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Rokas Pukstas
20-year-old Pukstas has already become an established box-to-box dynamo in midfield for Croatian team Hajduk Split. The Stillwater, Oklahoma native scored 8 goals and 4 assists last season for the club, and this form earned him a USA U20 call-up, where he further excelled with 3 goals in 5 caps — including a brace against France. He has seen a reduction in playtime under new manager Gennaro Gattuso, largely due to injuries. Still, we wouldn’t be surprised to see him playing in the Italian Serie A or German Bundesliga in the near future.
Cole Campbell
The latest American Dortmund young sensation is Cole Campbell. Born in Houston but raised with Icelandic eligibility, Campbell committed to the USA in 2024 and has since been tearing up the U19 Bundesliga. This season, he’s scored 12 goals and 5 assists in 18 appearances for Borussia Dortmund’s youth side — averaging a g/a every 95 minutes. This fine form saw him called up to the Dortmund senior team in October 2024, where he made his debut and an additional three appearances since. Hopefully, he can follow the footsteps of Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna (minus the injuries) and become a standout player for the Yellow Wall. With the 2026 World Cup on the horizon, Campbell will be an interesting one to watch.
Diego Kochen
The Barcelona B goalkeeper occasionally makes the bench for the Barca senior team and has been a part of the USMNT camp, but has yet to play a single senior-level minute for either side. He is a more two-dimensional goalkeeper more suitable for the modern game, as he is both a great shot-stopper and is good with his feet, something that the USMNT has lacked in recent years. He is undoubtedly the highest-potential youth goalkeeper in the US ranks, and we wouldn’t be shocked to see him manning the sticks full-time in a few years.
Damion Downs
It’s time to take notice of Damion Downs.
The 6’4″ striker has turned a lot of heads lately. With an American father and German mother, the dual-national has three USA U23 caps and remains eligible for both teams. He has been included in the USMNT’s preliminary roster for the CONCACAF Nations League Finals later in March, meaning it would effectively lock him to the United States. The 20-year-old has scored 9 goals and 2 assists in 23 appearances for 1.FC Koln in Germany’s 2. Bundesliga. He has blistering pace, and when combined with his tall frame, it makes for a handful for opposition defenders. His performances have earned him attention from clubs in the Italian Serie A and, more notably, USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Noahkai Banks
The Hawaiian-born center-back already seems like a Rolls Royce of a defender. He has been making waves at German club FC Ausburg at age 18, and he has technical skills and athleticism in abundance. He’s broken through in Augsburg’s first team and has made six appearances for them so far, helping them to an 11th-place spot in the table. Standing at 6’4″, he often does things with the ball that you wouldn’t expect someone of that stature to do, such as his driving runs to create space between the lines. He also has an incredible long ball, exemplified with a 100% long-ball accuracy in a recent match against Mainz.
