Josh Sargent now has 11 goals in 15 league games for Norwich City this season, so should he be the U.S. men's national team's starting No.9 at this summer's Copa America?
The striker now has 11 goals in 15 league games, making him one of English soccer's most dangerous strikers this season
When Josh Sargent began to break through with the U.S. youth national teams, American soccer fans quickly anointed him as a future star. He had everything you'd want out of a modern striker. The key, though, would be when it would all click together. He had the talent, but at what point would that potential combine with experience to produce a true star striker?
Over the last few years, many thought that day may not truly come. An ill-advised club decision stalled Sargent's career before it really started. A move to the Premier League then came a bit too soon. Sargent made it all the way to the 2022 World Cup roster, of course, but as a puzzle piece, not as the star of the show.
Now, staring down another chance at a major tournament, it's all starting to finally come together for the 24-year-old. Sargent is starting to look like the player that many believed would dominate at the highest levels of the game. It could be argued that Sargent is the world's most in-form striker at the moment, and there's no bias to that statement. Aside from perhaps Harry Kane, there's no No.9 in the world right now running up numbers like Sargent.
Sargent, then, is having a career-altering season, and it's coming at the right time for both him and his national team.