Two quotes from/about Sounders FC trialist Quavas Kirk, who was drafted in 2005 at 16 by the Galaxy and then traded in 2008 to DC United:
From the Seattle Times blog's "Kickin' it With" series:
Question: So how did you end up leaving D.C. and joining Seattle?
Quavas Kirk: "I can never really explain how I end up in places, I just end up there. I guess D.C. didn't like my style of play. They liked me as a person but didn't like me as a player."
And from Wikipedia. (Since I'm a Galaxy fan, I know it's true):
Until the arrival of David Beckham, Kirk wore the number 23 shirt for the Galaxy. However, despite publicly announcing his desire to retain the jersey, he was handed the number 15 to accommodate Beckham, who prefers to wear number 7 or 23.
The kid is twenty years old. He can't even drink yet. (At least legally.) And he's been used, abused and discarded by two MLS teams.
Yes, I understand that this is a business. I understand it's about results. But this kid was a star in the US U-17 team. He went pro at 16. And since then, the league has had no clue what to do with him.
I wrote a post last year, mostly about Freddy Adu, but also about MLS's complete inability to deal with talented youngsters. From that post:
He’s now eighteen years old. He’s a talented kid, and that’s the problem. MLS saw the "talented" and forgot the "kid."
Insert "twenty" for "eighteen" and you have the Quavas Kirk situation. MLS teams are set up to deal with post-collegiate players. They're not set up to deal with the kids. When they don't show up with adult bodies and adult skills and adult mentalities, they're out. Screw this development stuff. We don't have the time or the resources.
It hasn't helped that he's been plagued by injuries. But he seems healthy now. And this kid deserves a chance.
Quavas (prounouced Quay-vas, like the beach he was named for, Cuevas -- not Quah-vas) is currently on trial with Sounders, down in California. He's on trial. No guarantees.
But Sigi? This kid deserves a chance. Sign the guy. Or risk the wrath of my maternal area.