Actual Salt Lake have all the time been a welcome place for younger home gamers, and now U.S. U-19/20 winger Aiden Hezarkhani seems to be to be the academy’s subsequent gem
BY
Brian Sciaretta
Posted
April 30, 2026
10:00 AM
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ONE OF THE BIGGEST tales of the 2026 MLS season has been the surge of younger American homegrowns who’ve pressured their means onto the sector with first-team minutes and who’ve delivered vital performances. Whereas U.S. youth internationals have been doing nicely within the league for a number of years, this yr has been completely different in that it has been at elevated numbers in the beginning of the season, versus later within the season when breakthroughs occur extra often.
All through the primary third of the 2026 MLS season, Actual Salt Lake winger Aiden Hezarkhani has been among the many extra spectacular U.S. youth internationals who’ve moved as much as the first-team degree. The Irvine, California native has made eight appearances in complete together with six begins for Actual Salt Lake.
His early appearances we sturdy sufficient for him to earn a call-up to the U.S. U-19 group for March because it prepares for U-20 World Cup qualifying this summer time. Sadly, he was pressured to overlook the U.S. camp in Spain attributable to damage, however the chances are high that he’ll again within the squad this summer time for qualifying.
“Growing up watching all my favorite players on the national team on the biggest stage, now that I’m able to represent the country at the youth level, it just means a lot and I’m truly honored. I feel a lot of passion toward this country,” Hezarkhani mentioned when he was introduced on the roster. “To be able to represent them playing soccer is amazing.”
U.S. U-19 head coach Gonzalo Segares lately mentioned his ideas on the beginning of the U-20 cycle and talked about how Hezarkhani has been taking the largest jumps within the participant pool lately.
“A lot of guys who, within their own clubs, something clicks and all of a sudden they’re doing very well,” Segares mentioned. “Look at Aiden, he is taking fully advantage of that opportunity at RSL. It’s not that we didn’t know about him and he had been in camps before but then looking at how well he’s doing – he’s scoring big goals for his club.”
Whereas Hezarkhani, 18, earned headlines for his performances for Actual Salt Lake alongside along with his U.S call-up, he has been on a gradual upward trajectory along with his membership for a number of years.
In July 2024, Hezarkhani signed with the membership’s MLS Subsequent Professional squad, Actual Monarchs, after standing out with the membership’s academy. His preliminary breakthrough got here earlier that yr Hezarkhani participated within the Academy’s month-to-month “tournament day” and was named the participant of the match. With that, he caught the eye of head coach Pablo Mastroeini and assistant Basic Supervisor Tony Beltran and was invited to coach with the primary group that preseason.
From there Hezarkhani solely continued to impress. He was invited to play with the primary group within the preseason Atlantic Cup and continued to coach with the primary group frequently into the season.
“Everyone can see that he trusts young guys a lot,” Hezarkhani mentioned of Mastroeni. “It’s about your reactions. Everyone’s going to make mistakes in games and in training. It’s how you react. That really helps me to play free because I know he has my back. It gives me and the younger guys a lot of confidence on the field.”
In each 2024 and 2025, Hezarkhani stood out in MLS Subsequent Professional however in the beginning of the 2026 MLS season, Actual Salt Lake was confronted with an damage disaster to a number of common starters, together with U.S. nationwide group attacker Diego Luna, and Mastroeni turned to Hezarkhani to assist fill the void.
“I came from Strikers FC and I joined over the summer to RSL Academy and I had a good start to the year,” Hezarkhani mentioned “I think I performed really well there, especially when second team, first team and staff who are watching as well. That really caught their eye and slowly I actually went to first team preseason. After six months with the Academy, I got lucky for that opportunity because a few guys got injured with first team and then they just thought with my recent performances it was good to bring me up. That all helped just gaining experience with the first team early on yeah to get to this moment today where now I can thrive at this level.”
Earlier within the season, Hezarkhani scored large objectives in consecutive wins over Seattle and Atlanta. Each objectives earned him lots of consideration for his or her high quality, along with his aim towards Atlanta particularly spectacular. In controlling a looping go that despatched him into the attacking field, Hezarkhani dribbled nicely in a decent area earlier than hitting a rocket along with his proper foot into the highest of the subsequent.
He confirmed lots of talent on the play, however maybe most noteworthy is that he’s left-footed and did most of his work, together with the shot, along with his proper.
— RSL Present on KSL ??????? (@rslshow) March 8, 2026
“It was obviously a little surprising, especially on the right foot, but it’s something that I’ve been working a lot,” Hezarkhani mentioned. “Weak foot is also important, so I’m just glad I was able to contribute to the team.”
“Originally, I’ve always been a right winger, but moving up with the first team, they’ve been trying to get me to play as the 10 or as a right midfielder, like a right 10,” he mentioned. “It’s something that obviously took some time for me to adapt to it, but I’ve really enjoyed it and I’m finding a lot of success there.”
“He doesn’t get too high, he doesn’t get too low,” Mastroeni mentioned. “His youthfulness in just letting shots go and not being worried about if it’s the right time to shoot is really important for him. He’s been a fantastic young player, and now he’s just growing into a really, really good pro.”
Like many prime younger gamers, Hezarkhani’s improvement started at younger age inside his household. His father performed faculty soccer with Penn State and helped coach him all through his early years. From there Hezarkhani blossomed with the Irvine Strikers, a prime native membership in Southern California which additionally has an affiliation with Actual Salt Lake.
We’ll be excited about Aiden’s first MLS aim for a LONGGGG time pic.twitter.com/rz6PQfkD0h
— Actual Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) March 1, 2026
Along with his success with the Strikes, finally Hezarkhani wanted to maneuver to Utah to proceed his progress in direction of the skilled ranks.
“I was 15,” Hezarkhani recalled. “After U16, my club team had a really good year at MLS Next Cup. We played really well and I had a good performance and my club was already connected with RSL. With some of my teammates, we had a trial at the RSL Academy after the playoffs. We had a good performance so they decided to offer Academy contracts.”
“Regarding moving away from home, it was obviously a hard decision,” he continued. “You have got to risk a lot, you have got to leave a lot of things behind.”
What has additionally helped Hezarkhani along with his improvement as been that he has not been the one younger participant breaking by way of with Actual Salt Lake. Luca Moisa, 17, has additionally been beginning in midfield together with Zavier Gozo, 18, who was one of many league’s most promising younger gamers in 2025 and is now thought-about probably the greatest teenage Individuals within the sport.
Within the early a part of the season, Hezarkhani and Gozo have performed nicely collectively and Gozo together with Luna have helped give Hezarkhani recommendation on breaking into the primary group in addition to what to anticipate with the U.S. U-20 group this summer time.
“Their main message to me, it was more just that you are there for a reason,” Hezarkhani mentioned of the recommendation he obtained from Gozo and Luna about taking part in for the U.S. “If you’re trying to play simple, then you’re not playing your game and you won’t perform as well. You’re here because you’re good at the game. So you just gotta play with freedom and confidence.”
