ASN: After a hovering begin to his Swansea mortgage, Fletcher eyes bold targets for membership and nation

Kristian Fletcher has hit the bottom operating on his mortgage from DC United to Swansea Metropolis’s U-21 staff. However his red-hot scoring charge would possibly open up some doorways for him earlier than later. ASN’s Brian Sciaretta with the story.

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Brian Sciaretta

Posted
October 27, 2023
10:30 AM

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BACK IN SEPTEMBER, Kristian Fletcher joined Swansea Metropolis on a short-term mortgage from DC United that might run via December. The mortgage was put collectively via the golf equipment and it wasn’t stunning given the widespread possession that hyperlinks the 2 organizations and the need to present certainly one of DC United’s prime homegrowns a possibility in Europe.

Fletcher turned 18 in August however had solely made 10 appearances for a complete of 123 minutes in 2023. With DC United pushing for the playoffs down the house stretch of the season, head coach Wayne Rooney opted for veterans within the assault.

On September 20, the mortgage was introduced and Fletcher was informed about it a couple of week earlier than he left. Along with his father having been born in Scotland, Fletcher had a U.Ok passport and it made the transfer legally potential.

“It was my first time, I’ll say, not leaving my family for the sport, but leaving them for that long of a period of time,” Fletcher informed ASN from Swansea. “But, I’ve been preparing for this. I’ve just turned 18 and I would be going to college anyways. It was a good step for me in terms of my level of maturity and just my career in general. I saw it as an opportunity for me to go over into England and not just progress as a player, but kind of leave my mark on that team because I know the history.”

The mortgage’s function was to ship Fletcher to Swansea Metropolis’s U-21 staff, however Fletcher has crushed it up to now at that degree.

To date, he has already registered three braces for Swansea Metropolis’s U-21 staff: in a 4-0 win over Hull Metropolis, a 3-1 win over Brighton, and a 6-0 win over Briton Ferry within the League Cup of Wales.

— DMV Soccer (@DMVSoccer96) September 12, 2023

Whereas he’s comfy enjoying anyplace throughout the entrance three, he has been enjoying as a striker to start out his mortgage – generally as a lone No. 9, however generally as a twin No. 9 with a companion.

“I came in and, obviously I was a bit nervous in the first training and so anything that comes with kind of playing in Europe, but as soon as you get on the field, all the nerves go away. I’ve always been a very confident person. So that was it wasn’t hard for me to gain that while playing… My first game it was against a decent team, it was a hard fought game and I knew I can leave a mark. And then from kind of setting that bar for myself in the first game, all I’ve been really trying to do is build on it.”

Fletcher has mentioned that he has set targets for himself when he was over there and a few of them embody what number of occasions he would begin or rating. He added that when he set the targets, he “would do anything to try and achieve it.”

However now that he is proven he can rating targets in droves for the U-21 staff, the 2 most urgent questions for Fletcher now turn out to be whether or not he’ll get moved to Swansea Metropolis’s first staff throughout this mortgage and whether or not his mortgage can be both prolonged or if Swansea Metropolis will choose to buy him in a switch.

Fletcher doesn’t wish to reveal particular particulars of the targets he has set as a result of “I’m also a strong believer of superstition and I don’t want to say that stuff out loud” however he additionally indicated he’s not conscious of any talks over his future but. Regardless, Fletcher nonetheless has time and desires to utterly give attention to soccer and never the specifics of his mortgage.

— DMV Soccer (@DMVSoccer96) October 9, 2023

Superstition apart, with the present tempo he’s scoring targets, it is going to be laborious to see him to not begin coaching or probably even making the matchday squads for Swansa’s first staff quickly. 

However the open query is whether or not Fletcher will truly be with the staff subsequent yr. That’s presently out of his management. Fletcher has made no secret of his want to ultimately play within the highest ranges of Europe and earlier than he signed with DC United, he was linked with a transfer to Borussia Dortmund.

Whereas Swansea Metropolis just isn’t at a prime degree (the primary staff is presently nineteenth within the Championship after 13 video games), it may probably be seen as a superb start line for a younger participant with restricted MLS expertise.

— DMV Soccer (@DMVSoccer96) September 20, 2023

“I’ll always be grateful to DC for giving me a first professional opportunity and I was 17 when I first signed,” Fletcher mentioned. “I was excited. I just became a fulltime professional. We signed players like Christian Benteke, Mateusz Klich and top players. We had a coach like Wayne. There are people like to learn from.”

“I had to prepare for things like this,” he added. “I can’t use age as an excuse or whatever. I have some goals in my career that I want to reach and in order to reach some of them, I need to be playing in Europe. I was very, very excited for it and happy for it. I’m back playing again, so I’m able to show people what I can do and show myself what I can do.”

Fletcher was born in Maryland and grew up in a soccer household with a father born in Scotland however with each dad and mom raised within the Caribbean. Naturally, he grew up with the game in his household and everybody was an Arsenal supporter. Additionally, soccer was steadily performed amongst members of the family.

However this household atmosphere additionally gave Fletcher worldwide targets along with membership targets. Over the past cycle, Fletcher earned a couple of call-ups to the U.S. U-20 staff whereas enjoying up a cycle however didn’t make the ultimate staff for qualifying or the U-20 World Cup. He additionally frolicked with the U.S. U-19 staff in 2023, the place he scored a purpose towards Racing and began towards Argentina in a March journey. However the brand new U-20 cycle can be getting underway early in 2024 with qualifying probably going down subsequent summer time.

As a 2005-born participant, Fletcher is eligible for the USA on the 2025 U-20 World Cup and the U.S. U-23 staff at each the 2024 and 2028 Olympics. However with the upcoming U-20 staff, he’s a really sturdy candidate to be a core member and that’s one thing he can’t wait to start.

“This new U-20 team coming through now is filled with talent and ability,” Fletcher mentioned. “I think that we should go far. I know we have the U-20 World Cup coming up in 2025. Obviously, a goal of mine for that is to win the World Cup. But that’s the goal for every single team – to win the World Cup. So, it’s a pretty common goal. But a U.S. team has never won one. I kind of want to be the difference maker there. There’s also the Olympics next summer.”