Gyasi Zardes is an African-American football player who plays for the MLS Eastern Conference side Columbus Crew Soccer Club and the US Men's National Soccer Team. The California-native center-forward has been playing in the MLS since 2013.
Here we take a look at Zardes' transfer history, statistics, and salary.
Player Information: Playing Position, Height
Zardes was born on the 2nd of September 1991. He is a center-forward by trade but primarily plays as a striker for Columbus Crew. Zardes stands at 6 feet 2 inches or 1.88 meters tall and has all the physical attributes that a striker needs to be good at his game. As a striker with impressive speed, positioning, and ability to convert rebounds, Zardes has the perfect trait for a poacher.
However, Zardes can also play on both flanks and has done so during his time at LA Galaxy.
Transfer History
Zardes has an extensive transfer history. He made his footballing journey playing for b-teams to reach the top of the U.S footballing scene.
The striker first started playing football in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy as a player for the Galaxy Academy U-18s team. He played for the Galaxy Academy for 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and the 2009 USL Super-20 Campaigns. In August of 2011, he went on loan to Ventura County Fusion for two consecutive seasons from his college club, CSU Bakersfield.
After two loan seasons at Ventura County, he signed a professional contract with LA Galaxy on 19th December 2012, finally stepping up to the top-tier. He played 154 matches for LA Galaxy from 2012 to the 20th of January 2018, scoring 40 goals and providing 22 assists.
If we look at each competition separately, Zardes made appearances in four tournaments during his time at LA Galaxy. He made 131 appearances in the MLS and scored 34 goals, and provided 18 assists. Similarly, he played nine games in the CONCACAF Champions League, scoring one and creating two. In six appearances in the US Open Cup, he netted three times and assisted once.
And finally, in the MLS Cup Playoffs, he played in 8 games, scored two, and assisted once.
His final 2016/17 season for La Galaxy was plagued with injuries. He missed 16 matches and 184 days that season due to various leg injuries and strain. Even though he played 24 games in the MLS, he scored only two goals and provided three assists in those games.
Current Teams: Performances For Columbus Crew SC
Following an injury-plagued season and low output, he was let go by LA Galaxy for free at the end of the 2016/17 season. Zardes decided to move from the Western Conference, i.e., LA Galaxy, to the Eastern Conference, i.e., his current team Columbus Crew SC.
Zardes signed with Columbus on the 20th of January 2018. In his time at Columbus Crew, he has produced great stats. He appeared in 70 games for the Eastern Conference side, 63 of which have been in the league, 3 in the MLS Cup Playoffs, and 4 in the MLS Is Back Tournament. Among the 38 goals that he has scored up until this point, 33 of them have come in the league, 4 in the MLS Is Back Tournament, and 1 goal in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
In the league, he has scored with an average of 0.56 goals per 90, according to stats from FBref.
Performances for the US Men’s National Soccer Team (USMNT)
Gyasi Zardes is also a good player for the US Men’s National Soccer Team (USMNT). Zardes made his official debut for the national team on the 29th of January 2015. He came onto the pitch as a substitute for 22 minutes in a 3-2 loss against Chile. He was 23 years, four months, and 27 days on his debut.
Including his debut game, Zardes has made 56 appearances for the USMNT in various tournaments. His competition-wise stats for the national team until now are given below:
- International Friendlies - 27 games, four goals, three assists
- Gold Cup 2019 - 16 games, four goals, two assists
- Copa America - 6 games, one goal, one assist
- World Cup Qualification - four games, one goal, two assists
- CONCACAF Nations League A - two games, two goals
- Confederations Cup - one game, no goals
Salary
As Zardes has become better over the years, his salary and earnings have also increased exponentially.
According to data from Sportrac, in 2013, Zardes had a basic salary of $100,000 and a guaranteed cap of $173,000 in his debut year with the LA Galaxy. Similarly, his basic salary with Columbus Crew in 2018 was $630,000, and his guaranteed cap hit was the same. However, once he became a designated player in the team at the start of 2019, his base salary jumped to $2,261,667 with a guaranteed cap of $2,311,667.
Gyasi Zardes: FIFA 20 Overall And Potential Rating
Gyasi Zardes has decent in-game ratings on FIFA 20. The striker has 72 overall ratings and the same potential ratings.
Additionally, his preferred position in the game is striker, similar to real life. The 28-year-old has a high work rate, four-star weak foot useability, and three-star skill moves ratings. The best attributes of his game alter-ego are Attacking Position (rated at 74), Acceleration (rated at 80), Stamina (rated at 88), and Spring Speen (rated at 87). Moreover, he also has Early Crosser and Fan Favorite as his in-game traits.
All these attributes make Zardes an 'Engine' in the game- a specialty badge awarded only to players with 85 attributes and above.
He is valued at €3.3 million in the game, and his wage is set at €7,000.
