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While Taylor Booth, 16, is far from a household name in soccer across the world he is a proven commodity for the USYNT having represented the country at the most recent U17 World Cup in India. Apparently one of the big boys has taken notice. That big boy is none other than Bayern Munich.
Source this morning says Bayern is happening. Nothing official yet, though. Stay tuned ...
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) December 30, 2017
Booth, a technical center midfielder, was the youngest player on that U17 World Cup squad where he made two appearances (one start). Most recently he has been called into the U18 group for the upcoming YNT Summit Camp in Florida from January 2-11.
Booth is a member of the Major League Soccer’s version of the Säbener Strasse, the Real Salt Lake Academy and their almost finished $60 million dollar facility - Zions Bank Stadium & Training Center.
Real Salt Lake owner, Dell Loy Hansen, explained in his vision for the project that he was “building relations all across Europe” for top clubs to train at the new space, mentioning Bayern Munich specifically.
Bayern hasn’t had much success with US youth internationals recently as Julian Green has been shipped out. The US still has hopes for dual national Timothy Tillman, currently playing in the Regionalliga with Bayern, but as he is involved with the German youth national team program that hope is slim at best.
From a US perspective it can only be good if prestigious clubs such as Bayern are interested in their youth players. If a few of these players are able to succeed in Europe, similar to Christian Pulisic, then perhaps the rest of the world will take notice and the program can take a big step forward.
No pressure, right?