San Jose Earthquakes: Partnership with Inter Milan follows growing trend
By Josh Sippie
The San Jose Earthquakes have entered in a partnership with Inter Milan, following a growing trend of growing MLS’s expanding reputation overseas.
MLS is still the new kid on the block of world soccer. With just over a couple decades to their name, they fall well behind the centuries of European soccer, but the San Jose Earthquakes are the latest in a succession of MLS franchises to partner up with an historic European club for the betterment of both sides.
A club press release recently revealed that the San Jose Earthquakes had entered into a strategic partnership with Inter Milan centered on youth development.
“Inter Milan has a strong, lengthy history of youth development and we’re excited to collaborate on best practices,” said Earthquakes technical director Chris Leitch. “It’s a great opportunity for our club to have consistent dialogue with one of the world leaders in the youth development space.”
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Barbara Biggi, Director of Global Youth Business with Inter Milan, echoed these sentiments, saying: “The partnership with the San Jose Earthquakes, located strategically in the heart of Silicon Valley, will add important value to the Inter Academy as the club spearheads progressive youth development initiatives and sports innovation.”
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This is not the first such partnership to arise within MLS. Of course, New York City FC are owned by the same folks that own Manchester City, so they had an inherent partnership which has resulted in many loans for young players coming from England to New York City. Most recently, Yangel Herrera fits that mold.
Orlando SC has a similar partnership with both Benfica and Stoke City, again centered on this aforementioned “dialogue” between the clubs.
FC Dallas and Bayern Munich share more of the like, establishing a deal to promote youth players and their respective development academies.
MLS has long been a place for young players, particularly European players, to find playing time in a highly-competitive format, but up until recently, they didn’t have much staying power with those younger players, as all moves seemed to be temporary.
Ideally, going forward this will mean that MLS has the capabilities to promote from within and, more importantly, retain from within.
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The San Jose Earthquakes are just the latest in a long trend of trying to independently grow their club via the help of a proven method of century-long relevance in the global game. Hard to argue with that initiative, as it has zero drawbacks.