Good luck Juan, you're going to need it.

With the news coming out today that Juan Agudelo is to become the newest American member of the Stoke City family, I think it's a good time to look back on what his career has been since he burst onto the international scene in 2010.  Agudelo was a 17 year old that had just performed admirably for our U-17 and U-20 teams when he earned a call up to the US senior team and captured the imagination of the US Soccer public, but that now seems like a rapidly fading memory.  Agudelo hasn't featured regularly for the USMNT since 2011, and has similarly struggled to find his form for the New York Red Bulls, Chivas USA, and most recently the New England Revolution.  It seems strange that this is the moment for him to make his first professional move overseas, almost as though Stoke has been watching game tape from several years ago and just assumed that he had naturally progressed into a fixture for the United States.

So what gives?  Well first of all, it's an indication that lower level EPL teams now see young American talent as a viable option in the transfer market.  The possibility of striking it rich with an American difference maker on the pitch is becoming an enticing prospect, because the extremely profitable American TV market is largely still up for grabs.  And because clubs know this, a club such as Stoke would be taking a huge gamble in purchasing a proven American commodity like Dempsey or even Jozy Altidore, because the asking price and expectation of playing time would be too great.  But buying low on the likes of Juan Agudelo makes perfect sense.  He is a very young, very raw talent that has experienced enough downturns in his career to come in with no sense of entitlement, both in his own attitude and that of the media.  Americans of course want to see their players on the pitch for their club teams, but anybody who has followed Agudelo's career will certainly be understanding if he does not force his way onto the pitch immediately.  Beyond this though, Stoke might be noticing a larger trend in American soccer and looking to take advantage.

I think we're learning that the 'next big thing' in American Soccer is almost always a tease.  We have now seen Eddie Johnson, Charlie Davies, Jozy Altidore, Teal Bunbury, and Juan Agudelo burst onto the USMNT scene in their teens or early twenties, only to fall short of their vastly overblown expectations in the years that follow.  It speaks to the deep seeded hope that all US Soccer fans possess that we will soon be treated to a true World-Class American footballer.  When we see a 18 year old Juan Agudelo scoring his first international goal against a powerhouse like Argentina, or we see a 19 year old Jozy post up a Spanish defender like he's Lebron James, or Charlie Davies silencing the cavernous Azteca stadium with one of the most unexpected goals in USMNT history, we are immediately transported with visions of them being signed by Manchester United or Real Madrid, stamping their name into the first team sheet, and proving to the rest of the world that Americans can play.

But it doesn't happen.  I would never go as far as to say that these players are impeded by the hype and expectations that are put upon them, but I think that the quickly shifting nature of the hopes and dreams of American Soccer fans can put a strain on these players' professional development.  As fans, we feel as though we have a pretty good grasp on who and what each of the players in our pool is going to be (with the possible exception of Michael Bradley).  This is part of the reason that Dempsey's decision to come home hurt on some level, because he had established himself as a player with the ability to score at a very high rate in the world's top league.  When we see a brand new 17 year old striker take the field for the USA, we have no idea what the possibilities might be.  It doesn't take much for a young gun to be the next big thing for US Soccer, and a prospect that is very raw but with true talent is very easily mistaken for a player that is ready to put all of the pieces together.  We want so bad for them to be The One, that we look straight past obvious flaws in their game.

But this doesn't mean that these players should be judged based on what they are capable of in the years from 17-21.  Now that Eddie Johnson is experiencing a career renaissance in MLS and is suddenly back on track to be included in the 2014 World Cup squad, it is easy to forget the massive disappointment he was when he first left to go try his hand in Europe.  When Jozy scored 30 goals for AZ Alkmaar this last season, it went a long way toward erasing the relative failures that were his years at Villareal and Hull city.  Both of those players were almost left for dead by the US Soccer community (Johnson more so than Jozy), but both proved that their careers were far from over when they suffered these setbacks.

Juan Agudelo will likely be a relative failure at Stoke City.  He will almost definitely struggle for playing time, and there is a distinct possibility that he will be loaned for some or all of the upcoming season to a lower division team.  I would like nothing more than to be wrong about this, and for Juan to become a regular starter (or at least contributer) for Stoke.  I think it would be fantastic if he managed to get regular time, but if he fails to it does not necessarily mean that this move was a mistake.  He is making this move during a plateau in his career, and by doing so he is forcing himself into a crossroads.  He will either rise to the occasion, or he struggle to find his footing as a player and will see others pass him by on both the Stoke and National teams' depth charts.  But either way, he is making sure that the next part of career starts right now, and that's precisely what he needs.

Even if Juan fails to break through in this endeavor, we haven't heard the last of him.  He could flame out in anonymity for 5 years, and he would still only be 25 years old.  And now that MLS is a viable option for players that feel as though their time in Europe has run its course, there is almost no risk in making this move now.  No matter how badly it goes, a MLS team will always be willing to take a shot on a former rising star of the USMNT.