Yunus Musah at AC Milan

Discussion in 'Yanks Abroad' started by Dave Marino-Nachison, Jun 19, 2019.

  1. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    Here's an interesting one, as we in the business like to say: An Arsenal spokesperson informs me that their '02 Yunus Musah was born in New York. (I'm told he also has an Italian passport.) He seems to have appeared for both their U18s and U16s last season.

    In the summer of 2018 he was linked with a move to Juventus, which of course didn't happen. As it turns out, just a few days ago a Spanish article linked him with Valencia.

    https://eldesmarque.com/valencia/va...alencia-cf-de-pesca-en-la-cantera-del-arsenal

    Here are some top bins. I'm too old to know what that means.



    Musah confirms his birthplace in this video, which I found not long after hearing back from Arsenal. (He also compares himself to Pogba.) I don't know much about his parents and the interview doesn't really clarify things, but clearly he has some claim to English citizenship and maybe more.



    Most of his early youth was spent in Italy. Amusingly, he says in the interview above that he worried when he left Italy that he wouldn't be able to play soccer any more. It turned out, luckily for him, they have soccer in England, too.

    He has played for England -- including against us, in this October match:

    England: 1 Louie Moulden (Manchester City), 2 Valentino Livramento (Chelsea), 4 Miguel Azeez (Arsenal), 5 Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Manchester City) (c), 6 Teden Mengi (Manchester United), 7 Alexander Mighten (Nottingham Forest), 8 Yunus Musah (Arsenal), 9 Sam Greenwood (Arsenal), 10 Fabio Carvalho (Fulham), 11 Morgan Rogers (West Bromwich Albion), 19 Dennis Cirkin (Tottenham Hotspur)​

    http://www.thefa.com/news/2018/oct/12/england-u17s-usa-report-121018

    However, while I could absolutely have missed something, I don't believe he is cap-tied. England's U17s got a bye into the penultimate round of UEFA U17 qualifying and I couldn't easily find him on the squad for that round or the continental finals. England didn't qualify for this year's FIFA U17s.

    Photos of him in both uniforms on his Insta:

    https://www.instagram.com/yunus.musah8

    Of course some of this may make you think of Arsenal's American-born EYNT player Flo Balogun. Who knows, maybe someday they'll rep the USA together. I'd say to dare is to do here, but I know that's not an Arsenal thing...

    https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/folarin-balogun-at-arsenal.2082404/

    Only keep reading past this point if you happen to care about the ins and outs of researching players like this and why it can be both frustrating and enjoyable.

    Musuh's name comes up when you search T'Markt for players born in the U.S. -- but his profile page lists him as English/Ghanaian, and doesn't mention a birthplace. That's enough to be interesting, but not much to go on. I'd seen it months ago but guessed it might be a Balogun-related error.

    https://www.transfermarkt.de/yunus-musah/profil/spieler/503991

    Of course, if for some reason I'd seen that and then immediately thought to watch the interview above, "#TalkingTekkers with Stevo The Madman," this would've been resolved easily. But I didn't...

    Instead, I poked around the web and found things pretty messy. Here's an article that says he was born in America, lived in Italy, and is Ghana-eligible. But it's hard to know the sourcing for stories like this one, where there's no direct comment from the player or a representative, and I'm personally unfamiliar with the site.

    https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/players/azeez-musah-greenwood-amazing-arsenal-16213743

    Lots of other stories and sites I found didn't mention a birthplace or any American connection. Here's an example from an Arsenal fansite.

    https://arsenalyouth.wordpress.com/...the-next-standout-schoolboy-for-arsenal-u18s/

    At least one other story I found, which I have lost track of now, said he was born elsewhere. All told, not particularly conclusive.

    I'd thought about posting about him on the Detective Work thread, but finally I just decided to email the club. I don't know anybody there, you'll be shocked to know, and I was pleasantly surprised when someone responded in fairly short order to emails I sent to generic inboxes. It never hurts to try! (I've sent questions to local Scandinavian clubs and never heard back, so my expectations when reaching out to organizations like these are pretty low.)

    Amusingly, perhaps, their rep at first had bad news: Musuh, as far as they knew, was born in Italy. Then, a short while later, they followed up saying "We have since found out..."

    Thought I would share this in hopes that inspires others who like digging around, asking questions, and finding and sharing things. Good luck and have fun.
     
  2. TheFalseNine

    TheFalseNine Moderator
    Staff Member

    Arsenal
    United States
    Jul 15, 2014
    Norman, Okla.
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That is great stuff, Dave! Love it (and love and appreciate your important contributions to BigSoccer!)
     
    CyphaPSU, btlove, USSoccerNova and 6 others repped this.
  3. wixson7

    wixson7 Member+

    May 12, 2009
    boulder
    On the other hand...we are also concerned with his well being. :)

    Great work Dave as always!
     
  4. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    It's all good. Since I became a parent, my vices have become pretty tame. You're lookin' at 'em.
     
  5. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    Some highlights, via Twitter:



    And:

    1141306723677933569 is not a valid tweet id


    I couldn't immediately determine whether these would be considered top, middle, or bottom bins.
     
    btlove, Winoman and TheFalseNine repped this.
  6. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    Now reports of a "verbal agreement" to join Valencia.
     
    Gacm32 repped this.
  7. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    This was badly written (by me) and I wanted to clarify what I meant here so it didn't potentially seem like I was raising any questions about his Englishness. I meant "some kind of" claim, meaning simply that given that he was born in the States and has an Italian passport, I personally did not know the precise nature of his connection to the country for which he plays. And when I said "maybe more," I meant only to note that he is also sometimes referred to as Ghanaian.
     
    Winoman repped this.
  8. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    FWIW:

    Most suited to operating as a deep-lying midfielder, Musah can also play as a number ten, on either flank, or even up front.

    Like most Hale End graduates, the 16-year-old is excellent technically, while he is also capable of pushing forwards regularly to excellent effect.

    Losing Musah would undoubtedly be a blow for Arsenal given the quality that he possesses, but he couldn’t be begrudged the opportunity to test himself elsewhere.
    https://arseblog.news/2019/06/yunus-musah-departure-would-be-big-disappointment-for-arsenal-academy/
     
  9. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
  10. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    Winoman and BostonRed repped this.
  11. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
  12. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  13. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Tom Collingsworth, Winoman and Gacm32 repped this.
  14. butters59

    butters59 Member+

    Feb 22, 2013
    English fans are hyping their kids even better than ours. Third tear sounds like English League 1 though it's much closer to English youth league.
     
  15. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Starts:



     
    Winoman and Tom Collingsworth repped this.
  16. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Winoman repped this.
  17. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Starts:

     
    Tom Collingsworth and Winoman repped this.
  18. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Starts in UEFA Youth League:

     
    Tom Collingsworth repped this.
  19. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
     
    Tom Collingsworth repped this.
  20. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Starts in UEFA Youth League:



     
    Tom Collingsworth and Winoman repped this.
  21. Balerion

    Balerion Member+

    Aug 5, 2006
    Roslindale, MA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He's been starting regularly for the U19s in the UEFA Youth League and coming off the bench with some consistency for Valencia Mestalla (read: Valencia B) in the third tier.
     
    UniversalAdvice and Winoman repped this.
  22. SCSAutism

    SCSAutism Member

    United States
    May 9, 2017
    Played the full 90

     
    Winoman, UniversalAdvice and CZM4 repped this.
  23. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    On the bench for a friendly:



    Came in somewhere around the 63rd minute:



    Note: It appears his full name is "Yunus Dimoara Musah" and the club lists him as "Yunus Dimoara."
     
    sakibomb523, Winoman, CZM4 and 3 others repped this.
  24. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  25. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Winoman repped this.

Share This Page