Two of Atlanta United’s younger players, George Bello and Emerson Hyndman, described it as inspiring that two Americans debuted for two of the world’s biggest clubs and another continued his progression for another powerful team.
Those three players are Chris Richards, who made his debut at Bayern Munich, Sergino Dest, who made his debut at Barcelona, and Gio Reyna, who had three assists in yet another solid performance for Borussia Dortmund.
“Always exciting to see because there weren’t too many Americans doing that at that age, especially 5-10 years ago,” Hyndman said. “It’s really exciting for our country as a whole and nice to see them at big clubs doing big things.
"It’s just one of those things that if they continue and keep striding forward, it will inspire a lot of young Americans to reach those heights. Now a lot of young Americans can see it is possible, instead of just dreaming about it.”
There have been Americans playing for clubs in Europe going back decades.
But this year is different because the clubs are different. In addition to Dest, Richards and Reyna, Weston McKennie is at Italian giant Juventus, Christian Pulisic is at Chelsea, Zack Steffen is at Manchester City.
"It gives us in MLS who dream to play in Europe to show that it is possible,” Bello, 18, said.
They join the large groups of players young through old playing at clubs such as Fulham and Newcastle in England, RB Leipzig, Eintracht, Werder Bremen, Fortuna Dusseldorf and Wolfsburg in Germany, to name a few.
Hyndman, 24, once was one of those players. He spent one year in FC Dallas’ academy before signing with Fulham as a teen. He later joined Bournemouth. He went on loan to Rangers and Hibernian in Scotland for spells. Hyndman, a native of Texas, joined Atlanta United on loan before joining the club permanently before this season.
Richards, who was born in Hoover, signed with Dallas as a Homegrown in April 2018 before a few months later heading to Munich in January 2019. Reyna played in NYCFC’s Academy from 2015-19 before heading to Germany and Dortmund’s academy. Dest, who grew up in Holland, never played in an MLS academy. Neither did Pulisic, who grew up in Hershey, Pa.
Hyndman noted that MLS is still a young league compared with those in Europe.
“MLS has plenty of time and is doing really well,” he said.
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