UEFA Champions League: Every American in the 2024/25 competition

There are more Americans than ever playing for top teams across Europe, and quite a few will be competing in this season's UEFA Champions League.

Over the past five years, MLS and the rest of the US Soccer ecosystem has placed more emphasis on sending young players to better leagues.

Elite teams certainly have not become filled with American talent overnight, but a few recognizable clubs will have players representing the Stars and Stripes in their matchday squads.

Here are the American players set to play in the UEFA Champions League league phase in the 2024/25 season, listed in alphabetical order by last name.

Folarin Balogun

Team	AS Monaco
Position	Striker
Age	23
Hometown	New York City, New York

New York-born forward Folarin Balogun exploded onto the scene in his first season of first-team football, scoring 21 goals in France's Ligue 1 for Reims while on loan there in 2022/23. He earned himself a big-money transfer from his then-parent club Arsenal to AS Monaco.

Balogun struggled a little in his first season in Monaco compared to his year with Reims, but his tally of seven goals and a career-high five assists in 1,692 minutes translates to a goal contribution every 141 minutes of play.

At age 23, Balogun is still young for a striker. Gaining experience in this season's UEFA Champions League against the world's best defenders will be great for his development, and if he can fully lock down one of the starting striker spots in Monaco manager Adi Hutter's 3-4-1-2, he should see his goalscoring numbers rise.

Cameron Carter-Vickers

Team	Celtic
Position	Center Back
Age	26
Hometown	Southend-on-Sea, England

Born in England with one American parent, Cameron Carter-Vickers has become a stalwart in Celtic's back line over the last three seasons. CCV has led Celtic to three wins in three league games so far in the 2024/25 season and the team has kept two clean sheets in those matches.

Carter-Vickers plays different roles for Celtic in the Scottish Premiership as opposed to the UEFA Champions League. Celtic tend to dominate possession in league play, which has seen CCV become a duel-winning tank defensively while being an accurate passer who is calm in possession.

In the UEFA Champions League, Celtic is usually weaker than its opponent, requiring both the club and the player to switch up their play styles. He had to defend more often, but he still won 64 percent of his duels both on the ground and in the air in four matches during the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League campaign.

CCV will team with fellow American center back Auston Trusty this season after Trusty was signed by Celtic on transfer deadline day.

Sergino Dest

Team	PSV Eindhoven
Position	Right Back
Age	23
Hometown	Almere, Netherlands

In 2023/24, Sergino Dest had the most productive season of his professional career as PSV Eindhoven breezed through the Netherlands' Eredivisie league. Sadly, he suffered a torn ACL late last season and could miss most of 2024/25.

Dest posted two goals and six assists in the league, making 25 starts and spending some time at left back in addition to his usual right back role. He added another assist in the Champions League and helped the team reach the knockout stage.

Fans will hope to see Dest back in action this season, and if he can play, he'll look to continue where he left off from last year. He doesn't have to defend a ton since PSV tend to dominate games, but he won just over 55 percent of his duels and 63 percent of his tackles which is encouraging from a defensive perspective.

Richard Ledezma

Team	PSV Eindhoven
Position	Right Back
Age	24
Hometown	Phoenix, Arizona

One American right back went down for PSV, and other emerged in the form of Richard Ledezma - who went by Richy as he was developing with Real Salt Lake's reserve side Real Monarchs.

The Phoenix, Arizona native spent the 2023 MLS season on loan to New York City FC after he had bounced between PSV's reserves and being on the bench for the senior side since joining the Dutch club in 2019. He started 14 MLS matches and contributed four assists in the Big Apple.

Ledezma played a grand total of six minutes in the Eredivisie last season, but he has started all three of PSV's league matches so far in 2024/25. In those three games, he has averaged two tackles, 2.3 interceptions, three shot-creating actions, and 92.1 passing accuracy.

Ledezma has only sat on the bench for UEFA Champions League matches so far in his career, but he could find himself counted on to play heavy minutes in the 2024/25 competition.

Weston McKennie

Team	Juventus
Position	Central Midfield
Age	25
Hometown	Little Elm, Texas

Weston McKennie led Juventus in assists last season and played the fifth-most minutes among non-goalkeepers on his team. New Juve manager Thiago Motta initially did not see McKennie as part of his plans, but for the second season in a row, the American is sticking around in northern Italy after proving his coach wrong in the preseason and earning a contract extension.

McKennie was also on the transfer list at this time last season before he embarked upon what could be considered his breakout campaign. He's probably not the pure playmaker that last season's assist numbers would indicate, but he does lots of things well.

Aside from his assist total that put him among the leaders in Italy's Serie A, he also ranked as one of the best midfielders in terms of clearances, aerial duels won, touches in the attacking penalty area, and progressive carries of the ball.

McKennie is at his best when he can arrive late in the penalty area for cutbacks, and he provides a set piece threat. Now that he's worked his way into his manager's plans for the second preseason in a row, he'll feel confident and motivated to put up strong numbers once again.

Yunus Musah

Team	AC Milan
Position	Central Midfield
Age	21
Hometown	New York City, New York

Yunus Musah joined United States Men's National Team captain Christian Pulisic at AC Milan last summer, and while Pulisic developed into a star, the less experienced and younger Musah was used in a bit-part role.

Since he burst onto the scene with Valencia and the USMNT as a teenager, Musah has been lauded for his ability to navigate through midfield with the ball at his feet. Now at age 21, he needs to add more to his game.

Musah posted by far the best pass completion percentage of his career (85 percent) in his first season in Milan, but he didn't rank above the 60th percentile among Serie A midfielders in any key stat aside from pass completion, touches in the attacking penalty area, and progressive carries.

His 2024/25 season has started pretty well, as he was substituted on for Pulisic in the 73rd minute of Milan's first game of the season and assisted Noah Okafor's equalizer to steal a point against Torino deep into second-half stoppage time.

Ricardo Pepi

Team	PSV Eindhoven
Position	Striker
Age	21
Hometown	El Paso, Texas

One of four American players on PSV, Ricardo Pepi averaged 1.3 goals per 90 minutes in the 2023/24 Eredivisie season. The catch? He played just 484 minutes as he was the backup to fan favorite and club captain Luuk de Jong.

Still, seven goals in just 484 minutes of Eredivisie action is stellar, especially for a 21-year-old who started one game. In eight appearances in the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League, he scored a goal and provided an assist in 136 total minutes.

Pepi is learning the importance of efficiency in his backup role in the Netherlands. He ranked in the 99th percentile in goals per 90 minutes, xG per 90 minutes, shots per 90 minutes, shot-creating actions per 90 minutes, and touches in the attacking penalty area per 90 minutes.

This season projects more of the same for Pepi - coming off the bench to make an impact for the best team in the league - but assuming this season goes similarly to last season, he may start to look for a club where he can start every match.

Christian Pulisic

Team	AC Milan
Position	Left Wing
Age	25
Hometown	Easton, Pennsylvania

Christian Pulisic moved to AC Milan last summer, and he developed into a star in his first season at the San Siro.

Pulisic was one of just six players in Serie A to have at least 20 goal contributions last season, joining bona fide superstars Lautaro Martinez, Olivier Giroud, Paulo Dybala, Marcus Thuram and Dusan Vlahovic as the only players to reach that number in the 2023/24 Serie A campaign. Plus, he posted career-highs in goals, assists and minutes played in the league.

The winger has appeared in 54 UEFA Champions League matches in his career, soring eight goals and providing seven assists. One of those assists was for the winning goal in the 2021 final for Chelsea FC against Manchester City.

Pulisic scored just one goal in six UEFA Champions League appearances in 2023/24, so the next step in his improvement is putting up better numbers in the world's most prestigious club competition.

Malik Tillman

Team	PSV Eindhoven
Position	Attacking Midfielder
Age	22
Hometown	Nurnberg, Germany

Like his aforementioned club and national teammate Ricardo Pepi, PSV attacking midfielder Malik Tillman benefits from playing for a free-scoring side that dominated its league. Tillman had nine goals and 10 assists in 1,594 minutes in the league last season.

Also similar to Pepi, the fact Tillman started only around half the team's league games meant he ended the season among the league's best-performing midfielders in many per-90-minute stats, including goals, assists, expected goals, expected assists, tackles, and shot-creating actions.

Tillman only contributed one assist in 505 minutes of play in the UEFA Champions League, so just like other players on this list, his next step in his development is to bring his Eredivisie production into games against tougher opponents.

He has started the 2024/25 season as well as possible by starting all four matches and scoring two goals while providing an assist.

Auston Trusty

Team	Celtic
Position	Center Back
Age	26
Hometown	Media, Pennsylvania

After signing Auston Trusty on deadline day, it's quite possible that Celtic could field an all-American center back partnership in the form of Trusty and the aforementioned Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Trusty, a 6-foot-3 left-footed center back, spent last year at Sheffield United. He was developed in the Philadelphia Union academy, transferred to the Colorado Rapids, then was signed by Rapids sister club Arsenal in England, who loaned him to Birmingham City before selling him to Sheffield United.

The defender played over 2,500 minutes in the Premier League last season, although the team finished last and got relegated. Individually, he averaged 5.35 clearances per game, which ranked seventh in the league among all players to play at least 900 minutes.

In addition to posting decent individual numbers in last year's Premier League, he had a successful 2022/23 season in the English Championship, he wins over half his duels, and he should function as the sweeper-style center back in Celtic's back line given how CCV likes to engage opposing attackers and stop attacks.

Timothy Weah

Team	Juventus
Position	Right Wing
Age	24
Hometown	Brooklyn, New York

The 2024/25 season is a pivotal one for Timothy Weah. Usually the starter on the right wing for the USMNT, Weah let his teammates down when he was red carded for violent conduct early in a Copa America group stage match against Panama, which ended in a loss for the US.

In the two seasons leading up to that game, there hasn't been much to write home about. Weah hasn't scored a league goal since he had three in the 2021/22 season in France's Ligue 1 with Lille.

Weah only provided one assist in Serie A with Juventus last season and did not receive much playing time at striker in then-Juve coach Mass Allegri's 3-5-2 formation. As a result, he was shoehorned into the right wing-back role and only played 1,258 minutes for the season.

Time will tell if he can earn more playing time under new Juventus coach Thiago Motta. Weah is optimistic as he told the club website that he thinks he'll become a "different player" under Motta, and he started in ideal fashion by being named to Motta's first competitive starting lineup and scoring a beautiful bar-down goal.