Hertha Berlin has made a firm decision to announce a relationship with the International Soccer Academy in the hopes of discovering the next generation of outstanding North American football players.
Hertha Berlin plan
The German Tier 1 team intends to bring in talents from the North American countries like the United States and Canada Players born in 2006 and the year later would be brought to Germany to play other Bundesliga U-17 teams and local sides.
The club’s main idea is to hand-pick youngsters based on their performance against the German youth academies. This project was initiated recently when the 1930 Bundesliga champions decided to extract talents from that side of the world where the beautiful game is termed ‘soccer’.
Why such an initiative
Europe has been blessed with American talents like Giovanni Reyna, Alphonso Davies, and above all Christian Pulisic. The world wouldn’t have been exposed to raw talents like these. If it weren’t for the efforts of Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, definitely not.
“America has a plethora of soccer talent, and finding the next Reyna is our goal and is why we have partnered with International Soccer Academy,” -Hertha’s director of recruiting, Dirk Dufner, stated.
Hertha Berlin saw these master signings from their rivals and intended to bring in players like Pulisic and Reyna. In order to strengthen their squad in the Bundesliga, these motives were taken.
American players’ impact
In the Bundesliga, Pulisic paved the way for a new generation of North American footballers. Before leaving for Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2019, the US national enjoyed four career-high seasons at Borussia Dortmund.
Pulisic won the Champions League with Chelsea in the 2021/22 season beating Manchester City in Porto. Likewise, Alphonso Davies also holds a UCL title to his name from the previous year edging out PSG in Lisbon.
These two have been hands down the best finds from North America. Apart from a few others since Landon Donovan himself, there haven’t been many players.
Other clubs with Hertha Berlin’s intent
At the start of the 2021/22 season, Schalke announced a similar partnership with the International Soccer Academy, inviting 22 North American U18 youngsters to spend the season with the club. Five of them have since signed with the German club, SC Verl.
