Maki Tall Signs with FC Sion, Pelosi Homecoming

Another young American may earn Europa League experience this season after US U-20 forward Maki Tall completed a transfer to FC Sion in Switzerland’s top division.  The 19-year-old had been with Lille, one of the best teams in France, but signed a three-year deal to move to the defending Swiss Cup champions.

Sion is a two-time league champion and earned an automatic qualifying spot to the Europa League group stage by winning the Swiss domestic cup last season.  Tall joins a group of young strikers which will be busy this fall when their Europa League duties begin in the middle of September.  Sion’s roster currently lists four attackers, all 22-years-old or younger and led by Senegalese striker Moussa Konate, who led the team with 16 goals last season.

The Swiss Super League got underway last weekend and Sion opened up with a 2-2 draw against Luzern after giving up two second half stoppage time goals.  Of note, in the last 12 seasons the Swiss top flight has only known two different champions, Basel and Zurich, and Basel is the six-time defending league winners.

Tall will have his work cut out for him to break through for a team after missing their whole preseason, but in just a brief showing at the U-20 World Cup he showed how talented he can be.  Tall was probably the best player on the field in his 45 minutes of action before breaking his toe, including scoring the Americans first goal of the tournament.

I’m a little late to the party on this one, but the San Jose Earthquakes announced last week that they had signed former Liverpool academy midfielder Marc Pelosi.  Pelosi, who turned 21 last month, was born in Germany but raised in the San Jose area.  He was the captain of the US U-17 squad at the World Cup in 2011 which earned him a contract with Liverpool where he had spent the last four seasons before being released in May.  He had battled numerous injuries in his time at Anfield including a bad leg fracture early in his time with the Premier League club’s academy.

Pelosi earned a call up to the US national team for their January camp earlier this year but did not feature in any friendly matches.  At San Jose, he will have the chance to play alongside fellow U-23 midfielder Fatai Alashe.  The two also played together in the Toulon Tournament at the beginning of last month in France, where the US finished third.  Pelosi made his unofficial debut for his new club in last night’s International Champions Cup friendly loss to Manchester United.  He came on as a halftime substitute and played the final 45 minutes for the Earthquakes.

In England, 20-year-old Duane Holmes looks to be headed out on loan again this season.  A newspaper report from the Huddersfield Daily Examiner quoted manager Chris Powell as saying a loan move is likely as Huddersfield Town want to get the young Atlanta-native consistent first team minutes in order to develop him.  Holmes has previously had loan stints at Yeovil Town and Bury.