NEW YORK, NY
Major League Soccer and Adidas announced the first four Generation Adidas players for 2014. The four players came as no surprise and this first group is expected to be joined by approximately 4-6 others is what our various sources tell us.
The 2014 Generation Adidas class so far consists of:
Andre Blake (University of Connecticut)
Marlon Hairston (University of Louisville)
Eric Miller (Creighton University)
Ntokozo "Schillo" Tshuma (University of Maryland).
Generation Adidas players do not count against a team's MLS salary cap, and receive additional educational grants to finish or continue their college education while training and playing professionally.
MLS also signed two of the top college seniors: Patrick Mullins(University of Maryland) and Steve Neumann(Georgetown University). this guarantees that both players will ply their trade in MLS and very likely for slightly more than league minimum.
In addition to the D1 seniors who will take part in the MLS Player Combine, the league has invited nine more players to Fort Lauderdale:
Tesho Akindele F USA/Canada Colorado School of Mines (Division II)
Chris Duvall D USA Wake Forest University
Oliver Gore F England Rocky Mountain College (NAIA)
Pierre Omanga F France Southern New Hampshire University (Division II)
Fabio Pereira MF Brazil University of Michigan
Kyle Renfro GK USA Virginia Tech University
Patrick Slogic D Brazil Cornell University
Wojciech Wojcik F USA Bradley University
Tomislav Zadro MF Canada University of Wisconsin
Steve Neumann, a New Hope, PA native is expected to go early in the draft. The Union have both cap and roster space for the highly touted attacker and have long been keeping an eye on his progress. The affection is known to be mutual and the Union could probably land him with the 6th pick if they are so inclined.