Diego Fagundez: More than a Neymar Look-a-Like

The New England Revolution gem with his dyed blond mow hawk looks like Neymar on the pitch. They both have something else in common: they are young prodigies still playing in their country. I consider Diego Fagundez American even though he was born in Uruguay and moved to Leominster, Massachusetts at the age of five.

When I first discovered him in 2010, he was with the New England Revolution Academy. After watching a few of his training videos, he didn’t strike me as a phenomenal player who stood out from the rest. I was wondering what all the talk was about. He didn’t look so special technically or physically, and I was really wondering what made him such a special player. We’ll I guess I was looking at the wrong video.

After watching some in-game footage I realized what a dynamic player he really is. Diego Fagundez is of relatively small stature, which doesn’t make him very imposing at all, but the way he reads the game is special in its own way. He makes defence-splitting passes that one would have trouble imagining.

The Neymar look-a-like also has some Neymar dribbling skills. He’s not the fastest player but he gets around players with ease. He made some very high-level youth academy defenders look foolish with some of the simple dribbles he used to get around them. I’m sure he has the capacity to flick the ball over them like Neymar, but he has too much class for that.

The 140-pound professional is still young and he still does not have enough MLS games under his belt to determine if he will be a dominant player in the future. Much like Freddy Adu, who was also signed at the tender age of 14 by D.C. United, this teenage sensation will have to learn to focus to have a long successful career. I’m sure he’s still soaking it all in, especially after his tying goal against the Seattle Sounders on July 8th. For a player of short stature, his header was quite vicious on that goal.

In a way he is in the same role that Wayne Rooney or Cesc Fabregas were when they started to play professionally at the age of 16. He inspires any athlete in high school and makes you want to perform past your limits because he has achieved so much at a young age.

What also makes this story more special is that he plays with the professional team from his region. Many players in the US and Canada will do anything to go to Europe. They will go on trial with academy teams from any league just to get their foot in the door and stay there permanently.

I know from youth soccer experience and I have seen many come back with their heads down. North American academies like the Revolution’s youth academy are just as good or even better than any youth academy from a division-2 club in Europe, such as the NPower Championship, and I don’t see why all these young talented players are dying to cross the ocean when we have such great clubs right here in our own backyard.

Just knowing that his mom drives him to soccer practice, just like so many other soccer moms in North America, makes his story more heart-warming. The only difference is that his mom drives her son to Gillette Stadium.

He is only in high school and he seems just like a regular kid who likes to play Xbox, but on the pitch he is a threat to any team. He might not be as famous as Neymar but hopefully he can make an impact in the MLS and become a homegrown icon here in the US. He even has the chance to become the face of the MLS.