Zavier Gozo could be the next American import who wows the Premier League

Over the years, the Premier League has been graced by American imports who have had varying degrees of success for the clubs they represented. The likes of Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, Brad Guzan, and Brad Freidel have all earned distinctions of being cult heroes for their clubs, and the new crop has been following suit too.

Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson, Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson, and Chris Richards have all become household names in recent iterations of the American dream in the Premier League. However, none of them have captured the attention and the fancy of the Premier League faithful in a way that precocious talents from other nations have from time to time.

Well, that could finally change with Crystal Palace signing the newest American addition to the Premier League, and one that has been talked about a lot in American Soccer discourse in the past few months.

The Eagles have agreed a deal worth $15m (£11m) with Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer to sign 19-year-old Zavier Gozo on a 5-year contract. Gozo’s move is a testament to arguably one of the most rapid and meteoric rises of any American soccer prospect, a trajectory even faster than Christian Pulisic.

Gozo rose through the ranks quickly at Real Salt Lake, having enrolled in the academy in 2021 at the tender age of 14. His debut followed two years later, where he started off as a right wing-back. He impressed everyone with a confidence on the ball that belied his young age, and his directness in terms of running and pace as well. He ended up playing 1810 minutes in his debut season, with a very creditable return of 4 goals and 3 assists to his name.

The following season seen the youngster pushed up the pitch as a pure winger, while giving him the freedom and the free license to push up to the attacking third of the pitch. And the result of that has seen him take his performances to an increased level, where his close-quarter control, and his ball-carrying abilities kept growing in leaps and bounds.

His time this season has also brought about an uptick in his end product as well, with his 6 goals and 5 assists this season in much fewer minutes (1417) show a teenager who is constantly on the move to improve more as a player as well.

In his performances this season, Gozo’s uncanny ability to not only create a shooting opportunity for himself, but also for his teammates, has stood out. In all, he created 67 progressive upfield carries, a number that is only bettered by Lionel Messi, Evander, Anders Dreyer, and Denis Bouanga. All of these names were part of the MLS Best XI last season. 

His performances gave him an outside shot to be a part of the USMNT for the World Cup, but his omission meant that he decided to make the move to European pastures.

“I feel like I’m ready to go,” Gozo added without hesitation. “Whether that happens or not, I don’t know, but I think this is a unique situation I have. I’m blessed to be in a situation where I have such a good club to be at, but I also think, you know … What’s next in my career? I don’t know.”

With Gozo being a regular in the USA youth teams, he has ample of time to make himself a part of Pochettino’s plans as the years go by. He walks into a Palace side that already has Chris Richards, and it goes without saying that training with him will get the eyes on him.

But for now, Zavier Gozo is that American import who has been talked-about and touted for great things. And by the way he is being spoken about, he could very well be that American import that can captivate the British audience for years to come.