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For many aspiring professionals, England is the dream destination, so why do so many talented young Americans end up in Germany?
For most young players around the world, the Premier League remains the pinnacle. It is the most watched league in the world for a reason, with some of the largest teams and the best players exercising their craft at the highest level. Because of this, many grow up with the dream of being the next star in the Premier League.
That idea is similar in the United States. The Premier League, thanks to its morning television schedule, has quickly become a staple of American sports.
The games on Saturday and Sunday mornings have become rituals and, with the help of NBC SportsPromotional machine, the league has never been more popular and relevant in the United States than it is now. For years, Liga MX was the only league that really captured the United States financially, but the Premier League is rapidly gaining ground.
However, only three Americans, Christian Pulisic, DeAndre Yedlin, and Indiana Vassilev, have played on England’s best flight this season. Only 10 players in English clubs have represented the USA. USA At a youth level from those under 17 years of age during the last year.
Despite all the similarities in culture, language, and mindset between the two nations, America’s top stars are no longer making waves in England.
Instead, those players flock to Germany, a country that has become the top destination for America’s top stars. The likes of Weston McKennie, Josh Sargent, Tyler Adams, and now Gio Reyna have emerged in the Bundesliga after moving to Germany at a young age.
The rise of those players came as a result of a major change, which has connected Americans to the Bundesliga like never before.
In many ways, the change started with Jurgen Klinsmann. During the time of the legendary German striker in charge of the USMNT, he frequently demanded that players be kicked out of their comfort zone. Klinsmann told players that playing in Europe was vital to their development as players and that anyone who was not uncomfortable was not really growing.
There were Americans in Germany before that, with Eric Wynalda, Steve Cherundolo, Brian McBride, Claudio Reyna, Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley among those who participated in the Bundesliga, but it was during Klinsmann’s time that the USMNT and German soccer became intertwined .
Dual nationals like John Brooks, Jermaine Jones, Fabian Johnson, Julian Green and Timothy Chandler became regular customers of the USMNT, while newcomers like Bobby Wood and Aron Johannsson joined the team after breaking into the Bundesliga. .
“I think it is a league that traditionally has always given young players moving up the ranks a chance,” Klinsmann told ESPN. “It’s always based on performance, so when an American player comes up and introduces himself, he has a chance to play.”
“There is not a lot of politics involved. The coaches are usually very direct. If the kid understands that it is all about performance and they will have a chance, then the Bundesliga is the place to be.”
However, the connection has not been cut in the three years since Klinsmann was fired as USMNT manager. For the past decade, Americans have fallen in love with German soccer, and for various reasons German soccer loves them.
The two sides have similar soccer mentalities. Both place great emphasis on the team and work within a group, with the longstanding effort and desire of the USMNT as an integral part of the program’s identity. Both countries are defined by hard, fast-paced, physical soccer, and so American players have tended to blend in well with German culture.
However, that is far from the main reason for all this and, as usual, that main reason is money.
Because football doesn’t require solidarity payments or training compensation, and because many players don’t turn pro until later in their teens, there is virtually no fee required to sign an American player.
The best young players are cheap, available, and most of the time, determined to show that they can get to Europe and overcome the stigma attached to coming from the US. USA And not from a European power.
For those players, there are few better places to develop than Germany. More than the leagues in England or Spain, German soccer is built to develop youth. There is a track record of success when it comes to identifying, developing and, when the time comes, selling young players.
In the past 20-25 years, no country has worked better with young players than Germany, and it has a World Cup to prove.
That is very different from England, a country that makes it much more difficult for non-European players. For many, acquiring a work permit to play in an English club will be difficult, as approval is generally based on the number of higher caps a player has earned thus far.
That excludes a number of young Americans, who would have difficulty acquiring the necessary documentation to enter a world-class academy or club. Such was the case with Juan Agudelo, who signed with Stoke City in 2013 but never played for the club due to permission issues.
German rules are much more relaxed and have no minimum wages for foreigners like clubs in the Netherlands or Belgium. When it comes to money, style, and fit, the Bundesliga makes the most sense for many young American stars.
“I think young Americans will continue to come to the Bundesliga,” McBride, the top scorer and current general manager of the USMNT, told Bundesliga.com.
“I think there are some factors to explain it. If you look at the number of scouts that Bundesliga teams put up in the United States, so that they can see players at younger ages, I think it’s a big factor. Also, If you look at England, there is a work permit problem.
“So that part is kind of the reason why there aren’t that many on the youth side, but I think it’s more due to the fact that Americans have done well in the Bundesliga. The Bundesliga understands that there is a wealth of talent they can find at an earlier age and attract, which is beneficial to everyone. “
Of all the Bundesliga clubs that have mined the US market in recent years, Borussia Dortmund has benefited the most, with Pulisic the crown jewel of this entire process.
However, Dortmund stumbled upon Pulisic by accident, according to Sports Illustrated. Sports director Michael Zorc had traveled to Turkey to take a closer look at Haji Wright in action for the American U17 team.
The striker, who signed with Schalke and is now with the Dutch team VVV Venlo, impressed, but not as impressed as Pulisic, who ended up joining Dortmund in 2015.
The entire agreement worked perfectly for everyone involved, as Pulisic was able to sign for Dortmund before turning 18 thanks to his Croatian passport and was able to sign for free as he was not yet a professional. Four years later, he was sold to Chelsea for £ 57.6 million ($ 73 million), making him the most expensive American player of all time and Dortmund’s second highest transfer fee received in club history, behind Ousmane Dembele.
Apart from Bayern Munich, German clubs do not have the financial resources of clubs in England and cannot compete with players like Real Madrid and Barcelona for the best young talent in South America. As a result, they had to be creative, and in that process, they found a group of American players who can sign up for virtually nothing in most cases.
“Our ambition is to compete for the Bundesliga and regularly reach the last stages of the Champions League. If you look at the great boys we are dealing with: Bayern, the best teams in England and Spain, Paris Saint-Germain, each of them start the season about a quarter of a billion euros ahead, “Zorc told ESPN. “We need to have a different approach.
“It would be naive to think that finances have no influence on what happens on the field. That is why we like to work with young players who are at a level that we can pay and generate money that we can use to close the gap in some way. “
Dortmund is far from being the only side to take advantage of this idea. Schalke has brought in several Americans over the years, including Wright, McKennie, and Nick Taitague. Ulysses Llanez is on the precipice of Wolfsburg’s first team, while Borussia Monchengladbach has an agreement to bring young Joe Scally from FC New York City in 2021.
Even Bayern went into action with the signing of Chris Richards of FC Dallas in 2019. Richards, one of the brightest prospects in the American youth group, cost Bayern $ 1.5 million (£ 1.2 million) with the potential that that rate go up, but they would have paid a lot more money for a player of the same quality than any other major football nation.
“I want to start having a few minutes on the field with the first team next year,” Richards told the Underdog Soccer Podcast. “There are still centrals that are world class. I am not taking anything away from them, but I think it is time that I start trying to show people what I have and I hope that one day I will become a Bayern legend.” “
As long as Americans are a financially sound investment, this process will continue. In the coming years, other clubs will discover what the Bundesliga already knows if they follow a similar path.
What that means for the MLS, the USMNT, and American football as a whole remains to be seen, but even if there is never another sale similar to Pulisic, signing American youth is a tactic that has been very rewarding for many clubs. and players.
With the United States preparing for the 2022 World Cup and, perhaps most importantly, the 2026 tournament in their homeland, these next few years will be vital. The show is still in rebuild mode after the 2018 disaster, and in the coming years, several of these Bundesliga-based stars are expected to become key elements in the national team.
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However, those players are not the first and will not be the last, since the relationship between the Bundesliga and the main stars of the United States will not end soon.
“The Bundesliga is one of the best leagues in the world, so that is taken into account when considering a player’s performance,” said USMNT chief Gregg Berhalter.
“In order for us to be a top team in the world, we need players to perform in the best leagues in the world, so that is one of the problems that we face. This is a high level program and if you can do it here, that means you are a high level player. “
