Report: D.C. United Pick Up USMNT U-20 Flores On Loan
By Sean Maslin
It turns out you might be able to go home again, even if it is for a year. On Thursday it was reported that Borussia Dortmund prospect Junior Flores will be returning to the DMV area to D.C. United on a season-long loan. This deal was first reported on Twitter by DeporteTotalUSA.
Although Flores was born in Los Angeles, California his family moved to Manassas Park, Virginia at a very young age. When he was just a freshman in high school he led Manassas Park High School to the Virginia State A Championship in 2011.
After one season at Manassas Park, Flores moved on to the US U-17 residency program in Bradenton, Florida. In 2012, while playing in the AGS Cup for the US U-17 national team, Flores started to gain notice from top European clubs. On October 5th, 2012 Flores signed a four year contract with Borussia Dortmund.
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Since moving to Dortmund, Flores has mostly served as a backup with their reserve side, Borussia Dortmund II, and with their youth team. He is still 18 years old which explains his lack of appearances for Dortmund II which is essentially a U-23 team.
In addition to making the jump to Germany, Flores has started to just recently breakthrough with the USMNT U-20 side. Although he was a fixtures with the USMNT U-17 team, he had been courted by El Salvador to play for their National Team. But Flores is now cap-tied to the USMNT after having played in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship last month. Flores will be part of the team heading to New Zealand to participate at the 2015 U-20 World Cup.
If D.C. United are able to secure the services of Flores for a year it will be a huge boost to both their depth in the midfield. Flores possesses excellent speed and has great vision for a center-midfielder. Although he is just 18 years old, he showed at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship that he can make pinpoint passes in space. He is also comfortable leading teams on counter-attacks, something that D.C. United did well with last season with forward Fabian Espindola.
The player that could benefit most from the potential Flores acquisition would be midfielder Luis Silva. With a player who can match his speed in the midfield and is more willing to sit back and orchestrate from the center of the pitch, it could enable Silva to even be more aggressive on the attacking front. Silva had a career-year in 2014, scoring 11 goals.
This move could also have a huge impact at the gates. Washington D.C.-metro area has a massive Salvadorean population that is extremely passionate about its football and players who have Salvadorean ancestry. According to the 2010 U.S. Census over 228,000 people of Salvadorean origin live in the Washington D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area. D.C. United supporters will recall the days of Raul Diaz Arce, the Salvadorean sensation who helped lead the team to 2 MLS Cups.
Although Flores is still a young kid, this is a win-win move potentially for D.C. United. Picking up a young player with high-upside and ties to both the Salvadorean and local soccer community should help the club even for just a year.