Crew Academy player Taha Habroune signed with Crew 2. Here's why it matters for the Crew

When Taha Habroune joined the Crew Academy as a 13-year-old in 2019, he dreamed of one day becoming a professional with the team he grew up supporting.

The 17-year-old midfielder made his professional debut with Crew 2 in March, capping off a whirlwind first few months of 2023 that saw him join the Crew's first team for preseason training in Florida in January and help the United States U17 national team qualify for the U17 World Cup at the CONCACAF U17 Championship in February. Habroune scored three goals in six games there, in his first competition with the national team.

Following his professional debut, Habroune rejoined the academy's U17 team for the Generation adidas Cup, a tournament that features the MLS academy teams competing against some of the top academies across the world. The Crew Academy U17 squad made it to the semifinals, and Habroune was named the MVP of the U17 division.

And this week, Habroune signed with Crew 2, officially taking his first step as a full-time professional.

"I’ve always dreamt of this," Habroune said. "I’ve worked hard for a while, but I think most importantly, I’ve had the club and my family support me a lot and help me get to this position right now. ... We thought over it for a while, but we felt it was the best decision for me and my career, and possibly making to the first team. Hopefully, one day."

Habroune isn't the first signing from the academy to Crew 2 — that distinction goes to Aidan Wolf, who was Crew 2's first-ever signing last February — but his signing nonetheless represents an important step for the Crew's player development pipeline.

"Everything that’s been done behind the scenes helps us get to a point like this, where we feel we’re signing one of the top prospects in North America directly from our academy to our pro second team," assistant general manager Corey Wray said. "... Despite maybe how quick these things look, it’s something that we’ve been working on for a couple of years now."

Before the creation of MLS Next Pro and Crew 2, players ready to step up from an MLS academy but not yet ready for the first team had two options. They could go to college, as all of the Crew's current homegrown players did before signing with the first team. If they wanted to move into the professional ranks, the majority of them had to do it outside of the umbrella of their MLS club. Some MLS clubs operated teams in the United Soccer League as a reserve team, but the Crew did not.

Now, Crew 2 gives players like Habroune an opportunity to take the next step of their development while remaining in an integrated structure within the Crew.

"Our approach is becoming quite, quite systematic in terms of not only the movement of the players through the pathway, which I think you’re already seeing, but also in our approach to the kind of players that we want to develop and play," technical director Marc Nicholls said. "The player profile from the first team down. The ages and stages of development. That means a 12-year-old, but it can also mean a senior pro. And then how we coach and train the players, so that when the player moves through the pathway, there’s a coaching language, a certain set of expectations, behaviors (and) training sessions so that we can truly produce ‘Crew players.'

"Because I think when you have this identity that’s really clear, that we’re developing and working together on, you’re able to become really targeted and precise in who you are, where you’re going and what you want. That’s not just about Taha, of course, but that’s the big picture of this process."

As Nicholls describes it, the identity of a Crew player begins with work ethic. The Crew's original slogan was "America's hardest working team", and that still carries weight with the current technical staff. After that, game intelligence is a key attribute, and the hope is that each player also has an element to their game that makes them a difference-maker.

The Crew see all of that in Habroune.

"They have to be brave and bold," Nicholls said. "Taha is actually a really good example of that. When the game’s on the line, he seems to be at his best. I’ve seen him in a number of games. Just when maybe the game’s drifting away from you or you need a goal, he tends to be somebody that has a unique kind of profile where he makes something happen."

And while Habroune's signing is an important milestone for Columbus, the expectation is that more players will take the same step in the future.

The Crew, from general manager Tim Bezbatchenko and coach Wilfried Nancy at the top of the pipeline to the academy staff at the base of the pyramid, have been open about their goal of creating a carefully-aligned player development model throughout the organization. Habroune's signing matters on an individual level, but it's equally important in how it fits into the big picture of the club.

"This is a big one for us because (Habroune is) so recognized and he has represented the national team," Wray said. "But we’re very excited about the rest of the crop that’s coming through as well. ... It’s bubbling underneath. There’s been a lot of talk in and amongst our circles in the league on that, and we’re really proud of the work that (academy director) Kelvin (Jones) and Marc and all of the staff have done to get the guys to this point.

"It’s going to be overflowing soon."

bjohnson@dispatch.com

@BaileyAJohnson_

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew academy midfielder Taha Habroune signs with Crew 2