On July 1st, Weston McKennie will move from Schalke 04 to Juventus for 20.5 million euros on loan. Matthew Hoppe successfully made the leap to the pros last season and caused quite a stir. The goal of finding and promoting US American talents has been tackled by the Königsblauen and Eintracht Frankfurt since the spring with the “International Soccer Academy” (ISA) by Eddie Loewen, who previously had “Global Soccer Development” talents the USA made the way into German football possible.
For Schalke, the ISA in the United States is looking nationwide for players born in 2003 and 2004 who will form a youth team in Gelsenkirchen in the coming season and possibly get the chance to make the leap into the “Knappenschmiede”. “We are curious to see if we can possibly find one or the other player who qualifies for a trial training in one of our Knappenschmiede teams,” said the former Schalke youth coach Kai Brock, head of the project, in a press release from the club.