Bryan, an '03 with Lausanne Sport's academy, confirmed to me that he was born in the U.S. He has appeared for Swiss YNTs, including fairly recently as this photo shows: https://loft6.photoshelter.com/image/I0000bXqZjFdvYls https://www.lausanne-sport.ch/13-lausannois-equipe-suisse/ The club's first team is in the second division this season. On Insta: https://www.instagram.com/yanbra_okoh/?hl=en
Transfermarkt says he was born in Houston. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/bryan-okoh/nationalmannschaft/spieler/539795
OFFICIAL: We are delighted to announce a new signing in Bryan #Okoh. The 16-year-old centre-back from Switzerland leaves @lausanne_sport for our club and signs a contract until 2022. Welcome to Salzburg, Bryan! pic.twitter.com/Bv61gKSxRw— FC Red Bull Salzburg EN (@FCRBS_en) June 28, 2019
TM says Okoh will be on loan at FC Liefering next season. Liefering is effectively RB Salzburg's reserve team at this point.
https://www.redbullsalzburg.at/en/f...ews/saison_2019_20/who-came-and-who-went.html Little brief blurb about how their incoming transfers and outgoing transfers have been doing from four days ago posted on Salzburg's site. Here's what they say about him. The 16-year-old left Team Vaud in Switzerland and joined the Red Bulls. He has been a regular for cooperation club FC Liefering - where he has tirelessly swatted up on the art of central defending. FC Liefering plays in the second division and for all intents and purposes is Salzburg's youth team. Pretty much all of their players are either on loan or at one point have been in Salazburg's youth team. Very young squad. Still Okoh is one of the youngest players on the team, with most players being in that 18-20 range.
It's weird that the club's official site wrote that he's been a regular for Liefering, because it's not true. He's played one game for Liefering and has otherwise been with RB Salzburg's U18 team. https://www.transfermarkt.us/bryan-okoh/leistungsdaten/spieler/539795
V weird. I tried finding official matches for Liefering and a very small sample would say that transfermarkt has it right. Strange.
starts and goes at least 80’ in each game 1282304905206734848 is not a valid tweet id 5:2! Die „Triple-Ambitionen“ des @grazerak sind Geschichte. 👇🏻https://t.co/mMrsDNPkMt— FC Liefering (@FCLiefering) July 19, 2020 Mit drei weiteren Zählern im Gepäck geht‘s zurück in die Heimat. 🥳https://t.co/Jk8ec6z0oQ— FC Liefering (@FCLiefering) July 24, 2020
correction: in the last game he actually came on in the 82nd his current twitter bio lists nigeria, congo, & the US. no switzerland https://twitter.com/okoh_bryan?s=21
fc leifring vs fc juniors. full 90 for okoh. @ShaftBrewer will be dropping a comp soon https://www.laola1.at/de/ott/de-at/playerpage/171472
wrong link. this is the correct one. my apologies. https://www.laola1.at/de/ott/de-at/playerpage/175923
@David Kerr ranks him No. 2 in his list of top 50 American prospects. https://chasingacup.com/an-in-depth-look-at-the-fall-2020-top-50-u20-prospect-rankings/ The list is interesting because it puts Okoh and a couple of others way above names that get a lot more hype here, on podcasts, etc.
Okoh hasn’t gotten much hype because he’s a defender who seemed firmly entrenched in the Swiss YNT system. With the door open and the last season Okoh had he is just as good of a prospect as any of them. This is a champions league knockout stage level prospect
Realistically, what are the chances he chooses the US over his other international options? I would guess that he'd have to hit a roadblock with Switzerland...?
Maybe, long term for the MNT and short term for the YNT’s the USA are much better than Switzerland so it could be very eye opening for Okoh.
I have no idea what Okoh's deep-down personal preferences are, but in recent decades Switzerland has been a routine qualifier/occasional advancer in both the World Cup and the Euros, which one assumes is sufficient to make playing for a European country at least as attractive as playing for the U.S. in a general sense. The level above that is routinely winning multiple knockout games in major tournaments, something to which both countries still aspire.
Great point about the Euros -- CONCACAF has nothing to compare in terms of prestige (disrespect toward the Gold Cup definitely intended)
Another highly talented youngster from @RedBullSalzburg, the future of Swiss football, 17-year-old defender - Bryan Okoh! #talent #scouting 🇨🇭👇👇👇https://t.co/97mecNfJvB pic.twitter.com/vbnTzbUZPu— Football Talent Scout - Jacek Kulig (@FTalentScout) December 7, 2020
The thread below includes a detailed interview. Mentions he had offers from both Milans, BVB, Bayern, Real Madrid, Everton, & Rennes but evidently opted for Salzburg Voici le petit "interview" avec l'un des meilleurs joueurs, pour moi, de la Youth League 2020. J'ai été très heureux de faire sa connaissance, un jeune très bien élevé, humble et disponible. Les amis, faisons plus ample connaissance avec Bryan Okoh. 📝 pic.twitter.com/Q7Z31DHdGH— Talents à la Loupe 🇵🇸 (@FootballScoutYG) January 3, 2021