Ricardo Pepi to Augsburg — Another American Abroad
In the summer of 2018, Bayern Munich broke the MLS transfer fee by spending around $22 million on a Ghanian-born youngster playing for the Vancouver Whitecaps. It was an earth-shattering transfer; MLS-based players had moved to Europe before, but never in this matter. It was simply unheard of for such a big name club like Bayern to spend that amount of money on someone from North America.
That youngster was, of course, Alphonso Davies, who in a matter of years has cemented himself as one of the best left backs in the world at the barely ripe age of 21.
Yet only a few years later, the MLS transfer record is now set to be broken again, but by an American this time.
If you haven’t heard already, USMNT and former FC Dallas teenage starlet Ricardo Pepi is set for a MLS-record breaking deal to FC Augsburg. At the time of publication, he will already played his first few matches with the German club.
Ricardo Pepi isn’t guaranteed yet to become a world-class striker. When the highest standard is represented by guys like Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland, it’s difficult to come even close to such a level of production or quality. But the teenager from El Paso has the instinct for goal, the movement, the holdup play, and the physical stature that, with care, may get him there.
At the age of 18, Pepi managed to score 13 goals in his first full season as an MLS starter. Had it not been for a minor dip in form (which is normal for teenagers) in the latter stage of the season, he probably would’ve had more.
But he’s also had 3 goals and 3 assists in 6 appearances of World Cup Qualifying. If it weren’t for his debut heroics against Honduras in the San Pedro Sula, in which he scored a goal and notched two assists, it’s entirely possible that USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter wouldn’t have a job.
Moreover, what separates Pepi from some of his fellow CONCACAF comrades in Europe (like Alphonso Davies, Gio Reyna, Christian Pulisic, or Diego Lainez, to name a few) is that he’s coming to his new club as more than a youth prospect. Upon his first day at training, Pepi is going to be relied upon; he’s going to have the responsibility of regularly producing goals for an Augsburg team that has struggled of late to put the ball into the back of the net.
That’s not to say it’s going to be incredibly easy for him. Moving abroad is always difficult, and it’ll take time for him to get settled playing in a new country, where things like a language barrier may initially provide difficulties.
But then again, I’m not too worried about stuff like that affecting Pepi in the long run. In spite of possible hiccups along the way, German clubs (with the exception of Wolfsburg) tend to have a decent track record when it comes to developing Americans. Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, Weston McKennie, and Joe Scally all moved to Germany after playing for various academies within the US, and they’ve all acclimated themselves well.
Honestly, if you couldn’t tell earlier, I really like this transfer. I would’ve been fine if Pepi stayed in MLS for another year if he couldn’t find a top 5 league European club where he’d get decent minutes.
One more thing…
Ricardo Pepi, Weston McKennie, Chris Richards, Justin Che, Bryan Reynolds, Jesus Ferreira, Jonathan Gomez, and Tanner Tessman all came from the FC Dallas academy (there’s probably more that I’m forgetting). With the exception of the Philadelphia Union and maybe the Seattle Sounders — depending on how good guys like Danny Leyva and Reed Baker-Whiting turn out to be — the rest of the MLS coalition really hasn’t produced that many good prospects over the years. For a league that heralds itself on youth development, this is worrying. And as USMNT legend Eric Wynalda recently said in an interview with Fillippo Silva from Tactical Manager TV on Youtube, the US doesn’t have a talent problem. It has a scouting problem.
