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The New York Cosmos surprised many fans when they announced the signature of Haji Wright last March, after the United States youth international turned 17-years old. We speculated that one of the reasons he chose the Cosmos over the Los Angeles Galaxy had to do with a planned future in European football, which the North American Soccer League club was likely to make quite painless, while Major League Soccer could make it difficult, to say the least.
On Sunday night, when German club Schalke 04 were in Florida to take on the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, we received confirmation that Wright was, indeed, signing with the Bundesliga side when he turns 18 in March.
Schalke confirms Haji Wright will sign with Schalke’s under-19 team in March when he turns 18.
— Paul Tenorio (@PaulTenorio) January 11, 2016
It seems likely that Wright's move to Germany was more or less settled after he trialed there as a 16-year old, and the release from the Cosmos to make this move happen was agreed upon when he joined the club. It will be interesting to see what the gifted youngster can do when training against European competition on a daily basis, and it was fun watching him in New York while he was here.