Keaton Parks’ Unconventional Path to MLS

By Keira Smith // @keiramunsmith

In a few days, the MLS season will kick off with New York City Football Club facing Orlando City FC on March 2nd.  A handful of new faces were brought onto the NYC roster, with quite a few being US nationals.  After our very international 2018 squad, NYCFC seems to be going in a different direction with the signings of teenaged homegrowns, Joe Scally and Justin Haak as well as acquiring 21-year-old American Keaton Parks on a loan from Portuguese top tier club SL Benfica.

Parks is an interesting acquisition as his career is an almost complete foil to those of Haak, Scally and James Sands.  Haak, Scally, and Sands all worked their way from the club system to spots in the NYCFC developmental academy.  Sands was signed by NYCFC in 2017. In an interesting aside: Sands has a twin brother Will who has committed to play for Georgetown University.  Perhaps we can check back in with both of them in say, ten years to see how their careers compare.

Parks grew up in Texas where he did not enter the DA but continued to play for Coach Armando Pelaez at various local club teams as well as for his high school. Developmental academies do not allow their players to suit up for their high school teams.  It looked like Parks would be playing next for Southern Methodist University but instead was recruited by Varzim, a LigaPro (secondary division) team out of Portugal for his first foray into professional soccer.

#SLBenficaB | 1-0 | 💬 @keaton_parks nas alturas! pic.twitter.com/AO6pV9OI4C

— SL Benfica (@SLBenfica) April 11, 2018

Those who have watched his progression, point out his high level of technicality with the ball at his feet which seems unusual for his 6’3” frame.  Parks was physically a late bloomer who learned to dominate in his early years via tight ball touches usually in the 10 role before eventually sprouting up in his junior year of high school to his current height.  This style is still at the root of his play but his post-growth-spurt size made him a better fit for a defensive midfielder position. A viewing of his highlights from Benfica B, show him physically strong, difficult to take down and a proclivity to feeding long attacking balls to the front line. It will be interesting to see how Parks’ style will fit in with New York’s other midfielders like Alexander Ring, Ebenezer Ofori, James Sands and Maxi Moralez. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these long feeder balls mixed in with City’s trademark tight touches/high possession with hopefully this new ingredient leading to more scoring.

Pre-preseason Sunday 💪 #ForTheCity pic.twitter.com/hYpXVlx9Bo

— New York City FC (@NYCFC) January 27, 2019

With his unconventional rise to professional soccer, I can’t help but think of another former NYCFC player who found his way to the pros via the road less traveled:  Jack Harrison.  As many fans are aware, Harrison left the prestigious academy system in the UK for the US college route, playing for Wake Forest before quickly getting scooped up as the number one draft pick in the MLS super draft in 2016.  Harrison is currently on loan by Manchester City Football Club to English championship level club Leeds United, who are currently in contention for promotion to the premiership.

For both Harrison and Parks, their careers took them abroad early before returning to their home countries. Parks is on a loan from Benfica so if he wants to stay at NYCFC beyond the season, he’ll need to make an impression pretty quickly, which may be challenging in the crowded field of rostered midfielders.  It all begins on Saturday.