A look inside Tim Bezbatchenko's long-term plan for the Columbus Crew

No one knows the fact that the Crew have had a quiet offseason better than general manager Tim Bezbatchenko. But for Bezbatchenko, the quietness is by design, and it's indicative of how Bezbatchenko envisions the long-term future for the Crew.

Since hiring coach Wilfried Nancy in December, the Crew have signed two experienced players − defender Jimmy Medranda and striker Christian Ramirez − and three young players − center backs Keegan Hughes and Philip Quinton, and forward Max Arfsten. Hughes played in the Crew Academy before four seasons at Stanford, Quinton spent last season with Crew 2 and Arfsten was the Crew's first-round pick in the latest MLS SuperDraft.

Bezbatchenko's plan, as he looks to the 2023 season and beyond, is for that to be the Crew's general operating model.

"I think everyone has their definition of an exciting offseason," Bezbatchenko said. "For us, it’s about, what is the result on the field, and how do you achieve that result? I’ll go back to our goal of being a club that’s identifiable and having an identity that people know about, not just domestically, but internationally. Building this new (training) facility and a new stadium attracts talent at the youth levels.

"We want to be a team that moves players through our pathway, from the academy, to Crew 2, and then the first team. That’s what we want to do first, is look internally at our talent and sign players from the academy, from Crew 2, from the draft."

One of the Crew's goals in hiring Nancy was to reinforce top-down alignment within the organization, creating a more accessible path for players up through the levels of the club.

That goal isn't limited to the players who will make contributions in 2023; it's becoming a guiding light for the Crew into the future.

The Philadelphia Union have become one of the top teams in MLS in recent years, and their rise has been fueled by a strong academy and a clear pathway for promoting players to the MLS ranks before, eventually, selling them to leagues in Europe. Other teams have taken notice of Philadelphia's model, and its success, and the Crew are working to align themselves with that plan.

"If you look globally, the ability to move players up in your system and then participate in the import and export of players, I think it’s the next wave of MLS," Bezbatchenko said. "You’re starting to see it. A number of players who play for the U.S. Men’s National Team, who are playing for the top clubs in the world, Juventus, Leeds, you name it, Bayern Munich, they started in MLS, in these academies. It’s OK for us to say, ‘Let’s develop some players that eventually are going to move to Europe, to play for these top clubs.' "

As the Crew implement the model throughout the organization, the 2023 season will feature more contributions from young players than in the past. Midfielder Aidan Morris, who came through the Crew Academy, is on the verge of his first season as an everyday starter, and other players, such as Quinton, Jacen Russell-Rowe and Will Sands, will have opportunities to establish themselves at the MLS level.

Bezbatchenko said earlier in the offseason that high-priced signings, such as Lucas Zelarayan in 2019 and Cucho Hernandez in 2022, will not be regular occurrences for the Crew. The goal is to promote from within, create a blend of youth and veteran experience on the roster, and develop players for the future.

"What normally happens, as the roster gets a little bit older and you make some changes, you start to bring in players from your youth system," Bezbatchenko said. "You want to find the right mix of veterans, core and youth on the roster, and that’s what we’re doing."

In the present, what Bezbatchenko's plan means for the Crew is simple: young players will have opportunities, signings from outside the organization will be carefully considered and the organization will work to be cohesive from top to bottom.

That process has already begun, with Crew 2 coach Laurent Courtois joining the first team for the beginning of preseason and now installing the same drills and principles — many of which are similar to what helped Crew 2 win MLS Next Pro Cup last year — with his team. As time goes on, the principles will flow down through the U19, U17 and U15 levels of the academy, with the goal of making it more straightforward to call players up because they'll already have a level of familiarity with the structure.

The plan remains for the Crew to sign an additional defender or two, after trading Jonathan Mensah to San Jose, but those signings won't be driven by a concern that the players already on the roster can't handle what's being asked of them. Bezbatchenko and Nancy say they have confidence in their roster, and that confidence allows them to establish this plan for the future.

"There was one player that we were keen on," Bezbatchenko said. "Due to the disruptions in Turkey caused by the earthquake, that’s really slowed down those talks and maybe will prevent us from actually getting that player. We have a number of players we’re talking to. ... We are confident in this roster right now to be able to get results. It is more about the way we want to play and how we want to build out that we’re looking for a new player, more so than any (concern) on the defensive side."

So, when the 2023 Crew season begins on Saturday at Philadelphia, Columbus will get an immediate test against a club that it hopes to resemble, in some ways, in the future. The current version of the Crew will face a challenge against the 2022 MLS Cup runner-up, and the whole organization be able to evaluate where it stands against a successful team-building model in MLS.

"We have our core of our roster returning and what we’re seeing now is the returns on the investment that we put into the youth, our academy and Crew 2," Bezbatchenko said. "Especially with that team that won the championship last year in MLS Next Pro, which players can step up? They’ve shown in preseason so far that a lot of them not only are ready to be depth players, but have a meaningful impact on the team. Really excited about this roster right now."

bjohnson@dispatch.com

@BaileyAJohnson_

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Tim Bezbatchenko sets future plan for Columbus Crew player development