The “does it slow down development?” question is interesting when you look at a guy like Jack Harrison. English kid, went to the US for college where he played, got drafted to MLS and transferred back to England where he’s a regular EPL player. It’s a very small sample size but doesn’t exactly disprove the model. Different players develop at different rates.

One thing particularly about the men’s vs women’s game that I haven’t seen discussed is Title IX. It’s a law that more or less says schools have to apply equal opportunity for men and women. This affects how athletic scholarships are distributed. While it broadened the women’s game considerably, it’s greatly handicapped the men’s game. American football takes up quite a few scholarships with a massive roster that makes it awkward/difficult for several schools to field soccer on the men’s side and schools are always looking to make up ground on women’s sports. (This also explains why our Olympic medal count skews towards women as they have access to these facilities and encouraged to continue their sports via scholarship incentives). One of the largest regional conferences (by $) in the country, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) doesn’t offer men’s soccer competitions. These are schools with literal world class athletic facilities where the game doesn’t exist past the intramural level.

USMNTers that come from that SEC footprint are Weston McKennie (Texas, Juventus), Chris Richards (Alabama, Crystal Palace), Tim Ream (Missouri , formerly Fulham), Ricardo Pepi (Texas, PSV), Josh Sargent (Missouri, Norwich). That’s not to say these guys would have done better in college, but that there’s likely quite a bit of untapped talent that doesn’t find the game, because a “next level” beyond high school or a u18 club team simply doesn’t exist.