USMNT Suffer Blow as Noahkai Banks Chooses Germany Over United States

The United States men's national team has suffered a big setback after highly-rated centre-back Noahkai Banks decided to commit his international future to Germany instead. The German Football Federation confirmed the news on Friday, closing the book on a long back-and-forth between the two countries over the 19-year-old Augsburg defender.

The loss stings for Mauricio Pochettino's side, especially since the USMNT is already short on depth at centre-back. Banks previously played for the US at youth level, so seeing him choose Germany is a real blow to the setup.

He's not the only one heading to Germany, either. Tunisian dual-national forward Louey Ben Farhat of Karlsruher SC has also agreed to a pathway with the German national team system.

Germany's Under-21 boss, Antonio Di Salvo, didn't hide his excitement about landing both players.

"We've been in contact with both of them for a while now and had focused our efforts on them," Di Salvo said on the DFB's website. "I'm very pleased that we have been able to lay out a future pathway with Germany for them and that they agreed with it."

Banks was born in Hawaii to an American father and a German mother, but moved to Europe when he was just seven weeks old. He came through the youth ranks at Augsburg and has since made 35 first-team appearances across all competitions.

He played for the US at the 2023 Under-17 World Cup and, for a while, looked set to fully commit to the American setup. Back in February, he spoke positively about his time with the USMNT, saying players like Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah had made him feel right at home.

Even so, Banks turned down a US camp call-up in March. Just last week, Pochettino admitted the situation was still up in the air, saying, "We are in contact with all the potential dual nationals. I think it's important for us to see, of course, because that is the connection."

Banks' decision isn't fully official just yet, though. Since he played for the US in a FIFA-recognized youth tournament, he now has to file a one-time switch of association with FIFA. As of Friday, FIFA's system tracking international switches hadn't yet processed his paperwork. Once that's approved, he'll be free to join up with Di Salvo's Germany Under-21 squad.