Meet Adri Mehmeti, the 17-year-old future star of American soccer

By Ben Church, CNN

(CNN) — As he sits down to talk, a beaming smile spreads across Adri Mehmeti’s face. The 17-year-old is relaxation personified, holding an air of confidence usually limited to veteran athletes who have been there and done it all.

But Mehmeti is far from an experienced professional. Instead, he’s at the very start of his soccer journey.

Importantly for the precocious teenager, though, he’s been able to translate that calmness and poise to the pitch, where he’s quickly developed into one of the most promising players to ever come out of North America.

Despite his tender age, the midfielder has established himself as a regular starter for the New York Red Bulls and, last month, made his senior debut for the US Men’s National Team (USMNT).

He’s now part of a new generation of teenagers coming up through Major League Soccer (MLS) which looks set to take the US to a new level. More importantly, Mehmeti is doing it with a huge smile on his face.

“I didn’t expect it to happen so fast,” he tells CNN Sports about his rapid rise to prominence. “At the start, I was like, ‘Wow, this is crazy,’ because I was on the second team one year and then with the first team the next.

“I’m very thankful to all the coaches and all the other staff who have trusted me to put me into these games. I’m just getting used to it every day.”

Father knows best

In many ways, Mehmeti is a player full of contradictions. His youthful face belies his ability to play in one of the most demanding positions on the field, defensive midfield, a spot usually reserved for senior professionals who’ve enjoyed decades of experience.

But when the youngster takes his place in the center of the pitch, he looks totally at home – his socks worn low and his six-foot frame gliding around the turf. His willingness to demand the ball in tight spots shows the trust he has in his own technique, and his discipline to dictate the tempo of the game is a sign of true class.

And while he’s been blessed by natural talent and physicality, his rise through the system has been a journey of sacrifice and education. One that started when he first learned to walk.

“For me, my dad is the biggest influence on the field and off the field too,” he says.

“But on the field, he helped me a lot. I probably started kicking a ball with him when I was like two years old. So you know, just kicking the ball in the backyard every day with him kind of got me attached to the game and gave me that first love.

“I got more attached every single day, and as I grew up, you know, this is what I wanted to do, and this is something that I’ve been dreaming about.”

For most young boys growing up in New York during the 2010s, soccer wasn’t the natural direction. But while others fell for basketball or baseball, soccer was always front and center of Mehmeti’s life.

Both his parents are from Albania, a country where the Beautiful Game is a second religion to many. His dad also played during his younger years, representing his nation at youth level.

That love, or near obsession, for soccer was passed down to Mehmeti, who still lives at home today.

“I still love the game every single day. Like sometimes, even with my dad, I’m kicking the ball with him in the backyard,” he says.

“I often have a ball at my feet in the house. I always have a ball near me and I don’t think that love will go away because this is the game that I chose and that my parents sacrificed so much for me. That’s why I also do it for them as well. That motivates me every single day.”

His talent was obvious early on. What started in the small backyard of his house soon became more serious. In 2019, aged around 10, Mehmeti joined the New York Red Bulls academy.

Every jump in age level came with new challenges that he quickly adapted to. What helped, he says, was the consistency of coaches and how there was a clear pathway for him to reach the senior team.

In February, Mehmeti made his first-team debut aged 16. In April, he scored his first MLS goal and now he’s one of the first names on the teamsheet as New York pushes for a playoff place.

It’s no surprise, given his talent and US soccer’s desire to cultivate a new generation for the next World Cup cycle, that head coach Mauricio Pochettino called Mehmeti up for the US national team during the last run of international fixtures.

The youngster had previously represented Albania at youth level, in part to follow in the footsteps of his family, so tying him down to the USMNT quickly was important.

He made his international debut as a late substitute in the US’ 4-1 thrashing of Peru in September, replacing Tyler Adams in the 88th minute. It was a symbolic moment given Adams also came through the ranks at New York and many have drawn comparisons between the two players.

“The quality was obviously very high,” Mehmeti says of his first step into international soccer. “You could see in small-sided practice, just the quick intensity… it was a great experience.”

Rising star

Given his already impressive CV and general attitude to life, it’s hard to believe Mehmeti is still so young.

But that bubble bursts when you realize the emerging star is still very much at school, learning remotely in between matches and training. He also still needs his mom to drive him to training – he’s the only player on the team to not have a license, he admits.

And away from the pitch, he’s just like any other 17-year-old. His hobbies consist of playing video games and golf with some of his teammates from the Red Bulls, but soccer is never far from his mind.

Mehmeti is a self-confessed student of the game and spends hours of his spare time watching games or clips of himself, looking for things he can adopt or do better next time.

He name-checks the likes of Barcelona’s Rodri and Pedri, as well as Manchester City’s Elliot Anderson, as players he looks up to and wants to one day emulate.

“I’m trying to look at every little detail every single day, so it helps me get that 1% better,” Mehmeti tells CNN Sports.

That drive combined with his obvious talent is what makes him such a lucrative player in world soccer, so it can be no surprise that teams from across Europe are reportedly looking with interest at how he keeps developing.

But for now, the humble youngster is very happy where he is and US soccer can revel in yet another talent who joins the likes of Cavan Sullivan, Julian Hall and Justin Ellis as the future of the national team.

Mehmeti says he’s part of a Snapchat group with some of those emerging stars where they all support each other and dream of what they can achieve in the future.

For this generation, pressure doesn’t seem to be weighing them down. How could it when you’re playing with such a big smile on your face?

Mehmeti will be back in action this weekend when the New York Red Bulls face Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami on Saturday.

The-CNN-Wire
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