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Yunus Musah is a professional soccer player from the United States who currently plays for Valencia CF in La Liga and the United States men's national soccer team. He was born on 29 November 2002 in New York City in the United States.
His family relocated to Italy after his birth, living in Castelfranco Veneto, where he began his youth career with Giorgione Calcio 2000. He later relocated to London in 2012, at the age of nine, where he joined Arsenal's Academy. He stayed with the Gunners' youth setup for seven years.
In 2019, Musah made his final move so far to Spain as he joined Valencia's youth setup and has slowly progressed through the ranks. Musah has made 92 appearances for Los Che's senior squad so far having been promoted to the first team in 2020.
Yunus Musah has a promising career in front of him and will look to become a mainstay for the USMNT as they head toward the 2026 World Cup hosted in North America.
Yunus Musah was born on 29 November 2002 in New York, where his mother was on holiday at the time. His Ghanaian parents had travelled to the United States from Italy for vacation. As is the law for births in the United States for foreigners, Musah received US citizenship, which now allows him to play for the United States men's national team.
Yunus Musah already had US citizenship due to his birth and also Ghanaian citizenship due to his parents having been citizens of Ghana. Musah also received Italian and British citizenship due to his stay in those countries.
Musah had the option of playing for either of the four countries at the international level. At first, he had chosen to play for England at that level, having played and captained their U-15, U-16, and U-18 teams. However in 2020, when it came to the senior level, Musah made the call to shift to the USMNT considering the competition had been high in England.
Just one year after joining the reserves side for Valencia, on 13th September 2020, the midfielder became the first Englishman to play for Valencia. The now USMNT-representing midfielder still holds the record considering the player was still representing England.
The midfielder is not just a talented footballer, he is also a multilingual. The 20-year-old can fluently speak five languages including English, Italian, Spanish, Hausa and Dagbani. He picked up Spanish during his time at Valencia
Amina Musah, Yunus' mother, had opened a restaurant in Castelfranco Veneto during their time in Italy. The restaurant solely sold traditional Ghanaian cuisine. The restaurant had become a hotspot for Ghanaians in Italy as hundreds poured in weekly. Yunus started to help out his mother at the restaurant and it was also where he picked up the Dagbani language.
Yunus Musah's father (Ibrahim) lost his job in Italy when Yunus was eight years old. That was a difficult moment for the entire family because they couldn't rely on Amina's business as their sole source of income. Fortunately for the Musah family, hope came from one of their relatives in London.
This extended family member found Yunus Musah's father a permanent job in London. A job that was more lucrative than the family's weekly and monthly earnings. Yunus Musah's parents moved to London for this reason. The, then nine-year-old, had to continue playing football in London at the time.
On 1 November 2020, he was 17 years and 338 days old and participated in a competition against Getafe, helping his club to a 2-2 tie. His performance in the game propelled him to the position of Valencia's youngest non-Spanish goalscorer.
He broke the record which had earlier in the year been set by South Korean winger, Kang-In Lee who had scored for Los Che at the age of 18 years and 219 days
Former Valencia head coach, Javi Gracia, iterated in 2020 that Yunus Musah had all the tools to become one of the best footballers in the world. The coach, who gave him his senior debut, also talked about Musah's self-confidence and leadership abilities.
He’s vocal out on the pitch and already speaks excellent Spanish. Even at such a young age, he was constantly telling the team to stay calm on the ball" said Valencia coach Javi Gracia said in his post-match press conference after Valencia defeated Osasuna in 2021, highlighting his maturity and reiterating his belief that the youngster has the ability and mindset to establish himself at the very top in the future
The youngster who played as an attacker as a child was known to have an eye for goal and a distinct winning mindset. Yunus assisted his team in winning numerous children's events. He performed admirably in five-a-side tournaments against other Veneto teams.
Once upon a time, in a final against Bassano Vicenza (an Italian Lega Pro team), the unexpected occurred. Yunus Musah served as the goalkeeper. His team won the game with a score of 5 to 3. Every time Musah saved the ball, he went on to place it on the ground and then dribbled past everyone. In that game, Musah managed to score four goals
When Musah started impressing during his time at Arsenal in their youth squad, he received his first call-ups to the youth team of England. As soon as he played for England under 15 he started receiving commendations from his coaches, he managed to quickly rise up the ranks of the youth set-up going and also became the captain for those sides.
He captained the England U15, England U16, and England U18 squads and was said to have been well-respected in the dressing room by players and coaches alike
Having started playing with the English youth teams, Musah got a big opportunity and a decision to make when the USMNT came calling. Gregg Berhalter called up the teenager with the prospect of starting for the senior side. It was an opportunity that Musah just could not pass along with the World Cup coming up and England already having a well-settled squad in their ranks.
Following Musah's acceptance of the United States call-up for the senior team, he participated in a friendly competition against Wales in November and one month later over Panama in December in 2020.
Yunus Musah's remarkable performance drew the attention of England senior manager Gareth Southgate, who stated his endeavor to persuade the 18-year-old talented player to commit to playing for the squad for a long time.
Musah, on the other hand, had represented the United States at the senior level, which was one of the most important Yunus Musah professional moves
Musah's elder brother, Abdul Musah has been managing Yunus' off-field matters as his agent and guide as the pair have been inseparable since childhood. While Abdul was never one who was involved with football, he has taken it upon himself to become the face of the player when it came to the financial side of things regarding Yunus' career
Source: goal.com
