Back in October, I had the opportunity to watch the New York Red Bulls II victory over Swope Park Rangers in the USL Cup Championship. One of the players who particularly impressed was Tyler Adams: RBNY's 17-year-old starting-midfielder-in-waiting. After the game, milling around waiting for the post-game pressers, I asked a few fellow reporters what they thought of Adams' performance in the game. More than once, I heard him compared to Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante: a breakout star for Leicester City during their EPL title run last season, now providing similar service to Chelsea. As it happened, Adams himself called Kante's name during his post-match interview as he described the role and standard he aspires to:
At 17, Adams has a lot of time to develop and advance his career.