With the MLS season opening this weekend, the Red Bulls are filling out their roster, signing rookie draft pick Shawn McLaws and young Canadian National Team defender Karl Ouimette. But it’s the addition of teenage trialist Anatole Abang that raises eyebrows, as much for where he’s from as what he can do.
“I’m pleased by what we’ve seen from Shawn, Karl and Abang,” coach Jesse Marsch said. “These three guys entered camp with very different playing backgrounds, but they’ve all progressed well and earned a spot. We think they have potential, and by keeping them in our environment and around our club, they’ll continue to grow as players and down the line be a part of what we’re building here.’’
Those backgrounds are varied. McLaws is a third-round pick and Ouimette played for Marsch, a Montreal academy product who got his first professional action with the Impact when Marsch coached there in 2012. Now 22 — and having gotten his seventh and eight caps for Canada in January — he’ll join the Red Bulls pending approval of his P-1 visa and receipt of his International Transfer Certificate.
But the most noteworthy addition may be Abang. Granted, he’s 18 and raw, while McLaws — who plays centerback and fullback — may play more on a team with a shaky defense. But the striker is part of Cameroon’s U-20 National Team and comes on a transfer from Rainbow FC, a name Red Bulls fans may recall.
The Red Bulls also got Ambroise Oyongo from the club, which is owned by Rainbow Sports Investments. RSI’s strategy appears to be — rather than investing in players directly — simply starting up a club, inking cheap young Cameroonian talent and flipping them to bigger foreign for transfer fees.
FIFA takes a dim view of third-party ownership, but the practice is working, having sent players to Greece and the Red Bulls’ Marius Obekop, Chicago’s Yazid Atouba, Colorado’s Charles Eloundou, and Philadelphia newcomer Eric Ayuk Mbu to MLS. But Oyongo refused a contract extension with the Red Bulls, and when they cashed out and traded him to Montreal, refused to report to the Impact.
The Oyongo drama aside, Abang clearly has talent. He might wind up on the NYRB II, their USL Pro side, or he might make the big club. But either way, his development — and that of any relationship with RSI — bears watching.