U.S. center-back Auston Trusty has traded in the glamor and glitz of London for South Yorkshire as it was announced on Thursday that he completed a move to newly-promoted English Premier League side Sheffield United from Arsenal.
Both teams agreed to a transfer fee of $6.4 million and the 24-year-old has signed a four-year contract.
Trusty was signed by the Gunners from the Colorado Rapids in January 2022 and remained with the Major League Soccer team on loan. In July 2022, he headed to London to join Arsenal, but the team immediately sent him out on a season-long loan to Championship side Birmingham City. His time in the Midlands would be successful as he made 44 appearances for the Blues, scoring four goals. His performances would earn the accolade of Birmingham’s Player of the Season by the fans.
With several players ahead of the Pennsylvania native contending for the center-back spots and his performances last season in the second tier drawing interest, Arsenal decided to allow him to move on to Sheffield United.
“We are so proud to see how far Auston has come and the journey he has been on,” Arsenal’s sporting director Edu said in a statement. “If you look at him when he joined us compared to now when he is leaving us, he has achieved so much.
“We see him now, a USA international having won Player of the Season with Birmingham City in a competitive league, which you have to remember was his first in English football. He now moves to a Premier League club where he will play top-flight football. Everyone involved in Auston’s progression to this point should have great satisfaction in the steps he has taken, moving on to this new challenge.”
As for Trusty, he is raring to go and help the Blades to a strong campaign this season.
“I am more than excited. The opportunity to be here at this historic club, and an opportunity to play in the Premier League and show my ability, it is everything I could have ever dreamed of growing up as a kid. In Pennsylvania, this was a dream – almost an impossible dream but I believed in myself and the opportunity has come around, it is everything that I dreamed for,” he said in his first official interview as a Sheffield United player.
“Everything is coming to fruition for me. I am in the right place at the right time and in the right mindset. Everything has come together how I dreamed it.”
Sheffield manager Paul Heckingbottom expressed his delight at finally landing a center-back, a position he said they have been looking to fill during the summer transfer window while commenting on what Trusty can bring to the team.
“He is at a good age to progress, he has experience having played at international level and in the Championship last year, where we monitored him and he picked up Birmingham’s Player of the Year award. As a coaching team we feel that he has the athleticism and desire to succeed in the Premier League,” the boss said.
Trusty will look to earn his way into Sheffield United’s starting eleven before they welcome Chris Richards and Crystal Palace to Bramall Lane on August 12.
Follow Yanks Abroad on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for news and views on Americans playing the beautiful game around the world and the U.S. national team.
