Cremaschi Transfer Thoughts ”” US Youth Soccer Prospect Tracker

Benjamin Cremaschi is making his loan move to Parma permanent. On the surface it's a quiet transfer ”” but I think it's one of the more interesting moves of the summer for what it signals about the US-to-Europe pipeline.

The two usual routes

This is a somewhat atypical path for Americans to move to Europe. There are generally two well-worn routes.

The first is to sign with an elite European club known for developing players as a 15/16-year-old development prospect. The European teams aren't paying big transfer fees for these kids ”” they're usually free signings. Pulisic, McKennie, Weah, Chris Richards, Haji Wright, Cole Campbell, Mathis Albert, and Akinmboni fall into this bucket.

The other route is to become a starter in the MLS around 18/19, start for a year or two, pop off the screen, put up big stats, and then move to a Championship or lower-level Bundesliga/La Liga/Serie A team with the expectation of starting or playing significant minutes immediately after joining. Pepi, Adams, Brendan Aaronson, Berhalter, Aidan Morris, Agyemang, Caleb Wiley, and Freeman fall into this category. This route sometimes results in a decent-size transfer fee.

Why Cremaschi is different

Cremaschi is interesting because, although he was getting starts for Miami at 18/19, I wouldn't say he was lighting the MLS on fire the way the guys mentioned above were. When I watched him he looked solid, but he wasn't popping off the screen. His loan move to Parma signaled to me two things: first, he really wanted to make the move to Europe and was willing to take a big risk to make it happen; second, it was going to be an uphill battle ”” this wasn't a situation where he was joining with a lot of hype and an expectation of playing significant minutes.

The short-leash problem

Generally speaking, Americans tend to have a pretty short leash with the European clubs that sign them from the MLS. They make their initial European transfers with a lot of hype. If they don't live up to the hype and hit the ground running when they're given chances, the clubs give up on them pretty quickly and they end up transferring to significantly lower-tier clubs or back to the MLS. I don't know if it's an anti-American bias, a technical ability gap, or something else ”” but it does seem to be a trend.

Pepi is actually a pretty good example of this. He initially transferred to Augsburg when he was still raw, struggled in a couple of appearances, and Augsburg gave up on him within a year. He had to go to Groningen ”” a lower-tier Eredivisie side at the time ”” and re-prove himself. He thankfully did enough for PSV to take a chance on him. Since signing for PSV he's obviously excelled and become one of the most coveted young striker prospects in the world.

What Parma's decision signals

The interesting thing about Cremaschi is that during his loan spell he wasn't getting much playing time. He'd make the bench, but he rarely got on the pitch. My thought at the time was that he must be struggling in training ”” that Parma didn't rate him and weren't going to take a chance on developing a 20-year-old American. I thought for sure he'd end up back in the MLS.

The fact that Parma decided to sign him permanently signals to me that there might be a shift in sentiment towards Americans, and that European teams are willing to give them more opportunities to develop. If that's the case, then this path ”” being a B/C-level American prospect, taking a chance to move to Europe without a clear path to starting/playing significant minutes ”” is a more viable route than it historically has been.

The takeaway: The Cremaschi transfer, although not very hyped compared to a typical USMNT prospect move like Gozo's will be, is really interesting in what it shows about the US-to-Europe pipeline. It potentially signals both a new path for US prospects to get to Europe and a sentiment shift in how European clubs are thinking about developing American players.