Werder Bremen striker Josh Sargent has said the crop of promising young players coming through the ranks is a "dream situation" for the United States men's national team.
Sargent, 20, joined Werder Bremen in 2018 and is well-established in their first team. He is one of several young U.S. players in the Bundesliga, with Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Giovanni Reyna also featuring prominently for their club sides.
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And with Christian Pulisic and Sergino Dest impressing at Chelsea and Ajax respectively, the future of the USMNT looks promising.
"It's very cool; we're all young and we have so much promise," Sargent, who has 12 USMNT caps, told ESPN. "It's kind of a dream situation. You know, we can all grow up and develop together and see where it goes.
"I talk to Gio a lot. We see each other after games, we've played each other twice. And he's a cool guy. We're good friends already. We're all talking to each other. And I think we all know how good we could potentially be."
With the Bundesliga paused due to the coronavirus crisis, Sargent has been keeping up to date with his USMNT teammates over their WhatsApp group, and has enjoyed McKennie's TikTok. Away from those USMNT featuring prominently in the Bundesliga, there is a group of promising youngsters looking to break through, like Chris Richards at Bayern Munich.
"Younger U.S. players are now pushing themselves to come over to Europe and to try to really challenge themselves and put themselves in an environment where they feel like they're gonna get better and better each day," Sargent added. "So I think when players are doing that and able to take the risk, it's going to grow them as not only a person but as a player.
"More and more young players are starting to do it, and you can see how many more people are starting to come up in the ranks and develop."
Sargent was a product of the now disbanded U.S. Soccer residency program in Bradenton, Florida. The program was designed to expose top prospects under 17 to high-level training at the IMG Academy and saw players like Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley come through. The program finished in March 2017 and Sargent feels that decision was to the game's detriment.
"I think before I moved to Werder Bremen, the most important time in America was in Florida with the residency program," he said. "I was there for two years and that I feel like was the biggest time I grew in America. It was very important for me.
"It's unfortunate they don't have it anymore, to be honest, because I feel like it was very valuable for me as a person and as a player.
"You move away from home from your family, and you must learn. You're with a lot of other guys. And of course, the coaches and staff are there to help you. You have the country's best players every single day competing with you. You're playing practice games with them. And it was it was just a very cool atmosphere."