MLS wonderkid that made debut at 15 set for Chelsea vs Real Madrid bidding war

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Chelsea are keeping tabs on wonderkid Julian Hall after the starlet made his debut for New York Red Bulls at the age of just 15. The teenager is the second-youngest player in the history of MLS and could be subject to a transfer battle. 

The Blues have signed a staggering 30 players during Todd Boehly’s stint as chairman and it appears the attacking starlet is the latest ace to catch their eye. Hall originally made the club’s scouts take notice after scoring against their youth team in the Under-15s Generation adidas Cup match in April.

Since then, the Stamford Bridge outfit have been regularly monitoring the youngster’s progress, alongside trying to lure him to Cobham for a trial. The starlet’s rise in recent months has been stark, however, and Man City, Man United and Real Madrid are also tracking him, as per Evening Standard.

The interest of a host of Europe’s giants will have been further piqued following his nine-minute cameo against Chicago Fire in MLS on October 1. Incredibly, this senior bow came at the tender age of just 15 years and 190 days – trailing only the famous Freddy Adu. 

His debut came after he had already made his mark turning out for his boyhood club’s second string team in MLS Next Pro League. He made 10 appearances in the division, even scoring two goals, as he continued his stellar rise to prominence.

It is not just in MLS that he has already broken records either as his goal for NYRB II versus Philadelphia Union II made him the youngest-ever goalscorer in the league. Prior to that, the U.S. youth international also found the net 28 times in 39 academy outings across the last three campaigns.

On top of this, Hall was the breakout star of this year’s U-15 MLS NEXT Cup, where he picked up the MVP trophy for his performance. The starlet scored five goals while scoring a crucial equaliser en route to his team’s MLS NEXT Cup title triumph.

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One issue the Blues may face in their pursuit of young Hall is the fact that he signed a homegrown contract with the Red Bulls only 23 days before his debut. The youngster committed his future to the MLS franchise in the form of a three-and-a-half-year deal.

The Red Bulls do now have the power to reject the advances of any club that have designs on offering Hall a trial. Any prospective deal would likely mean that Chelsea would have to pay a fee to secure the player’s services. 

Obtaining a visa would likely not be tricky, though, as he already holds a Polish passport. However, the Blues have signed a host of youngsters over the past year including Kendry Paez, Deivid Washington, Angelo, Andrey Santos, Cesare Casadei and Gabriel Slonina.

NYRB’s head of sport Jochen Schneider said: “We are very excited to add Julian to our roster for this season and also the long-term.

“Julian has had a very good season, not just at the academy level, but the MLS NEXT Pro level as well and he has demonstrated that he has the qualities to succeed in our system.”

In addition, head coach Troy Lesesne also asserted: “We have seen very good things from Julian over the last calendar year. Julian is a very promising young striker that has a lot of potential and we are excited to help him to continue to grow.”

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