The new European soccer season is fast approaching and there are quite a few Americans playing regularly these days. It’s the best it’s been in ten years or so, since Fulham was starting three or four at a time, Bobby Convey was patrolling the left wing for Reading, and Brad Friedel was keeping clean sheets at Blackburn/Villa.
There’s a hierarchy to which American player you’re watching on Saturday mornings though. Attackers generally trump defenders. Fullbacks before keepers (for the most part), young players get precedence over older players, and the list of factors goes on.
My list may be different from yours, but I have a feeling many of us feel about the same. Here’s generally the order in which I’ll be watching American players this season:
#1 Christian Mate Pulisic – Chelsea
This has been a little weird. I thoroughly disliked Chelsea when they were winning the league with Jose Mourinho, funded by a Russian oligarch, and were the nouveau riche kids on the block. They’re still owned by the Russian oligarch, but he almost seems like a goody goody compared to the owners that have bought into the Premier League lately.
Pulisic meanwhile is an exciting, attacking winger playing for a team who’s style seems to be, “Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead.” They’ve also brought in a bunch more attacking talent and promise to be an entertaining watch. Pulisic is still my first choice viewing option and looks set to remain there a while longer.
How to watch? Most games are on NBC Sports or even “big” NBC. There’s a chance you may have to subscribe to Peacock(?) to catch every game…legally.
#2 Tyler Shaan Adams – RB Leipzig
This ranking is subject to change depending on positional alignment. If he’s starting as a central midfielder he is a joy to watch. He covers a ton of ground, wins balls everywhere, and plays the ball forward quickly/dangerously. If he’s at that RB/CM hybrid he feels very reined in and is nowhere near as fun to watch. There have been low key rumors about Kevin Kampl moving and that gives me hope that Adams has passed him in Nagelsmann’s plans. We shall see.
How to watch? Bundesliga is on ESPN+ or occasionally an ESPN channel this season. Let’s hope ESPN actually publicizes the league. FOX did a crap job growing this audience.
#3 Giovanni Alejandro Reyna – Borussia Dortmund
If Reyna is starting and Adams is in his hybrid role, their positions flip for me. Reyna is the next exciting young, American attacker to break through in Europe. We still haven’t gotten to see him with the full USMNT, but that will change at the next opportunity. He plays as attacking midfielder for one of the 10(?) best teams in Europe. Marco Reus’ healthy return may keep him on the bench more than we all hoped, but a starting gig could very well be only an injury or two away.
How to watch? ESPN+
#4 Weston James Earl McKennie – Juventus
Weston has joined the 36 time winners of Serie A and we are all looking forward to watching him pass to Cristiano Ronaldo’s decomposing corpse (jk – take it easy😂). Fortunately, I don’t think Weston’s matches are usually going to conflict with most others on this list because the Italian league tends to play later in the day 2-3pm Eastern and has many Sunday games. There’s also the whole playing time enigma. Most people assume that he’s going to get a lot of minutes, but I won’t trust that until I actually see him playing.
How to watch? Also ESPN+. If you don’t have this you should probably sign up. It’s like 7$ a month or if you bundle it with Hulu/Disney+ like $13 a month. If you’ve got kids it’s a no brainer.
#5 Timothy Tarpeh Weah – Lille
After two torn hamstrings last season some of the hype had faded. With a possible move to forward and some minutes already under his belt for last year’s 4th place Ligue 1 team…it’s ramping back up. The USMNT is lacking at forward and watching the 20 year old Weah get minutes in that position for a Champions League level French team will be mighty diverting. Good health, Tim. 🤞
How to watch? Ligue 1 is on beIN, so unless you have Fubo it may be time for 🏴☠️
#6 Antonee (?) Robinson – Fulham (also Ream)
Does Antonee not have a middle name? I couldn’t find it.
Antonee gets a mild bump because I’ve almost never seen him play (the mysteriousness helps) and I believe he’ll be playing next to Tim Ream. Fulham is perhaps the closest I’ve come to actually connecting with a European team. The chance to watch these two together at Craven Cottage will bring back fun memories of Dempsey, Bocanegra, McBride, Eddie Johnson, etc.
*Random note* I think Craven Cottage would be my first choice to see a game live in Europe. I’ve been to Europe once in my life, but didn’t get to see any games.
How to watch? The whole NBC/Peacock thing
#7 Sergiño Gianni Dest – Ajax
The whole Dest situation is sort of an enigma. He’s leaving for Bayern. Nope, he’s staying at Ajax. Now, he’s lost his starting job to Mazraoui. I have no idea what’s going on. Ajax is usually a decent watch though. They are more fun to watch in the Champions League since there’s only about 3 Eredivisie teams that can give them a game, but whoever plays right back will have ample opportunity to get into the attack.
How to watch? The Eredivisie is on ESPN+ too, but only a couple games per week. You can usually count on Ajax being one of those games.
#8 Joshua Thomas Sargent – Werder Bremen
Bremen was just terrible to watch last year. Between Sargent here and McKennie at Schalke, those of us that watched most of those games should get some sort of medal. The season before that however, Werder Bremen was very entertaining. From Kohfeldt’s quotes lately it appears that Josh is going to be in the starting lineup from the jump. If Bremen starts playing better and Sargent starts knocking in some goals he could well move up this list a bit for me.
How to watch? ESPN+
#9 Pellegrino (?) Matarazzo – Stuttgart
Another mystery middle name.
I know he’s not a player, but I will be very interested to see how Stuttgart performs under Matarazzo. I watched all six(?) of Swansea’s matches under Bob Bradley and I’m hopeful that this will go better. (It would be quite an achievement for it to go worse.) Stuttgart is a newly promoted team, so their games will likely be ugly and survival is the goal. Good luck to Die Schwaben this season.
How to watch? ESPN+
#10 Zackary Thomas Steffen – Manchester City
Steffen is this far down because no one expects him to play. If Ederson gets hurt…I’ll certainly be watching his first start for City. For now though, he’s likely to be playing early round Carabao (it’s probably not called that anymore) Cup matches against crap teams. I’ll check in, but I don’t expect much viewing time here.
How to watch? NBC/Peacock
#11 John Anthony Brooks – Wolfsburg
It’s a little sad/funny, but has anyone else noticed that Wolfsburg has made Brooks available for transfer a couple times this off season and the response has been….? *cricket noises*
I’ll watch Brooks and Wolfsburg here and there, but he isn’t exactly appointment viewing for me.
How to watch? ESPN+
Others of note:
Duane Holmes plays for Derby County in the English Championship so his games are sporadically available on ESPN+. He’s pretty fun to watch though if you find a game.
Llanez, Konrad, Richards, Taitague, Ledezma, Mendez, and a couple others could jump into the list somewhere, but as of now none of them look likely to feature for their first teams.
Tyler Boyd still plays (hurt at the moment) for Besiktas, which I believe has some games on beIN?
Matt Miazga is still on his loan odyssey from Chelsea. I don’t think a spot has been found for his upcoming season.
Eric Palmer-Brown is back on loan with Austria Vienna in the Austrian Bundesliga, but as far as I know that league isn’t watchable unless you have a Wyscout subscription or something.
Timmy Chandler still exists. I doubt he’ll play a meaningful minute for the USMNT again, but never say never I suppose.
DeAndre Yedlin isn’t real interesting to me anymore and I have no idea where he’ll be playing this season. I believe he’s on his way out of Newcastle.
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