After trials with FC Barcelona and Madrid, Pynadath becomes the first ever American to sign for the world’s most illustrious club.
US Soccer fans – get excited. Hell, even Real Madrid fans should be excited about this one.
Stories like this often surface, wherein an incredibly young player signs a pre-contract with a big club, and sure it might make for a nice headline, but there’s rarely anything else to it.
Josh Pynadath is different. At only 11-years-old, Pynadath embarked upon a Spanish adventure, leaving his home in the US with his parents to go on trial at FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Nine months later, and he has just announced he has been offered, and accepted, a contract with Real Madrid.
“They told me that I was the first American that they have ever accepted into their academy,” Pynadath told the Los Altos Town Crier, his hometown newspaper. “I told them that I would set a good example.”
Pynadath has kept everyone interested in his experience updated via his own blog.
What makes Pynadath’s story even better though, is that we can actually see footage of him playing.
Josh’s parents have been thoughtful enough to record, edit and upload a healthy amount of footage of Pynadath playing in trial matches for Madrid. Watch the footage here – you really, really want to see this: