Tyler Boyd - USA (Nashville SC | USA)

Interesting move, those foreign spots at Portuguese clubs are usually taken by Brazilians. I wonder how the deal was brokered

Don't you mean ?

Keep your eyes peeled for a new-ish BMW for sale on TradeMe soon.

Don't you mean TV?

So this is a step up from the A league ??

If so, good on him and the rise of our All Whites continues

Piney's tweet now been deleted...

Still, I expect the quality would a little better than not even on the bench in the A-league?

Yeah, exactly - either way, it's a step up from the WeeNix

oh dear? quick to the thread title punmobile!

Portugal's football league is probably the most extreme between the haves and have nots. I would say it is probably on par with other football leagues such as Scotland and Greece in its divide between top teams and others. Porto, Benfica and Sporting are dominant forces. Vitoria seem to be the best of the rest along with Braga. Some weeks Boyd would be playing against Premier league level opposition and other weeks he would probably be playing against League One or League two quality sides.

I think any European league is a step up from the A-League. If you are a top player in Portugal then you will get noticed by the big clubs.

Huge call.

Must be better than playing for the reserves which is all he was getting at the NIX.

Its a shame that his career has stalled for non footballing reasons, he's barely 20 and has the potential. Good luck to him, the more players we have over there the better and the more spots it opens up here for kiwis potentially.

San Marino, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Estonia, etc

I should have qualified that more.

I think most of the first divisions are better for your career. Even if they aren't a step up in quality it's better to play in Portugal than in the A-League because you have more chance of getting noticed.

Worked wonders for Marco.

Yeah obviously not. Leichenstein doesn't have a league though.

Portugal would be but the assertion that all are is a stretch.

People forget countries like Faroe Islands and San Marino are part of Europe

And Costa i dont think Boyd is as good as they were when they signed.Will he get any more quality game time over there that could be the question.

Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland - Plenty of other comedy leagues.

It has worked wonders for lots of players. Jedinak just isn't the player you see today if he just stayed at Central Coast. He went to an unfancied Turkish club in Ankara and used that as a bridge to play for Crystal Palace. Langarek was sitting behind Moss in Melbourne and went to play for Dortmund. Marco is a bit different for a lot of reasons (he was injured and left Australia as the best player in the A-League). I think Rojas needed to go straight from Wellington to Europe. What did he actually get out of going to Melbourne? He learned how to dominate a weak league but it didn't make him ready for Europe.

I think there is a mistaken rationale that you have to make it in the A-League before you go overseas. If you can get a deal in Europe then you should be taking it. Young players need to be exposed to that sort of football at a young age. It is also good for players to be playing 40 games a season as soon as possible.

Well spotted. I wonder if that makes social 5 a side "top flight" football in Liechtenstein then?

Yep, not true at all. There are probably 10-15 leagues max that would clearly be better options than the A-League, in my opinion.

I agree with what you have said about being young. 20 is in fact too old for the pathway you are describing. There are exceptions of course but for every exception there are thirty examples of where it has not worked.

I wish him all the best. He is a talented kid with potential and only time will tell if he is the exception rather than the rule.

Supporters are known as 'the white angels'. Motto: 'We are unique.'

Henceforth 'the All Whites'. 

Fave sounds incl. -

Portugal

Wonder what part Hudson had in this move. Wouldn't mind betting He's been in Tyler's ear telling him one thing or another. What I cannot understand though is when Boyd scored/created those 3 A-league goals in two games I thought for sure Ernie would start giving him game time to try and convince him that signing a new contract here was the right idea. Surely the prospect of certain game time here would ward off the thought of going out into the unknown at his young age, rather than sitting on the bench here vs sitting on the bench in Portugal? Best of luck to him anyway.

Very disappointed that Merrick didn't give him the opportunities he deserved. I don't know if any of the rumours about ego/attitude were true but it seemed from the few post match interviews that he was mature for his age. Best of luck to him, and I think he will do well if he gets given consistent game time.

Why assume its Merrick's fault? And i love how Hudson now gets dragged into it.

Look - i have heard from quite reliable sauces that Boyd hasnt had his head in the right place lately. He was unhappy with his time on the bench, and his attitude changed with that. Once it also became apparent that he had secured a move - he went into a 'who cares i wont be here next season anyway' mentality. This probably explains why he was no where to be seen in either squad last week. And you just know Merrick would hate that kind of shark from anyone.

They should do the lad a favour and just release him so he can leave now. It means one more player gets minutes in the Weenix.

FACT: Portuguese for ¿Dondé está el pollo? is Onde está a galinha?

Because if you're a swooning fan of Tyler Boyd, anything bad happening to him must be someone else's fault.

Well forgive me for thinking he looked a good prospect then bluddy hell. I just thought that under Merrick he might have had more of a chance to prove himself and I thought he did that against Adelaide :/ As I said I don't know if he's a prat or not.

Meh if your young and getting no game time you have to leave for the good of your own development. I'm sure Merrick has had his reasons but from the outside view it simply seems like we've simply lost another player just as he's starting to get good. 

Pretty much what I have heard. Can't always believe what you hear, but there seems to be a common theme emerging from numerous people. 

To be honest I completely agree with this, if Boyd has a serious attitude problem and wants to leave and Ernie knew he wasn't going to play him (regardless of the reason why) why not release him and give another player a chance in the team? I'm sure if what people are saying is true then the termination of contract would have been mutual. Not only would it free up a squad slot but also have let Boyd leave earlier.

Maybe Ernie didn't rate his chances to find another NZ/Aussie winger in the Jan transfer window. Pretty much has become a player of last resort to cover injuries.

All we can really do is speculate but even in the situation where we lost both starting wingers wouldn't Cunningham Weemac moving to a wing and even Fenton still be ahead of him? Anyway no point getting too riled up over it whats done is done and Im sure both parties had their reasons. It can only be a good move from a national point of view so Im not too worried overall