At 18 years old, defender Erik Palmer-Brown is taking the plunge that many figured that he would make.On Monday, Sporting Kansas City announced he will be joining FC Porto in Portugal on a 12 month loan.
In his brief career with Sporting KC Erik Palmer-Brown played in a total 13 matches in all competitions after becoming the club’s third Homegrown Player in August 2013 and making his debut in May 2014.
FC Porto is one of the considered three giants of the Portuguese league, Primeira Liga, and one of the most successful clubs in Europe. The dragons have won the Portuguese title 27 times, the Portuguese Cup 16, the UEFA European Cup/UEFA Champions League twice, and the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League twice. During this time they have also fostered and helped create and develop some of the very best players in the world who have then gone on to other big European clubs for extravagant fees.
For me, this is simple: Erik Palmer-Brown is young and until now has not had a real run out as a first team player. One of the issues, as addressed by Peter Vermes in a local radio station interview, was the fact that when first signed by the club EPB was still finishing his high school and due to that he was never loaned out.
Most, including this writer, anticipated that Erik Palmer-Brown would spend 2016 on loan with the Swope Park Rangers so this loan comes as a surprise but at 18 there is plenty of time to develop as a player. Porto’s reputation for developing players and then selling them on is phenomenal and with their reserve team, FC Porto B, playing in the second division of Portugal has been good in helping player development in the same way that MLS teams are looking at their USL teams.
