Phenom Jordan Morris staying home to start career a huge victory for MLS

It is too early to know for sure if 21-year-old Jordan Morris is America’s Next Great Player (remember Freddy Adu?).

What we do know is that his decision to turn down Bundesliga club Werder Bremen to play for his hometown Seattle Sounders last week was a great coup for Major League Soccer. Anytime an elite American player chooses to stay on U.S. soil rather than go overseas is another notch of validation for domestic leagues.

Of course, there will be skeptics who say, as they did about Landon Donovan, that Morris took the easy way out by staying in America, that to truly test himself and reach his full potential, he needs to test himself daily against top players in Europe.

U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann certainly has been beating that drum since he took over. In fact, he set up a 10-day trial with Werder Bremen for Morris and urged him to go and see what it’s like. Morris obliged, played very well, impressed coaches, but in the end picked what was more familiar.

At Werder Bremen he would have faced great competition, including the likes of Bayern Munich, but he’d have been just another prospect. The club is in danger of relegation, so his salary might have dropped and his star dimmed if the team moved down. In Seattle, he will be treated like the golden child and given plenty of playing time during which to better his game. He also will earn $675,000 over the next three years — $225,000 per year.

This one was a no-brainer and shouldn’t come as a huge shock. After all, the Sounders had been courting Morris since middle school.

The Mercer Island native grew up following the Sounders from their USL days because his father was, and still is, the team doctor. He left his youth club to join the Sounders Academy team in 2012, scored 28 goals in 32 games and accepted a full scholarship from Stanford.

He played through his junior season at Stanford, led the Cardinal to its first men’s soccer national championship and won the Hermann Trophy, the soccer equivalent to the Heisman.

Klinsmann and his staff took notice and last April called him into camp. He became the first college player since 1999 to play for the U.S. team. He has played seven matches with the national team and scored the winning goal against Mexico.

Much to the delight of the crazed green-scarved Sounders fans, Morris said Seattle was where his heart was all along.

“In talks with Jurgen and [U.S. U-23 coach] Andi [Herzog], they helped set up that trial there [in Germany],” Morris said. “I knew I wanted to come home. It was a cool experience, but it reaffirmed my desire to play at home and in front of 45,000 fans at CenturyLink [Field]. It was a cool experience, but I’m more than excited to be at home.”

Klinsmann told ESPN FC that he supports Morris’ decision.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Phenom Jordan Morris staying home to start career a huge victory for MLS."