7 American wonderkids on Football Manager 2024: Tolkin, Reyna, Brady | OneFootball

Football Manager 2024 is finally out. And the United States has quietly become a factory for young wonderkids.

The US has made a serious investment in recent years bringing through players such as Christian Pulisic and Timothy Weah and their current crop of youngsters is just as exciting.

Thanks to FMScout, we’ve found the pick of the bunch from the land of Springsteen and Starbucks that you should be on the lookout for.

Brady came through the ranks at Chicago Fire and was their first-choice goalkeeper this season, making 29 appearances in all competitions.

The 19-year-old is highly rated and won the Golden Glove award at the 2022 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship which the US went on to win. In April he became the second youngest player in MLS history to keep a clean sheet. One to keep an eye on.

John ‘JMi’ Tolkin

Tolkin has established himself as a regular in the New York Red Bulls squad over the last three seasons as a left-back. The 21-year-old scored an absolute peach of a free kick in the wildcard round of the playoffs vs Charlotte FC and assisted twice in the same game.

The Red Bulls went out in the next round vs FC Cincinnati but that wasn’t a reflection of Tolkin, who turned out 27 times this season. He also broke the club record for assists by a defender in a season across all competitions – snap him up on the cheap whilst he’s still in the MLS.

Christian McFarlane

Over on the other side of New York, McFarlane is hot property at NYCFC in the same position. Swapping the US for England at under-17 level, McFarlane could be a useful option to avoid foreign player and work permit rules on an EFL save.

Being the third youngest player to sign an MLS contract, McFarlane made 27 appearances for NYCFC’s B-team last season and looks destined to kick on.

Yunus Musah

At the age of 20, Musah is already at one of the top clubs in Milan to grow as a central midfielder. Born in New York whilst his mother was on holiday there, Musah grew up in Italy and England and represented the latter at youth level, before switching allegiance to the USMNT where he’s made 38 caps and counting.

Having spent three seasons playing regularly in La Liga after coming through the ranks at Valencia, Musah is currently enjoying his time at Milan. It might be difficult to pry him away from the Rossoneri, but he’s certainly an asset.

Benjamin Cremaschi

At only 18, Cremaschi has already played 28 times for Inter Miami as a midfielder and works alongside Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets; not a bad pair to learn from.

Cremaschi made his full debut for the USMNT last year vs Oman and helped assist Messi throughout Miami’s Leagues Cup triumph.

Giovanni Reyna

Probably the most established player on this list, Reyna has successfully made the leap across the pond from New York to Borussia Dortmund and continually improved for club and country as an attacking midfielder and winger.

Son of former USMNT ‘keeper Claudio, Reyna has international pedigree in his blood and has already set records for being the youngest goalscorer in German Cup history and the third-youngest player ever to appear in a knockout game of the UEFA Champions League.

He also had the second-highest minute-per-goal percentage of a top 5 European league player last season after Erling Haaland. Not bad, that.

Ricardo Pepi

Another USMNT international, striker Pepi had his breakthrough with FC Dallas and now plays for PSV after spells with Augsburg and Groningen. So far he has scored three goals in nine games in the Eredivisie.

Born to Mexican-American ancestry, Pepi chose the United States at under-17 level and made his senior debut in 2021, with a CONCACAF Nations League coming two years later.