Juan Agudelo on Atletico’s radar; let’s hope he makes good choices

Juan Agudelo will soon have a choice. Check that. If the young Red Bulls forward keeps improving, keeps trending upward, he’s got a career full of choices ahead. He, like all pro athletes, will settle into a professional life that requires constant evaluation, market valuation and re-evaluation.

Word is out that Atletico Madrid has Agudelo on its radar. This is a development every bit as surprising as mint in my back yard turning into mojitos – something that happens a lot. Agudelo is a promising young striker, with two goals in his first four U.S. national team appearances. He has just one MLS goal this year but continues to look dangerous. Last week against Philly the 18-year-old striker banged one off the post and another off the crossbar in the first 31 minutes. That ain’t bad.

So … he’ll have big choices to make soon. Europe beckons, with fame, fortune, high fashion, high speed trains, too many unflattering stereotypes … and its ample soccer culture. There’s a lot of attraction there. But the Sirens of Greek mythology were attractive, too. So, read on for a few things I desperately hope the young man considers.

First, New York is no bad place to be for a promising young player. For all of you MLS snobs who will say Agudelo simply MUST haul ass to Europe for his game to improve, I say this: playing in MLS is infinitely more productive than riding the pine anywhere in the world. Period.

New York will potentially play 40-45 competitive games this year. Agudelo will feature in most of them if he’s healthy. The way he’s performing, he’ll be a starter in most of them.

Hans Backe has already shown himself to be a worthy coach in MLS, so that’s a plus for a young player. Agudelo can learn a lot from the man. Speaking of learning, Thierry Henry isn’t getting the job done at the moment, but who can deny the man’s wealth of knowledge? And the famous Frenchman seems willing to share, to pass the wisdom down to any eager deputies.

If all that isn’t enough, let’s quickly discuss a few other young, promising attackers who prowled MLS grounds before Agudelo.

We all remember little Freddy Adu. Quick, where’s he playing? Oh, yes … Caykur Rizespor. Ahem. You knew that, right? Two things you should know about Caykur Rizespor. First, it might make your spell check collapse. And second, they play in the SECOND level of Turkish soccer. Anyone think that’s better than MLS?

Jozy Altidore is earning his wages in Turkey, too. He’s at Bursaspor. At least that club is in the top flight.

Anyone remember Chris Rolfe? He’s in Denmark playing for Aalborg BK. Actually, he’s not playing much. He was on the bench once again over the weekend.

Sacha Kljestan is playing a little more regularly at Anderlecht in Belgium, but he’s hardly a lineup staple.

Look, the point is this: Major League Soccer isn’t a bad place to be, especially when playing time in actual matches is so important for ongoing development. Nothing is guaranteed, of course. He could drop in form, or some bad habits could infect his ways on the Red Bulls training ground. But his chances of featuring regularly fall dramatically if he takes a dash for the cash abroad.

Yes, he’ll make more money if he does make a move across the Atlantic. So, in that regard, it’s tough to say, “Don’t go.” Then again, if you want to see Agudelo continue to develop, and if you want him in the best position to play in World Cup qualifiers over the next two years, with an eye toward Brazil 2014, then you’d better hope he remains right where he is today … in a Red Bulls uniform, playing in a beautiful MLS stadium.

By the way, if he does stick around, and is able to play at World Cup 2014, he’ll be 22 years old as the World Cup finishes. At that point, the conversation is very different. The calculus of whether he should or shouldn’t take his game abroad is altered dramatically. And again, he’s only 22 at that point! Plenty of time to rise, 8-10 good years ahead, at least.

Personally, I hope he gets good advice and sees all that. Some call it “the big picture.”