Player Analysis: Yunus Musah

From Giovanni Reyna to Christian Pulisic to Weston McKennie to Tyler Adams, the United States currently boasts an unprecedented amount of young talents playing in Europe's top 5 leagues, and it appears as though the next American prospect could be on the horizon. At 17 years of age, Yunus Musah finds himself entrenched in a tug-of-war between four different countries, and for the time being, the Stars and Stripes are winning the battle.

Born in New York City to Ghanian parents, Musah's family moved to Italy when he was still an infant, where they would spend the next ten years. Living in the northeastern town of Castelfranco Veneto, Musah began his career at A.S.D. Giorgione Calcio 2000, but he headed west in 2012 and joined Arsenal's academy.

For the next seven years, Musah ascended the ranks of the famous Hale End academy, a recruitment pipeline that has produced the likes of Ashley Cole, Tony Adams, and Ray Parlour. Musah racked up impressive statistics at the youth level, registering 5 goals and 3 assists in the 2018/19 season, but with a lack of a pathway towards first-team action, he departed North London in the summer of 2019.