American teenager Josh Sargent has played his first minutes in a Werder Bremen shirt after featuring in an under-23 match for the club on Tuesday.
The U.S. Soccer Young Male Player of the Year for 2017 finally linked up with Bremen at the turn of the year after agreeing to join the Green-Whites last September.
Sargent has now got a taste of what is to come after being introduced at half-time in a friendly against Dynamo Dresden in Spain. The forward, who will sign a professional contract when he turns 18 on February 20, set up a consolation goal in a 2-1 defeat.
Looking good, @joshsargent!
— SV Werder Bremen EN (@werderbremen_en) January 9, 2018
Our 🇺🇸 youngster has just come on for his #Werder debut in the U23s friendly vs. @DynamoDresden 💪 pic.twitter.com/ftF9o8G1r8
"I'm really looking forward to this new challenge," he told the club website last weekend.
"Werder is a huge club with fantastic fans. I have already met a lot of new people and hope to make even more friendships. But I also took this step to win as many games as possible."
Watch: You can see Sargent's assist in this video from 1:48:00 onwards!
It hasn't taken long for @joshsargent to get into his groove, already providing an assist!
— SV Werder Bremen EN (@werderbremen_en) January 9, 2018
Watch the last ten minutes here 👉 https://t.co/TfoJp7A81Y
Sargent scored 19 goals for U.S. youth teams in 2017 and finished as the joint second-top goalscorer at the under-20 World Cup in South Korea last summer. The Missouri native is already dreaming of finding the net regularly for Bremen in the near future.
"I trust my natural instinct on the field," he said. "In the penalty area I always try to find free space to create the best possible opportunity to score a goal. That’s what the coaches want to see."