Joshua Thomas Sargent (born February 20, 2000) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward or winger for EFL Championship club

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

and the United States national team. In May 2017, at the age of 17, he became the youngest U.S. player to score at the

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

Early life

Sargent was born in

O'Fallon, Missouri O'Fallon ( ) is a city located along Interstates 64 and 70 between Lake St. Louis and St. Peters in St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. It is part of the St. Louis metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, O'Fallon had ...

, to Jeff and Liane Sargent, both of whom played college-level soccer. Sargent joined the Scott Gallagher Soccer Club at eight years old. He attended St. Dominic for part of his high school years before moving to Florida to join the U.S. residency program."Former St. Dominic student Sargent realizing dream with U-17 national team"
''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', Steve Overbey, October 8, 2016. He was ranked as the No. 2 high school soccer player in the country.

Club career

Early career

Sargent played for Scott Gallagher Missouri, a

U.S. Soccer Development Academy The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) was an American soccer league. Formed in 2007, the league features youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. The DA's mission ...

club from

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

. After his impressive performance at the 2016 Nike International Friendlies, he spent two weeks training with Sporting Kansas City in the summer of 2016 and the

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club acquired the player's acquisition rights, as St. Louis is in Sporting Kansas City's homegrown player territory. In October of the same year, Sargent spent a week-long training spell with Dutch club

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

. In January 2017, after being called for the United States U20 team, he trained with German club FC Schalke 04.

Werder Bremen

On September 20, 2017,

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

announced that Sargent would join the club on January 1, 2018, and then sign a professional contract on his 18th birthday, per FIFA rules. He played with the club's under-23 squad in a friendly match and signed his contract on February 20, 2018, making him eligible to join the first team for the 2018–19 season. On December 7, 2018, Sargent made his debut for the

first team, coming on as a substitute in the 76th minute in a match against

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

. He scored with his first touch of the match in the 78th minute, the fastest goal by a debutant in club history. In February 2019, Sargent agreed to a "long-term" contract extension with the club.

Norwich City

2021–22 season

On August 9, 2021, Sargent left Werder Bremen to join

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee, reported as in the region of €9.5 million. Five days later, he made his debut in a 3–0 home defeat against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

after coming on as a substitute at 77th minute in place of his former Werder Bremen teammate

Milot Rashica Milot Rashica (; born 28 June 1996) is an Albanian- Kosovan footballer. He is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Süper Lig club Galatasaray, on loan from club Norwich City, and the Kosovo national tea ...

. He scored his first two goals for the club on August 24, in an emphatic 6–0 victory over Bournemouth in the second round of the EFL Cup. On January 21, 2022, Sargent scored his first league goals of the season, one of them a scorpion-kick, in a 3–0 win over fellow

relegation battlers

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

2022–23 season

Sargent remained at Norwich following their relegation. Sargent scored his first goal of the season in Norwich's first league win of the season against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

. Three days later, he notched a brace in a 2–0 win against

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

International career

Youth

Sargent first appeared in a United States under-14 camp in 2013. In the same year, he was called for the United States under-15. In 2015, he joined the Under-17 MNT Residency Program in Bradenton, Florida. He was a key part of the team that won the 2016 Nike International Friendlies, scoring four goals and notching two assists in three matches. On April 17, 2017, Sargent was included by coach

John Hackworth John Hackworth (born February 5, 1970, in Dunedin, Florida) is an American soccer coach who is currently Director of Coaching for St. Louis City SC of Major League Soccer and the interim head coach for the club's MLS Next Pro side. Player ...

in the 20-man squad chosen to represent United States at the

2017 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2017 CONCACAF Under-17 Championship was the 5th edition of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship (18th edition if all eras included), the men's under-17 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted in Panama between 21 ...

. He scored five goals in the tournament, including two goals in a victory over Mexico. He led the United States as they reached the final and qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Only two days later, Sargent was surprisingly included by coach

Tab Ramos Tabaré "Tab" Ramos Ricciardi (born September 21, 1966) is an American former soccer player and current head coach of Hartford Athletic in the USL Championship. Over his thirteen-year professional career, Ramos played as a midfielder in Spain, ...

in the 21-man squad called to represent United States at the

2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 21st edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...

. On May 22, the Americans debuted in the tournament against

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

. Sargent started the match and scored two goals, helping his team to tie the match and becoming the youngest American player to ever score in an under-20 World Cup. Sargent is the second American player, after

Freddy Adu Fredua Koranteng Adu (born June 2, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who played as an attacking midfielder. The last club he played for was Ettan Fotboll club Österlen FF. From before the time of his signing with D.C. United at ...

, to play in both the under-17 and under-20 World Cups in the same year. On June 1, 2017, after scoring against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, Sargent joined

Jozy Altidore Josmer Volmy "Jozy" Altidore ( ; born November 6, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker for Major League Soccer club New England Revolution. Altidore made his professional debut in 2006, at the age of 16, with ...

, Eddie Johnson and

Taylor Twellman Taylor Timothy Twellman (born February 29, 1980) is an American former soccer player who played professionally from 1999 to 2010. He now works in the media as a soccer television commentator. Twellman is best known for his play with the New Eng ...

, becoming one of the United States's all-time leading goalscorers at the under-20 World Cup.

Senior

On November 7, 2017, Sargent received his first senior call up for a friendly against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. He thus became the only American player ever to appear in an under-17, under-20, and senior camp in the same calendar year. On May 28, 2018, Sargent earned his first cap for the senior team in a friendly against Bolivia and scored his first international goal. He became the fourth-youngest player to score for the United States, until Timothy Weah, two days younger than Sargent, scored his first goal minutes later. On 9 November 2022, Sargent was named in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Personal life

Josh Sargent is married to Kirsten Lepping. They were engaged in August 2020. Sargent has one daughter who was born on January 13, 2022.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list United States' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sargent goal.''

Honors

United States U17 *

CONCACAF Under-17 Championship The CONCACAF U-17 Championship is an international association football event in the North America, Central America and the Caribbean region, and is the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Results In 2009 the tournament returned ...

runner-up:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

United States *

CONCACAF Nations League The CONCACAF Nations League ( es, Liga de Naciones CONCACAF, french: Ligue des Nations de la CONCACAF) is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF, the ...

: 2019–20 Individual * FIFA U-20 World Cup Silver Boot:

References

External links

* * *
Josh Sargent
PDL stats {{DEFAULTSORT:Sargent, Josh 2000 births Living people People from O'Fallon, Missouri Sportspeople from Greater St. Louis Soccer players from Missouri American soccer players United States men's international soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players Association football forwards SV Werder Bremen players SV Werder Bremen II players Norwich City F.C. players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Premier League players 2022 FIFA World Cup players American expatriate soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany American expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England English Football League players