FOR Yunus Musah, dropping England and Arsenal was an easy decision.
As now at 19, the versatile midfielder is one of Europe’s most exciting talents at Valencia.
Born in New York, Musah moved to London at the age of 9 after a brief stint in Italy and was soon snapped up by The Gunners where he became a hot prospect alongside Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka.
But with a professional contract awaiting his signature after playing an instrumental role in winning the U18 Prem title, Musah packed his bags and joined Valencia.
And with Saka and Smith Rowe now key players for Arsenal, the club’s track record of promoting young talent speaks for itself.
However, with Valencia handing a staggering 105 pro debuts to academy graduates in the last 30 years, Musah believes it was a no-brainer to leave back in 2019.
He said: “Seeing the likes of Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud, I wanted to be like them.
“I was aspiring to be the next step at Arsenal because I was under them.
“I played with Saka and Emile and they’re great players.
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“I’m so happy they’re now playing in the first-team at Arsenal but my decision to leave was that I felt that Valencia had a great plan for me.
“They provided me with so much trust as you can see and with everything they were offering it sounded like a great plan.”
It’s safe to say Musah’s decision has allowed him to crave his own path after becoming Valencia’s second-youngest ever scorer and already having over 50 appearances.
Like other young talents such as Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke who have left Prem sides for Europe, the pull of first-team football was the deciding factor for Musah.
He added: “The thing that really attracted me was the history behind the club, knowing so many players from the academy have been given a good opportunity to flourish in the first team.
“That is something which made me want to come and pursue my dreams here.”
Yet despite moving to Spain, the youngster still had deep ties with England after starring for their youth teams from U15s to U18s.
But also eligible to play for Italy, the US as well as his parents’ homeland Ghana, the Three Lions had competition for his long-term future.
And just like he did with Arsenal, Musah wasted no time cutting ties as he jumped at the opportunity to follow Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic and Barca’s Sergino Dest in becoming a European-based US international.
Musah added: “I enjoyed my time with England, the coaches and the players, it was amazing but there came a time where I was playing first team at Valencia and the US coaches were talking to me a lot about the projects they had and I felt that I would play a part in it.
“We have a great team in the US and the project could be something big.”
And Valencia’s Academy General Director Sean Bai says Musah is a great example of Valencia’s philosophy of promoting talent no matter what passport they possess.
Bai added: “I hope in the coming years we will have a few more Yunus’ amongst us.
“He has been a very good example and successful case study for a lot of people of how a boy from a very different culture has made it here.
“What we see in Yunus is not because he is an American, English, Italian or Ghanian player but just a player with a strong hunger to improve and motivation to succeed at the highest level.”
Watch Valencia CF take on FC Barcelona exclusively on LaLigaTV on Sunday 20th February, live at 3.15pm, available via Premier Sports and Amazon Prime Video Channels.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
