USA U20 boss Tab Ramos believes it is a good idea for promising young players to experience club soccer abroad to assist with fast-tracking their development.
More and more American youth players are beginning to make the leap across the Atlantic by joining European clubs and Ramos feels this will be of great benefit to the US setup in the long run.
"I think it's a positive. When I look at the last U20 cycle, we had very few players who had already been overseas. On this new U20 cycle, there are many of them," he told SoccerAmerica.
"It's positive because going overseas not only gets you on an 11-month rigid training environment, mentally the players have to adapt - to a new culture, perhaps a new language, and everything else.
"It makes them stronger mentally and helps them develop more as players."
A number of players with the current U20 squad have made their homes in Europe including goalkeeper Ethan Horvath and forward Ben Spencer (both with Molde in Norway), Junior Flores (Borussia Dortmund in Germany), Lynden Gooch (Sunderland in England) and Rubio Rubin (FC Utrecht in Holland).
