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Soccer federations from England and the USA are fighting over Chelsea teen sensation, Landon Emenalo. The 16-year-old defensive midfielder has dual citizenship with the two nations.
He is currently featuring in the young ranks at Chelsea, where his father, Michael, was previously the director of football.
Emenalo initially made his international debut with the England U15s in early 2023.
The budding star also played three more fixtures with the nation’s U16s later that year. Nevertheless, Emenalo then recently swapped allegiances to the United States U17s. The midfielder made appearances against Germany and Czech Republic youth teams in September.
Despite the switch, England is not giving up on having Emenalo on their side. The Telegraph has reported that England U17 manager Neil Ryan named the youngster in his most recent squad. The English youth team is set to play qualifiers for the Euro 2025 tournament.
Prospect’s father brought him to Chelsea at the age of eight
Emenalo was born in Arizona while his father began working behind the scenes at Chelsea. Michael Emenalo, a previous Nigerian international, moved to the United States to play college soccer at Boston University.
After furthering his career across Europe, the senior Emenalo was then part of San Jose’s original Major League Soccer team in 1996.
Michael then worked as the director of player development at the Tucson Soccer Academy in 2006 before his move to Chelsea. It was with the Blues where the older Emenalo made a name for himself.
The executive was key in helping the English club sign stars such as Juan Mata, Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, and N’Golo Kante. Michael eventually moved on to be the director of football at Monaco and then held a similar role with the Saudi Pro League.
Landon signed on with Chelsea at the age of eight. This came as his father was still at the helm of the West London club. Although Michael has moved on,…
Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/england-and-usa-are-battling-for-chelsea-youth-prospect/
Author : Chris Moore
Publish date : 2024-10-19 18:19:24
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