Every so often I go through and check on the value of the USMNT player pool. The last time was March of 2020 and player values had not yet been affected by the COVID19 shut down. They have now.
Basically the entire player pool is down 20% or so. There are a couple exceptions to this that we’ll look at, and the Baby Nats didn’t get hit quite as hard, but the value of the pool is way down. I’d imagine values will start bouncing back in the next few months, but it may be a year or more before a lot of these players get back to their pre-corona valuations.
Explanation (feel free to skip this if you’ve been reading these)
The “hype” a player gets or how good each USMNT player is generally considered is tough to determine. One way a value can be assigned is straight up $. How much would teams be willing to pay for Player X? There’s no way to know for sure, but one way to estimate is through the use of Transfermarkt.
This is a German website that provides player values. The values provided are “crowd sourced,” but generally considered fairly trustworthy. Here’s a brief description of how it works:
The USMNT Player Pool
The list of players you see below and in the accompanying charts are my opinion on who makes up the US player pool. There may be a player or two that you would include that I didn’t. That’s too bad. Darlington Nagbe is the best possession player and maybe the best midfielder the US has, but afaik he’s not in the pool.😢
Previous Versions: Winter 19, Spring 19, Summer 19, Fall 20′, March 20′
Added to the pool since March 20′
Miles Robinson: It seems like I’ve written a lot about this dude recently, but imo he’s ready to take on a starting role for the USMNT. This is especially true if we are going to keep the athletic defender profile we’ve been using at RCB. He’s better with the ball than Aaron Long (the current incumbent) and he’s at least as good a defender. (He came out better in the defensive metric I compiled.) When October rolls around and Berhalter calls a domestic-based group I’m very curious to see how Long and Robinson stack up.
Chris Richards: This may be a bit premature, but I don’t care. Richards is in and around the roster for the best team in the world at the moment. If he’s even sniffing their first team then he’s good enough to do at least that for the USMNT. There have been rumors that he could be loaned out, rumors that he’s being converted to right back (please no), but whatever the case he should be starting to get integrated with the full team soon.
Dropped from pool since March 20′
No one, actually. There were a few players that I considered dropping (Horvath, CCV, Zimmerman, Trapp), but I couldn’t quite pull the trigger yet. If a few of these young guys do break through and push into first teams that will happen, but for now I think we can leave them be. Also, assuming next summer goes as planned (*crosses fingers*) there are going to be in the neighborhood of TEN(!) competitive full USMNT games, plus probably a warm up friendly or two, the U20 World Cup, and the Olympics. I don’t think the player pool is going to shrink given that situation.
Alphabetical List
“High” Value Players
“Low” Value Players
Stock Up
Chris Richards (+42%): He already got a mention above, but Richards proved immune to the massive Coronavirus devaluation of the player pool. While nearly everyone else took a hit Richards increased by close to half.
Tyler Adams (+4%): This is sort of like increasing 24% if you look at the rest of the pool. It’s a little surprising though. I found Adams’ performance last season under Rangnick to be more impressive than the matches he played this year under Nagelsmann. Someone must have liked what they saw though, since even though Adams missed over half the season with injury problems…he still increased in value.
Playing under Nagelsmann has probably made him more useful to Berhalter and the US as well. The style they play now is closer to the USMNT’s style than what it was.
Holding Firm
Pulisic and Reyna: The two most dynamic attackers in the US pool are also the two that didn’t move up or down. Honestly, I think they both should have increased in value with what we saw down the stretch of the 19/20 season, but I can’t be trusted. I look at all of this stuff through red, white, and blue lenses.
Stock Down
Everybody else. Most players lost around 20% in value. The few that only lost about 10% (McKennie, Sargent, Ferreira, Weah) come out looking like they almost got a bump. It’s also telling that those four are all young players that look to have a bright future. Players like Alfredo Morales or Wil Trapp will probably never work their way back to pre-corona levels.
The Baby Nats
Youth players like these are growth stocks. So as you’d expect their value did not take as much of a hit as their senior counterparts. There was still a lot more red than we usually see on this spreadsheet, but there was also some noticeable green.
Stock Up
Konrad de la Fuente (+382%): Konrad has suddenly become a much more valuable commodity. When we saw him last summer, he was playing rather anonymously on the right wing during the US U20’s World Cup run. He wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t good either. He’s either developed a lot in the past year or playing up an age cycle was a little too much for him at the time. Either way, he’s made the senior Barcelona bench a couple times and looked good for Barcelona B. If he manages to continue making the bench next season (I doubt it, but you never know) his value skyrockets and time with the senior team would have to be assumed.
Alex Mendez (+50%): This one is harder to explain. I love Mendez and his left foot, but he hasn’t done a whole lot at Ajax yet. He’s not a lock starter for Jong Ajax and he doesn’t look close to getting time with their senior team (was a late sub for their second team friendly today for instance).
Chris Durkin (+30%): Writing off any player is rather stupid because who knows what the future is going to hold…but privately, I had written Durkin off. He was unimpressive in the U20 World Cup and couldn’t get a game with DC United. However, things are looking up for Durkin at St. Truiden. If he plays well in the Belgian league a higher level European league could well come calling. Durkin’s skill set is also what Berhalter looks for in a #6…so you never know what could happen.
Stock Down
Jonathan Amon (-31%): Amon is the only player on this list that got more than the corona-bump down. This makes me sad. There’s not much more fun to watch than a super fast winger that scares the pants off defenders. The dude just can’t stay healthy though. I hope that changes this season and he works his way back to relevance, but I wouldn’t put money on it.
New to the List
James Sands: I’m not quite sure why he wasn’t already on here. In fairness though, up until this MLS season Sands was overlooked by almost everyone. As the newest member of the “James Sands is Awesome” fan club I’d like to sincerely apologize to James and his family. If the USMNT needs a defensive #6 and for some reason Tyler Adams is unavailable (or playing in a different position🙄) then Sands should be there.
Nick Taitague(!): The first person to be taken off the list and then put back on (come on, Carleton🙏). This makes me very happy. Taitague is a super talented player that has not been able to stay healthy. He’s back and getting time with Schalke’s first team now during preseason. Schalke can’t kick a ball into the ocean from a boat, so you’d think a player as talented as Nick is going to get a shot at some point soon.🤞
Jonathan Gomez: This is based on reputation. I need to get around to watching a Louisville City game to check him out myself, but Gomez is one of the two great hopes at left back along with Kobe Hernandez-Foster. He featured prominently in Scuffed’s players to watch in USL episode and sounds like a perfect fit for the sort of attacking left back the USMNT could really use.
If you enjoyed this and would like to be informed of future articles type your email address in the box and you’ll be notified of each new post. Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter @blharreld 🤓
