England and USA in tug of war for Chelsea wonderkid

The English Football Association and its United States counterpart are battling for the international allegiance of the latest teenage prodigy with dual nationality, Landon Emenalo, son of former Chelsea director of football, Michael.

Landon, 16, has been named in the latest England Under-17s squad by coach Neil Ryan for age-cohort Euro 2025 qualifiers this month. Landon, a dynamic centre midfielder who has been at Chelsea’s academy throughout his development, played for the US Under-17s earlier this year in a tournament in the Czech Republic.

The US men’s national team manager Mauricio Pochettino should benefit from a very promising generation of US players coming through at Major League Soccer clubs, and among dual heritage players in Europe.

The market for US players is now beginning to interest Premier League clubs who have increased scouting capacity in MLS. Landon was born in Arizona in 2008, to his US national mother, around the time his father joined his former manager Avram Grant at Chelsea.

Michael first worked as a coach at Chelsea and then a successful director of football with a range of managers and was close to Roman Abramovich.

He eventually left Chelsea in November 2017 and now works as the director of football at the Saudi Pro League. His description of the atmosphere at Chelsea in the weeks before Jose Mourinho’s departure in 2015 – “palpable discord” – went down as a memorable epithet for the latter’s second stint.

At Chelsea, Michael helped to recruit the likes of Juan Mata, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante, although not all came to superstardom at Chelsea.

Landon, who grew up a Chelsea fan, is also eligible to play for Nigeria, whom his father represented as a senior professional.

Playing at the 1994 World Cup finals, Michael marked Diego Maradona with distinction in Nigeria’s group game defeat by Argentina in the old Foxboro Stadium in Massachusetts. Both were called for drug-testing in the aftermath. It was after that test that one of the greatest scandals in World Cup history broke with Maradona testing positive for cocaine. He never played for Argentina again.

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