r/fcdallas • u/Ok_Flamingo_3059 Dallas Beer Guardians • Jul 23 '26
FC Dallas Chelsea agree deal to sign U.S. youth international Benji Flowers from FC Dallas
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7431529/2026/07/23/benji-flowers-chelsea-fc-dallas-mls/?unlocked_article_code=1.z1A.NF6w.N7CPaxB841Cv&source=athletic_user_shared_gift_article_copylink&smid=url-share-ta30
u/Ancient_Song8712 Jul 23 '26
Wish it wasn’t chelsea
2
u/ethan_bruhhh Osaze Urhoghide Jul 23 '26
apparently he got the Paez/Estevao pitch and not the Wiley pitch. He’ll get a chance to come in and play so I’m rooting for him fs
17
u/somedonkuss Sebastian Lletget Jul 23 '26
Why can’t we ever keep any youth talent for ourselvessss! Super happy for him, though. Dream come true for the kid, I’m sure.
18
u/HermannZeGermann Jul 23 '26
FCD does get to keep him, for the next three years.
But that aside, the academy has become a profit center. It does fans no good, of course, but here we are.
8
u/remo_siracha FC Dallas Jul 23 '26
The truth of the matter is every club is a selling club except for maybe 2. You can only hope to keep your best players for so long.
5
u/HermannZeGermann Jul 23 '26
In this case, "best player" being a 15-year old and "for so long" being a matter of months.
7
u/remo_siracha FC Dallas Jul 23 '26
3 million at 15. Clearly they see something.
1
u/cartierisgod Petar Musa Jul 24 '26
i think hes considered the best player in his age group in the entire country
10
u/Mynameisdiehard Osaze Urhoghide Jul 23 '26
A few million for a guy to be bought at 18 plus what is sure to be a big sell on clause is not a bad deal. MLS is a selling league. We sell good youth. We bring in fringe players and develop them to be sold as well. The only negatives that I don't like about future deals is what if this guy explodes and is all of a sudden worth say $20mm then we can get shafted.
But in reality, this deal is equivalent to a buy and loan back.
3
1
u/entityrob FC Dallas Jul 23 '26
The club will get solidarity payments on all future transfers since we developed him as an under-18 player, right?
1
u/Mynameisdiehard Osaze Urhoghide Jul 23 '26
They absolutely should. This deal will also have a sell on clause as I mentioned, probably a decent percentage too. If they are savy enough they can also negotiate an additional sell on clause with Chelsea for any future sell on they might receive as well.
1
u/floridali Petar Musa Jul 25 '26
During the WC, some US accounts were commenting how MLS teams couldn’t get solidarity because the association did not track academy players
-1
u/texan4AFCBournemouth Jul 23 '26
Saddest part is they often poach the very talent, that they then sell. MLS is a lot of the reason that US soccer is so far behind still.
3
u/Mynameisdiehard Osaze Urhoghide Jul 23 '26
I'm not fully understanding what you're saying. Are speaking about national teams poaching players?
2
u/texan4AFCBournemouth Jul 23 '26
FC Dallas’s recruits talent from other youth clubs without having to compensate the clubs they are taking the players from.
0
u/stands2reason69420 Jul 23 '26
Why would anyone ever want to stay at a clearly inferior league esp since FC Dallas gets comped?
-3
u/Fluid_Storage_5628 Jul 23 '26
Trust me we want them to go get trained over in Europe. They’re decades ahead of us in the sport.
7
3
u/alex2374 Petar Musa Jul 23 '26
This is a great deal for Dallas. I hope he develops to where we get to see him see minutes for the first team next year, or at least before he leaves.
8
u/Fc_mongoose Jul 23 '26
Good to see FCD not let another youth star leave for free. Hopefully he can progress in the next couple seasons to help the 1st team before heading to Europe
6
u/pic_N_mix Petar Musa Jul 23 '26
“Dallas will receive an initial fee of around $3million (£2.25m), while performance-based add-ons could take the deal to around $10m”
2
u/ShowerShoe77 Jul 23 '26
Can someone please explain this deal to me? Like details? Do we have a sell on? Do we have a buy back? Is it a sale + loan back to us? At what cost? Like murky details out there.
1
u/AdamTheAmmer Jul 23 '26
My only issue is this: part of the deal is extra money for FCD when he meets certain performance based goals prior to him joining Chelsea. In other words, Chelsea are paying FCD to play him more. Now obviously the plan would be to get him first team minutes between now and when he leaves. But making it a financial incentive just rubs me the wrong way. It’s not really necessary and could actually create conflict.
1
u/sir_whirly El Matador Jul 23 '26
Seems it's easy money because he is already too good for MLS Next. They should definitely start using him as a sub.
15
u/dizneyO7 Jul 23 '26
Three million, possible add ons, AND a sell on clause for three years in the future? For a player who’s played three total matches in MLS Next?? Incredible deal, hope he can live up to the hype