American Footballers Abroad: Luca De La Torre
Three words: Composure, Pace, Intelligence. Luca De La Torre has all the qualities of an effective attacking center mid. He attacks space, moves the ball, and has the speed to draw in defenders in order to create. With a goal and two dimes in an EFL Cup match against Millwall, De La Torre is forcing Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic to give him a chance with the top team.
When trying to find a comparison to his style of play I would reluctantly use Christian Pulisic for obvious reasons. His body type, skill set, and nationality are all comparable to Pulisic’s style of play. De La Torre has shown flashes of his capability for US National sides at the U17 and U20 level. His Spanish father and American mother raised him in San Diego where he played top level academy football before moving to England to play with Fulham in 2013.
Obviously, De La Torre isn’t exactly at Pulisic’s level yet, but the potential is there. With many young attacking players with loads of potential in the center of the park for both the United States National team and Fulham, it may be difficult for De la Torre to break through.
Even though he is only 20 years old, the want and need to break through at the national and club level is there for every player. However, sometimes the hard truth is that it isn’t your time at the moment. It takes a strong squad top to bottom to compete and last a long season of league and cup matches; so as the season progresses Luca De La Torre will get opportunities to create. It will come down to how he performs when called upon that will determine his minutes at Fulham, as well getting national team caps.
But damn I’m excited to see how he and all the other young American footballers progress and develop into our countries next Golden Age of Soccer.
