Miguel Perez: From the cornfields of Missouri to St. Louis CITY SC history

The roar was deafening when Miguel Perez came on in the 88th minute for St. Louis CITY SC against Charlotte FC (3-1). Brought on for João Klauss, the fans celebrated both Klauss, who had scored the third for St. Louis, and also the fact that in Perez, the club brought on a home-grown player in the club’s first-ever competitive home game. It was Perez second game, as the 17-year-old also featured in his club's 3-2 road game victory over Austin FC the previous week. 

“It was an amazing feeling, playing in front of 22,000 people, and my family was there and supporting me, that made it even better,” Perez said to Transfermarkt the following day after practice. “St. Louis has been waiting several years for this; to have this happening is a very special moment for the city.” 

Perez was part of the group of players that got a full training session on Sunday, as head coach Bradley Carnell wants to manage the load of all players in the squad to have everyone at the same level for Tuesday when St. Louis CITY SC will start preparing for their game against the Portland Timbers in earnest. The Sunday training also allowed Transfermarkt to catch up with both Perez and Carnell at St. Louis CITY SC’s stunning training facility, which is attached to the brand-new CITYPARK Stadium. Having the stadium in touching distance from the training facilities is by design; it serves as a motivation for young players to achieve their goal of representing their club on the weekend. 

Miguel Perez: From the cornfield to first-ever St. Louis CITY SC homegrown star

It was also a stated goal for St. Louis CITY SC to produce academy players as quickly as possible. But having a player developed in time for the club to play their first-ever competitive games in Major League Soccer is truly remarkable. “Credit to [sporting director] Lutz [Pfannenstiel] for the talent identification program in Missouri,” Carnell said to Transfermarkt when asked about Perez’s path to the first team. “The story goes that they found him playing next to some cornfield. Lutz has a keen eye, and he knows a talented player when he sees one.” The story of Pfannenstiel scouting the outskirts of St. Louis to find talented players for the MLS Next Pro team has been well documented, and Perez was discovered while playing a game in Booneville, Missouri, a town famous for truck stop show and cornfields. 

In fact, Perez is not the only talent in St. Louis CITY SC’s MLS squad. In January, St. Louis CITY SC also signed now 16-year-old Caden Glover to a first-team contract. And while Perez is yet to feature for any US youth national teams, Glover has already made four appearances for the U15. But an injury to Glover in preseason meant that it was Perez that got the headlines as the first homegrown player to feature for CITY. 

“This is amazing,” Carnell said when asked about already having a homegrown player in the squad. “First, he contributed in a big way to an away victory, the first ever for the club, and then coming home to play in front of his family and friends, that is an amazing story. But listen, everything is earned; the appearance [against Charlotte] was not just given; he earns those minutes and appearances.”

St. Louis CITY SC talent Perez "floats in-between the lines"

Perez would admit to Transfermarkt that he was a bit nervous when he came on in the home opener. “Don’t play nervous you belong; believe that you belong out there; that gave me a bit of confidence,” Perez said when he was asked what Carnell said to him when he came on. 

The sample size might have been small, but the Austin FC game, where Perez played 36 minutes, highlighted that Perez belongs in MLS. According to Wyscout, the central midfielder completed 90% of his passes, won 79% of his duels, and made ten recoveries overall.  “Look at the game in Austin where he came in for 30 minutes and made a big contribution,” Carnell said. “He makes us better.” 

But what type of player is the 17-year-old? “I would say, I like to be aggressive, play forward, and come on the ball, but also like to go hard into defensive tackles,” Perez said. "But also my awareness, especially as I play on the no.6 position. Awareness is a big thing.”

Carnell on Perez: "We always saw something special in Miggy"

Carnell is more detailed in his description of the talented midfielder. “We always saw something special in Miggy, he always finds time and space with the ball and is aggressive against the ball and hardly ever gets caught in possession,” Carnell said. “He is a guy that floats in-between the lines and floats between spaces. The best thing about him is his mentality, he is fearless and brave; he doesn’t care about the name on the back of the jersey of his opponents.”

What, then is Perez’s ceiling? “I don’t want to put him under pressure and name any big names,” Carnell said. “But a very big Spanish team had two very successful midfielders, and they were very clinical in their moves and executions with the ball, technical problem solving, and I think Miggy Perez has a lot of those technical aspects where he can solve problems very easily and still play forward while committing to our process.”

All of this is high praise for the talented midfielder. But anyone who has watched Perez progress from the cornfields of Missouri through MLS Next Pro to MLS will have little doubt that the 17-year-old could turn into a special player. One that has already cemented his place in St. Louis CITY SC history as the first-ever homegrown player from St. Louis to play for the club.