In just a few short years, Patrick Agyemang has gone from Division III college soccer to MLS stardom with Charlotte FC to a club-record transfer to EFL Championship side Derby County.
Is a trip to the 2026 FIFA World Cup with the US men's national team up next for the 24-year-old striker?
Currently in USMNT camp for this month's international friendlies against Ecuador and Australia, Agyemang spoke with "Club & Country" to discuss his meteoric career rise, World Cup aspirations and more.
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On asking teammates about the EFL Championship before his transfer:
"I think for me, I had teammates that played in the Champ[ionship] at Charlotte, so the first thing I talked to them right away. I said, 'Yo, what do I need to expect?' And they were like, 'Listen, it's a grind,' But they told me they have confidence in me to do well, and there's a couple of guys in the camp here as well that have been there. So when I was in the Gold Cup, of course, I was talking to Haji [Wright] and stuff like that, because I know he's in it and he understood it. I was trying to get as much feedback before I got into it."
On playing at the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup:
“The main thing for me, it's a very pressured environment and you're expected to perform. That's what you want to be around, especially myself. You want to learn from these experiences, and I think for me, the intensity and how much everyone cares to win. It's something that I want to take into my game every single day. I just want to take every moment at a time, take it in stride and enjoy it, but for me it's like, I want to be back there in specific environments like that.”
On whether he reflects on his unique career journey to the USMNT:
“Honestly, my brothers are the ones who help me with that a lot. They just say, ‘Look where you came from, where you started from.’ Back then, I'm just trying to enjoy every day. I knew I had talent, but I just wanted to show it. Now I'm at the stage where I can show it and I can really put my stamp on games and stuff. Now for me, it's just to take that next step and take that next level to just try to be a better version of myself.”
On mentors throughout his career:
“It's crazy because it's not even positional-based, but there's a couple of guys on the team that kind of took me under their wing at Charlotte when I first got there. I could say Nathan Byrne right away. I was new to everything. I kind of kept to myself initially, and he just pulled me and said, ‘Look, you’ve got talent, now it’s just show it.’ He just kind of took me under his wing, and I just started listening to him and seeing how he plays. You see him on the field, always running, always hitting somebody, always trying to give 100%, and I wanted to do that as well. So he's definitely helping me a long way.”
On playing the 2026 FIFA World Cup on home soil:
“For me, it's a dream. I've grown up playing and I always wanted to be in a position to be in a camp like this and to be in a World Cup. So for me, it's trying to show what I can do at that world stage and the fact that it's here, it's like it's right in a script. Who's writing the script, you know? For me, it's just to do everything I can to put myself in the best position possible to be selected.”
