Antonee_robinson_-_asn_top_-_fulham_stadium_entrance_-_december_2025
Americans abroad

Robinson's big return, Adams injured, Big Pat's Brace, LASK's climb, & more from Europe

It's Wednesday and it is time for another weekly column on Americans abroad where ASN's Brian Sciaretta covers all the top stories across the globe. While it wasn't the best week, the return of Antonee Robinson is very significant news. 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
December 17, 2025
4:00 PM

IT IS WEDNESDAY and it is time for another weekly column on Americans abroad – covering the good and bad. The biggest and best news involves Antonee Robinson, who has had a very difficult 2025 but looks as if he is at least ending it well. Then on the flip side, we await news on Tyler Adams who suffered an injury on Tuesday.

 

Robinson’s Promising Return

 

The big story in Europe over the past week involving American players was the return of Antonee Robinson. Fulham wasted no time in getting him back on the field. As soon as he was cleared to play, he was inserted into the starting lineup for Saturday’s visit to Burnley.

Robinson, 28, has had a brutal year. He played in the second half of 2024/25 but was only playing, not training. He had knee surgery in May but was seeing specialists beforehand to understand the nature of the injury. The announcement for the surgery said he would be back in time for preseason – but he wasn’t. He played in the Carabao Cup early in the season but couldn’t fully return. At one point in the fall, USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino admitted he was “worried” about Robinson.

In his surprising return on Saturday, Robinson went the full 90 minutes in a 3-2 win. He looked rusty with his passing, but defensively he was his typical strong self.

But the biggest news came on Wednesday when he assisted on Fulham's only goal in a 2-1 loss to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup. 

 

For USMNT fans, it was encouraging to see one of the team’s best and most important players back on the field and holding his own in the Premier League without any warm-up games.

The appropriate reaction should be cautiously hopeful. He’s back and seems to be pain free. But he knee has been through a lot over his career (dating back to his microfracture surgery 10 years ago). Was the underlying problem fixed? Is it still prone to breaking down?

We don’t have all the medical data. It’s good to be hopeful about Robinson and his return, but he has only now just begun his return and we still have to see see how he responds to a few weeks/months of a regular workload.

The fact that there are still seven months to go until the World Cup is both good and bad.

 

Adams injured for Bournemouth

 

On Monday, Tyler Adams was in the starting lineup for Bournemouth against Manchester United but was forced out in just the sixth minute after blocking a shot. The game itself was wild and ended 4-4.

“It’s the worst news from the game,” Bournemouth coach Andoni Iraola said in the postgame press conference. “The knee, twisted, I think it’s MCL but we’ll check him and see if it is a small strain or something else. It is not what you want, in the second or third minute. To lose a player like him is massive. It’s bad news for us because Tyler is massive for us."

Earlier this week, English media reported Manchester United was interested in acquiring Adams and added an offer could be about $50 million.

This is not good news, but it is not disastrous news either – at least for the U.S. national team. MCL injuries are generally not as serious as ACL injuries. But we also need to see the severity. We do not know if the MCL is sprained or torn. Either way, if it is just the MCL, it should not affect him for the World Cup.

 

Agyemang scores two

 

Patrick Agyemang had his best game since joining Derby County when he scored the first and last goals in a 3-0 win over last-place Sheffield Wednesday. He now has an impressive five goals and three assists across 1220 minutes for Derby County.

 

Agyemang looks like a perfect fit for the Championship since his arrival and he should continue to grow nicely into the league.

As for his U.S. national team hopes, he’s likely not ahead of Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, or Haji Wright for a World Cup roster spot. But one injury could change that. He’s likely ahead of Josh Sargent, Brian White, and Damion Downs right now.

 

Full credit to Mauricio Pochettino for getting him involved in 2025 and putting him ahead of strikers such as Damion Downs at the Gold Cup. That appears to have been the right call.

 

Banks plays well in loss

 

Over the weekend, Augsburg fell to Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0. Teenage American central defender Noahkai Banks, 19, started and played all 90 minutes in the loss. In the 87th he appeared to have scored a late equalizer but it was called back for offside on VAR.

Augsburg is still on an interim manager (expected to be filled in the winter break) but is now only one spot north of the bottom three and only two points clear of both the relegation playoff and the automatic playoff positions.

Banks has only had a few subpar outings since he broke into the starting lineup. He’s consistently good and when combined with his size, he’s a very interesting player. It’s hard to see the next manager coming in and not wanting to play him.

Not matter what happens this season in the relegation battle, Banks won’t be going to the 2.Bundesliga next year. Banks could be sold this summer to a bigger club regardless.

 

LASK enters Austrian title race

 

One potentially good story emerging is in Austria with LASK, which features two Americans in left back George Bello and forward Sam Adeniran. After a poor start to the season, LASK has been rocketing up the Austrian Bundesliga table lately and over the weekend defeated Grazer 2-1 on the road.

Adeniran scored the winning goal in the 25th minute and he now has four on the season to go along with three assists.

LASK now has seven wins and a draw in its last eight games to move into second place. They are only three points off the top, trailing Salzburg.

Unfortunately, the title race will have to wait until February as we are now in the winter break.

 

Other notes in Europe

 

James Sands is in a Bundesliga relegation battle he can’t afford to lose as he is only at St. Pauli on loan from NYCFC. Getting relegated likely means St. Pauli cannot afford his purchase option. Sands turned in a good performance over the weekend in a big 2-1 win over fellow relegation battling Heidenheim.

Sands seems unlikely to make the U.S World Cup team, but he’s in the mix and injuries to other players (such as Tyler Adams) could change that.

But for Sands’ career in general, this is an important test ahead in a relegation battle.

Staying in the Bundesliga, Gio Reyna got his third straight start for Borussia Monchengladbach but couldn’t do much as M’Gladbach were badly outplayed 3-1 at home. Reyna was held in check. Joe Scally was suspended for M’Gladbach.

Lennard Maloney went 90 minutes for Mainz in an impressive 2-2 draw away against Bayern Munich. The last-place team looked to be heading for a historic win before conceding a late equalizer. But Maloney ran a lot in this game and the club acknowledged that.

In Belgium, Griffin Yow scored for Westerlo in a 1-1 draw with Genk, which was painful for Westerlo as they were hanging onto a 1-0 lead into stoppage time playing with 10 men. The conceded a late equalizer to remain in 11th place in Belgum’s Pro League.

Yow is very streaky and the start to this season hasn’t gone well but perhaps this will start a positive run. He has just three goals from 658 minutes. The same thing with Bryan Reynolds, who went the distance at right back for Westerlo. It is hard to believe both players are still at the club for over three years.

Paderborn’s snapped a three game losing skid with a 4-0 win over Kaiserslautern. That win moved them back into the top four of the 2.Bundesliga (they were in first place prior to the skid). American defensive mid Santiago Castaneda did not start this game and only played the last six minutes. He needs to work to get back into the starting lineup. He’s had rough patches like this before, but has always bounced back well. He remains a good USMNT prospect.

Ricardo Pepi scored from the penalty spot (he did not draw the penalty) in a 4-3 win over Heracles. Sergino Dest added an assist towards the end of the game. PSV has a nine point lead on second place Feyenoord and it is just about keeping focused to hold on for the title. They struggled with that in this game.

As for Pepi, the minutes continue to increase and he looks like the option in center forward now – which is huge. He also started in a 3-0 win on Tuesday against third-tier GVVV Veenendaal in the cup.

In the Championship, George Campbell continues to impress after his move from Montreal to West Bromwich Albion. In his most recent game, he picked up an assist and a “hockey assist” in a 2-0 win over Sheffield United. He might also be another player that sneaks into the USMNT picture with an injury or two.

But Campbell’s success is another in a long line of successful transfers from MLS to the Championship. Expect more Championship teams to come after domestic American players.

Two of the big matches involving Americans in Europe this past week were disappointing. Chris Richards and Crystal Palace lost to Manchester City 3-0. Erling Haaland got away from Richards for a goal. But this game was closer than it looked as Palace hit the woodwork twice.

Marseille defeated Monaco 1-0 with both Folarin Balogun and Tim Weah starting. It appeared Balogun scored a very nice late goal which would have put Monaco up, but it was called back for offside by VAR. Minutes later Marseille scored. Tim Weah made several nice passes in this game.

 

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