On Wednesday, New York City FC announced that they had signed their second-ever Homegrown Player, Joe Scally. Joe now becomes the youngest NYCFC Homegrown Player after turning 15-years-old in December.
Scally joins James Sands as the only homegrown signing in club history. Like Sands, Scally represents U.S. youth teams and is now with the U-17 squad. Scally will finish his school year before joining the senior team in full-training this summer.
Career So Far
Joe Scally has an impressive résumé for somebody his age. The fullback played a key role in the success of USA U-15 team before recently moving up the U-17 team where he'll hope for more of the same.
Scally joined NYCFC on their preseason trips to Florida, Los Angeles, and Mexico this past winter. On top of training with legends of the beautiful game, Scally got to play at the StubHub Center against the LA Galaxy and in Mexico against Atletico San Luis.
Scally will continue to play with NYCFC's academy this weekend as the U-17 squad travels south to Texas where they'll take on Sporting Kansas City, Atletico Paranaense and Spanish powerhouses, Real Madrid.
Quotes
For Scally, this is a dream come true as he told NYCFC.com “It’s a dream come true for me, I’ve wanted to be a professional soccer player ever since I was a little kid and to get to do it right here at home in New York, at this Club, makes it extra special."
The 15-year-old claims it was a no-brainer as he says “It was an easy decision, there are so many great professional coaches and players here who can help me improve every aspect of my game." The defender went on to say “Preseason was a really good time where I learned so much about how to be a professional player, on and off the field, and of course, the game is so much quicker, so you have to learn fast."
Claudio Reyna, Sporting Director of the club and father of Scally's teammate, Gio Reyna said: “Joe has been one of the top performers in the Academy for the past few seasons and represented US Soccer at U-15 and U-17 level.” The former USMNT star continued his praise with “He has all of the attributes we look for in a right-back: he’s strong in defense and can support in attack to help create chances from wide areas.”
Head Coach Patrick Vieira has implemented a system that has benefited his team greatly since joining allowing his players to play the ball out of the back and maintain possession. The Frenchman feels Joe Scally will suit the system well as he claims “Joe is a really young prospect in our football club, he has really good pace, he’s good at going forward and his quality will fit really well with the way we want to play."
Vieira has no doubts despite Scally's age saying “I know that he’s really young but I think signing his first professional contract is really good for the Club and for him - he deserves it, he’s got the talent." Vieira complimented the entire academy by topping things off with “When you look at our football club in the last four years and the players that are being developed in the Academy, it’s a credit to the coaches who identified the right talents and worked well with them to prepare them for moments like this.”
Quotes via NYCFC.com