MOLANO IMPRESSING AT DINAMO ZAGREB Arch Bell - Thursday, October 1, 2009
Former FC Dallas junior player Alex Molano appears to be making the adjustment to life in Croatia following his recent signing with Dinamo Zagreb.
Molano made headlines last month when the move was announced after his initial trial was kept secret by the 11-time Croatian league champions.
The US Under-17 player has hit the ground running with the club's junior team and seems to be impressing club officials.
"Alex is, at the moment, playing for our junior U-19 team and he keeps up quite good," Dinamo Zagreb Academy Director Romeo Jozak told YA. "The team has 14 U-19 and U-18 Croatian national players in it."
To many, the move to Dinamo for the native Texan was an odd one as the Croatian Prva HNL is not known as a destination for younger American players looking to get their feet wet in Europe.
However, Jozak is quick to point out that the club did its due diligence when they evaluated the offensive midfielder.
"He came this summer to Zagreb to the trials at the recommendation of one of our scouts in the USA," Jozak continued. "He went through the strict process of selection and he generally passed the demands that we have. So far he signed a two year assistantship contract."
The son of a Colombian father spent the bulk of his youth in the Lone Star State but upon closer inspection, Molano already had ties to his new playing home by ways of his Croatian grandmother.
The club has even made overtones that Molano could be a future target for Croatian national team representation but until then, the attacker will be solely focusing on the task at hand with Dinamo.
"As for his future, as it looks now, he will stay with the team for a year and a half, and then go to either our reserve team or the first Dinamo Zagreb team," added Jozak.
The scouting and recruitment of young American players by Dinamo will not stop with Molano as Jozak makes no secret that the club is looking to take advantage of the wide player pool found in the US.
"Generally, I think the USA youth team players have some potential and they are more and more in our focus. I will be in the USA in January and there are some other potential young players from the USA that I will see and potentially invite for trials," he concluded.
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