In the March of 2023, Bayern Munich and Los Angeles FC launched a joint initiative called Red&Gold Football. The commonly stated purpose of this venture was “the promotion of young talents”, but the question was always how a club from the United States and a club from Germany could possibly cooperate in this regard. Now we might have a better idea, as the first transfer of between the two clubs has reportedly been made, as captured by @iMiaSanMia:
Bayern have signed U.S. youth international forward/winger Bajung Darboe (18) from LAFC. Bayern will pay a fee of $1.5 million. Darboe will head to Germany in January. He initially went to Bayern in 2022 to train and the club liked what they saw. Two years later, they have a deal done to bring him back permanently.
Taking a look into Darboe’s road to Bayern reveals some curiosities. Initially part of Minnesota United’s youth system and playing with the U-17s at just 13 years of age, he was pursued by many different clubs before being snapped up by Philadelphia Union in the October of 2020. He was then released in the January of 2023 before being picked up by LAFC later that year.
He then even went on trial to Bayern, as mentioned in the report, though it was during time at Philadelphia. In a partnership with LAFC, Bayern may be trying to re-open the door to American talent that was closed to them when the partnership with FC Dallas ran afoul.
However, players without a European passport cannot be signed by a European club before they turn 18, so Bayern had to wait another two years to sign the youngster. Having celebrated his 18th birthday on November 7th, however, the first reports about Bayern’s signing of Darboe came out on November 8th. It seems as if negotiations did not take long.
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