http://www.espnfc.com/club/toronto-f...medium=twitter
Article about him with some background info
Clement Simonin
http://www.espnfc.com/club/toronto-f...medium=twitter
Article about him with some background info
Is it just me or is it incredibly staggering that we picked him at 9?
This is a guy who:
- Wasn't even listed in the MLS draft media guide
- Himself thought he would "maybe get picked in the last two rounds"
- Began attending business school
Then got picked at 9 was like "Oh, I guess I'll be a professional soccer player then"
We're supposed to believe Seattle was willing to trade up to 10th overall to get him?
Of course he could turn out to be a real pro, but I mean damn. Talk about unexpected.
Smart move on their part; he has no real financial risk, took languages at university in France before coming over here, and was probably signed to make Perquis and Seba feel more comfortable (I wonder if he also speaks Italian?). They've learned from Defoe and consulted an old pro who has told them of the old tradition of bringing in a make-weight fellow countryman when signing a foreign star.Originally Posted by mowe
Plus, he played well for Seattle U23 and was in the team of the week in PDL several times. So he might pan out, too!
A little more background for him, looks like he came out of the FC Lorient academy in France and attended school stateside. There is some potential for him to be a diamond in the rough.
"Simonin was on the books of FC Lorient from the time he was 12 until he was 19"
I think that's his most important asset. Probably has better footballing IQ than your average North American college player.
PM-style scouting:
Some other good videos out there.
Wow. I know it's a highlight video at college speed, but he shows really well. Composed on the ball, great long passer, dangerous in and around the box. He might actually just be a steal.
I watched a few vids and he does look really good, but I hope he isnt a 1 trick pony with all those long ball hail mary passes. other than that, ya he looks legit.
^That "trick" is a non-existent skill in MLS. If he can do some of that here, he could have a job here.
Of course he'd make twice as much as an entry level hire at a bank out of b-school, so don't be shocked if he quits.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
this is pretty funny.
Transaction Wire:
C. Simonin
Leaves Toronto FC for Merrill Lynch
Thanks, some real skills there, but he's going to need further development. I worry about his tendency to try to out deke attackers, rather than do a much safer pass. That won't work so well in MLS where the attackers are much faster and he could get the ball stripped off of him leading to a goal-scoring opportunity by the other side. However, that tendency (if he is teachable) can be coached out of him so that he only uses it when absolutely necessary.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
I bet they highlighted those dekes & long passes because they're special skills. I guess we can't really really guess what his tendencies are unless we watch a whole game. If he can make a 70-yard pass on the dime, he should be fine completing a 10-yard pass. I agree both are risky if done too often, but having those options can really help the game. Good ball control in defence gives them the time & confidence to seek a quality build-up opportunity, instead of just booting the ball away. And the occasional accurate long pass to a forward keeps the opposing team guessing. It means they can't pull their defence too high, can't crowd the midfield too much, and can't pressure our defence too much, because they'll get exposed over the top.
Maybe he'll go on loan to Merrill Lynch in the afternoons, for allo cash & future considerations...
Any of him actually defending ?
a ha ha heh he hoo.. ha
Reading that story makes me wonder what Banney are smoking.
The kid can definitely distribute.
Its a bit of a lottery. The % of players who are playing MLS 3 years later is about 40%.
At least we got TFC II to give them a chance to grow.
After reading the story, it's puzzling that he would be assumed to be in the discard pile by the scouting consensus. 2nd team Div II All-American is not like winning the Hermann Trophy but it should move the needle a little bit at least. The dude seems certainly good enough for the USLP team, maybe more.
hes hitting open space too.
its such a foreign sight even at the MLS level
reminds me of O'Dea's long range passing. except at MLS level, the odds of hitting those long range passing is poor
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
That b-school threat is real, and this guy clearly is willing to make unconventional choices. As a pure career decision, going into MLS, if you think you have a decent shot at finance or something, is totally dumb.
You can't easily come back and do a finance career at 28 or something, finance is a system with youth age biases that look a lot like those in professional sports.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
I completely agree, CFL teams have faced this issue more than you would think over the years. From my time working in the CFL I can think of at least a few times we lost a recently drafted player to the corporate world, especially if they were at prominent US School, even Ivy League. Wall Street talks and the money that comes with it.
Last edited by Red CB Toronto; 01-20-2015 at 11:38 AM.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
That's true, firms are looking at fresh out of college and that's it. The opportunity cost of him signing a MLS contract is huge. I hope it works out for him.
True, although my former co-worker at the Calgary Sun from 1996, a guy named Mark Miller who was a sports columnist, is now VP of Merrill Lynch. So it can happen. He might have already had his degree, not sure.
Considering that he is about to start his MBA program and it is not an actually a job perse I look at this a little differently now.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
It would be fair to say that he seems to have, at least from what we have heard, a different head on his shoulders then most draftees.
Mind you, most MLS draftees make NHL draftees look like Neanderthals.
Also, I don't know how many of our current defenders could fill a whole song with their highlights. Maybe a Green Day song...
I think Bez made a mistake here. TFC thought Seattle was trying to move up in the draft to take him when they never even considered it. They were trying to move up to take Roldan who was dropping. TFC could have waited until today (Round 4) and Simonin would have still been there.
Bez has done a lot of things right but this draft (at least on the first day) was not one of them. IMO.
This wasn't a very good draft and we picked up a guy who's already playing for the USMNT, a complete wildcard in Simonin and a guy who's probably going to start as a CB for the USL team in the first round. I don't think that's horrible. Simonin actually looks exactly like the intelligent ball playing defender we've never had. If he pans out it'll be a very smart pick-up. You brought up Roldan as an option, but he seems to have dropped for a reason and now no one thinks he'll be playing MLS ball until he's finished a full year in the USL.
My thinking is that, based on their draft position, they wanted those players and nothing else. Bono needed to be taken at 6.
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