in the CPL is a much more compelling story than calling him as a 2nd div Belgian player who scored in a cup vs.a 3rd div club and then a brace against a reserve club. I think the path for him to make the team is there, and he has a good chance to make his time in the 2nd tier as short as possible, but I think there are a few guys ahead of him who aren’t getting called.

 

I will say, I’m hoping to start the Poku to Lyon rumours by the spring. A buddy reminded me that Molenbeek is part of the group that owns Palace (Everton now?), Lyon and Botafogo, so that path is also relatively viable. 

[Obinna]

41 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

We brought in Liam Fraser playing in 2nd tier Belgium and actually his performances for us were pretty solid. But it may be true we've moved past that. We had Brym in 2nd tier Netherlands, and now in 1st tier he is not getting looks from our NT. If Poku can promote with this club and keep performing, then definitely an interesting option.

 

Agreed and I think it depends on profile also. I haven't watched Poku enough at the 9, but from what I recall of him at LB, he is athletic and dynamic, sort of like Davies. If he brings those qualities to the 9 spot, it could be intriguing for Marsch.

For starters, it will be another player with the legs to press, but also a willing runner in behind. He's not the man-mountain Promise David is, but he is 6'3, bigger than Tani who leads the line well with plenty of energy. So, a younger, slightly bigger version of Tani, who hasn't gone cold in front of goal. Lower level for sure, but that's why you bring him in arguably, to see how he stacks up.

The other thing is his ability to slot in at left back. I am guessing Marsch is intrigued by his availability as a forward, but having a guy who can play at full back, wingback, and probably winger must be interesting.

[Watchmen]

11 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

TI think calling him while he was in the CPL is a much more compelling story than calling him as a 2nd div Belgian player who scored in a cup vs.a 3rd div club and then a brace against a reserve club. I think the path for him to make the team is there, and he has a good chance to make his time in the 2nd tier as short as possible, but I think there are a few guys ahead of him who aren’t getting called.

 

I will say, I’m hoping to start the Poku to Lyon rumours by the spring. A buddy reminded me that Molenbeek is part of the group that owns Palace (Everton now?), Lyon and Botafogo, so that path is also relatively viable. 

I'm starting the Poku to Marseille rumours now so that I can limit how many teams I have to watch/follow in France. I will accept Nice and Auxerre as alternative destinations.  I'm assuming David will be gone from Lille by next season...

Edited September 23 by Watchmen

[InglewoodJack]

34 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

I'm starting the Poku to Marseille rumours now so that I can limit how many teams I have to watch/follow in France. I will accept Nice and Auxerre as alternative destinations.  I'm assuming David will be gone from Lille by next season...

Fake fan!! I’m just waiting for when we get Canadian Ligue 1 content for the 9AM, 11AM and 2:45 games!!

[Corazon]

2 hours ago, Aird25 said:

I think he's being considered because he's a young talent that has more goals this year than any of our other options but maybe Jonathan David. It's great we have players at higher levels, but form and potential are also factors

I understand that, but are we really willing to drop someone like Larin who may be struggling to score in La Liga (currently playing in front of 60,000 fans in Sevilla) because we have a striker scoring in the 67th ranked league in the world?

Edited September 23 by Corazon

[Aird25]

1 hour ago, Corazon said:

I understand that, but are we really willing to drop someone like Larin who may be struggling to score in La Liga (currently playing in front of 60,000 fans in Sevilla) because we have a striker scoring in the 67th ranked league in the world?

I don't imagine our record goal scorer would be first in line to be dropped. There are other players that are probably less deserving of a call and Poku plays numerous positions. Also, Larin was playing college ball at Poku's age. I just take exception to your notion that Poku would only be called for a good news story. He's been very, very good in numerous positions for a while now, and he has high potential. A few months from now he'll be playing at a higher level. Why can't we recognize that in our call ups

Edited September 23 by Aird25

[Corazon]

56 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

I don't imagine our record goal scorer would be first in line to be dropped. There are other players that are probably less deserving of a call and Poku plays numerous positions. Also, Larin was playing college ball at Poku's age. I just take exception to your notion that Poku would only be called for a good news story. He's been very, very good in numerous positions for a while now, and he has high potential. A few months from now he'll be playing at a higher level. Why can't we recognize that in our call ups

Fair enough, everyone has an opinion.

Corbeanu is also versatile and I’d be inclined to call him up even.  But I don’t think either make our current best 23 anyways.

For a friendly I’d love to have both Poku and Corbeanu.  I’m always in for expanding our player pool and I think Poku’s gonna be a part of this program in the coming years.

[gator]

I have no problem with Poku being included in the squad, he is young and striker is a position where if you are "on the boil" it doesn't make a huge difference who your opposition is, imagine him with better service! I won't get into the discussion of who you drop to include him, if anyone but I don't think it would be a bad thing for JM to include some promising youngsters in the camps! Having watched him in person at Forge this kid certainly has huge potential, is he a top 5 striker for us now, I don't think so but who knows, I wouldn't bet against him!

[Aird25]

5 hours ago, Corazon said:

Fair enough, everyone has an opinion.

Corbeanu is also versatile and I’d be inclined to call him up even.  But I don’t think either make our current best 23 anyways.

For a friendly I’d love to have both Poku and Corbeanu.  I’m always in for expanding our player pool and I think Poku’s gonna be a part of this program in the coming years.

Didn't you just say that you hoped that he's not called? I don't get your position 

[Watchmen]

4 hours ago, gator said:

I have no problem with Poku being included in the squad, he is young and striker is a position where if you are "on the boil" it doesn't make a huge difference who your opposition is, imagine him with better service! I won't get into the discussion of who you drop to include him, if anyone but I don't think it would be a bad thing for JM to include some promising youngsters in the camps! Having watched him in person at Forge this kid certainly has huge potential, is he a top 5 striker for us now, I don't think so but who knows, I wouldn't bet against him!

I think it does matter who the opposition is.  Promise David was scoring quite a bit in Estonia, not so much in Belgium.  Bair was scoring quite a bit last year and still only made it off the bench for the final 15 minutes of the 3rd place match this summer.  Obviously JM should be keeping an eye on Poku, but the level he's at should matter in terms of getting a call up these days.

[gator]

13 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

I think it does matter who the opposition is.  Promise David was scoring quite a bit in Estonia, not so much in Belgium.  Bair was scoring quite a bit last year and still only made it off the bench for the final 15 minutes of the 3rd place match this summer.  Obviously JM should be keeping an eye on Poku, but the level he's at should matter in terms of getting a call up these days.

He has scored against MLS opposition, don't many on here argue that is a top league, we have several players from that league either starting or in the mix!

[InglewoodJack]

8 hours ago, gator said:

He has scored against MLS opposition, don't many on here argue that is a top league, we have several players from that league either starting or in the mix!

He scored against CF Montreal and TFC, “MLS opposition” is carrying a lot of weight in that sentence 

[Corazon]

12 hours ago, Aird25 said:

Didn't you just say that you hoped that he's not called? I don't get your position 

As a training invite, which has been done in the past with an few others.

Edited September 24 by Corazon

[Obinna]

24 minutes ago, Corazon said:

As a training invite, which has been done in the past with an few others.

I get your position and you've made it clear and I agree on some of it, but is calling Poku as a training player a bit disrespectful?

Not that he would feel disrespected, or believe it's beneath him, but as a fan of the national team I would feel that way FOR him.

Santiago Lopez, for example, is a youth player who is just breaking into Pumas, with just 2 league appearance to date. That's what a training player looks like, at least for me.

Another example was Patrick Metcalfe. Can't recall the year, maybe 2021, but he was still with Vancouver I believe, and although he played 20 games for the Whitecaps in the end, he was really on the fringes of the team throughout his MLS tenure, Again, that's a training player.

Another example is Matteo Campanga under Herdman.

Poku is different. He doesn't yet have the resume of a JRR, Bair or Ugbo, but his development is well ahead of Lopez, Campanga or Metcalfe (when he was training with Canada). Again, if he sustains his goal rate at this level he's either going to move up a level, or even if he moderates out but keeps scoring and finishes with say 10 goals, he's going to be sticking around with his club in the Belgian top flight when they promote.

I suppose it's too early to take their promotion to the bank, but given their start and the fact they were in the top flight last season, along with their strong backing, being part of the Crystal Palace/Lyon ownership group, it's a pretty safe bet, I feel.

Anyway, does any of the above sway your opinion about him being a training player?

Are there examples of any other training players this far into their development?

[Watchmen]

7 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I get your position and you've made it clear and I agree on some of it, but is calling Poku as a training player a bit disrespectful?

Not that he would feel disrespected, or believe it's beneath him, but as a fan of the national team I would feel that way FOR him.

Santiago Lopez, for example, is a youth player who is just breaking into Pumas, with just 2 league appearance to date. That's what a training player looks like, at least for me.

Another example was Patrick Metcalfe. Can't recall the year, maybe 2021, but he was still with Vancouver I believe, and although he played 20 games for the Whitecaps in the end, he was really on the fringes of the team throughout his MLS tenure, Again, that's a training player.

Another example is Matteo Campanga under Herdman.

Poku is different. He doesn't yet have the resume of a JRR, Bair or Ugbo, but his development is well ahead of Lopez, Campanga or Metcalfe (when he was training with Canada). Again, if he sustains his goal rate at this level he's either going to move up a level, or even if he moderates out but keeps scoring and finishes with say 10 goals, he's going to be sticking around with his club in the Belgian top flight when they promote.

I suppose it's too early to take their promotion to the bank, but given their start and the fact they were in the top flight last season, along with their strong backing, being part of the Crystal Palace/Lyon ownership group, it's a pretty safe bet, I feel.

Anyway, does any of the above sway your opinion about him being a training player?

Are there examples of any other training players this far into their development?

I'm not cheering against Poku here, but in your example I think there's a big difference between "starting to crack the line up of a good Liga MX side" vs "in the line up of a Belgium div 2 team". I don't think his development is "well ahead of Lopez", and I don't know if I'd even be calling Lopez in yet either. I think "training squad" player is exactly what these guys are right now, and it's not something they should be offended by. We don't need to be rushing to anoint "the next one" so quickly sometimes. Let's just see what Poku does this year, and best of luck to him.

[InglewoodJack]

We don’t need a training invite striker, we already call up 4-5 any given window. I’d be more interested in calling up some of our younger CMs if we’re doing that. Thinking of guys like Dumitru with Toronto, Jeevan Badwal, guys like that who are playing nextpro week in week out but no real pro resume. 
 

Was gonna mention Jesse Costa too, I still see he’s unattached FC. Is that true?