In the space of only a few months, Schalke midfielder Weston McKennie has gone from playing with the U19s to lining up against giants Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. But just where did the 19-year-old American spring from, and how far can he go? bundesliga.com takes a closer look...
We don't yet know where the story ends, but it begins in Germany.
As a child, McKennie lived for three years in Kaiserslautern - where his father was stationed in the military - and it was there that he discovered the sport that would change his life. One day, he took a softball outside to play with the kids in his street, but ended up playing football instead and fell in love with it. A few weeks later he even joined his first club, FC Phönix Otterbach.
Back in America, though, McKennie found himself at a crossroads, unsure whether to pursue a career in soccer or American football. In an interview with DW, he recalled sometimes trying to squeeze two games into one afternoon - scoring a couple of quick goals for his soccer team before racing across town to play football, strapping on his pads in the car. In the end, of course, he chose soccer - but the avid Washington Redskins fan still thinks he could have made it in American football - "if I'd stuck with it".
Watch: McKennie on having the trust of Schalke coach Domenico Tedesco
Instead, McKennie worked his way up the ranks and joined the FC Dallas Academy in 2009, representing the US at various youth levels along the way. He remembers meeting Borussia Dortmund star Christian Pulisic at around age 14, sitting next to him on the bus and squirting an empty water bottle in his ear. Incredible to think that five years later, the two friends find themselves on opposing sides of the Bundesliga's biggest rivalry.
"He's something else," McKennie said of Pulisic, a player he hopes to be joining in the senior USMNT setup before long. "He's a young prodigy, although I know he doesn't like it when people say that, because he's a really humble kid."
McKennie vs. Pulisic could be one of the fascinating subplots when the first Revierderby of the season rolls around on Matchday 13, but while the latter burst onto the Bundesliga scene as a 17-year-old in early 2016, there was absolutely no guarantee that the former would be enjoying first-team football with the Royal Blues when he joined their youth academy just over a year ago.
The U-19 #USMNT defeats Russia to win the Slovakia Cup! Captain Weston McKennie is named Player of the Tournament. pic.twitter.com/kkSEsbrLaQ
— U.S. Soccer YNT (@ussoccer_ynt) April 29, 2016
The young Texan had just enjoyed a stellar 2015/16, scoring 12 goals from central midfield for the Dallas Academy and captaining the US U19s to victory at the Slovakia Cup, earning MVP plaudits for good measure. Dallas were keen to retain him on an MLS Homegrown Player contract, while there was a verbal agreement for McKennie to play for the University of Virginia. But when Schalke came calling, there was only one possible outcome.
"Playing soccer in Europe is like coming to America to play basketball," he told ESPN. "I came over, and they showed me around the youth academy, the stadium. I talked to coach Norbert Elgert over the phone, because he was on holiday. And I kinda fell in love with the place."
McKennie joined the Schalke U19s in August 2016, excited at the prospect of working at the famed Knappenschmiede academy with renowned youth coach Elgert - the man who has developed some of Schalke's biggest stars in recent years, including four 2014 FIFA World Cup winners: Manuel Neuer, Benedikt Höwedes, Mesut Özil and Julian Draxler.
Welcome to the #RoyalBlues!