The Dutch Eerste Divisie is where Justin Che will head to next with hopes of earning consistent playing time in Europe.
The 19-year-old defender has joined ADO Den Haag on a season-long loan spell from Brondby, both clubs announced Thursday. Che joined Brondby in a permanent deal from MLS side FC Dallas earlier this month.
“Justin Ché is a very talented defender who can play both right back and right center [back],” Technical Director Joris Mathijsen said. “It is important for his development that he will play matches. We are confident that Justin will add value to our team.”
“I am happy to be in The Hague,” Che said. “I feel that I can develop myself further here and contribute to realizing the ambitions of the club. I look forward to playing for ADO Den Haag and its supporters.”
Che was last on loan at Bundesliga side Hoffenheim since from January 2022 to June 2023, making 18 appearances with Hoffenheim II and one first-team appearance. Che previously was loaned to Bayern Munich as well, making eight appearances for Bayern II in the 3. Liga.
He totaled 15 appearances with FC Dallas, as well as 16 previous appearances with then-USL affiliate North Texas SC.
A former U.S. youth national team player, Che made four starts with the Under-20’s at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina. In total, he made eight U-20 appearances and has previously been called up to senior national team camps.
ADO Den Haag is 13th in the Eerste Divisie and next hosts Roda JC this weekend.
Besides Neal I am not that impressed with the CB pool from that U20 cycle. Although I thought Frekranus would see more minutes. Probably the most athletic of the bunch. Just needs to work on reading the game a bit quicker.
I do think Neal has the most upside with a good mixture of athleticism, reading of the game and passing ability. Physically needs to get stronger.
Treyvon Gray from NY can play RB and CB should have been calledup for Gold Cup but USA men’s always loses at the end with bad player selection. He should have been called up along side Alex Mendez. Would rather have Lyndon Gooch or Leonord Maloney over basura C Roldan
i didn’t realize that FCD never actually sold him. half the point to going to someplace like germany as a teen is to do what reyna did and work through the age group system getting schooled up.
the dutch second division might be a positive chance for him to get games but this is a disastrous series of career moves. you go to denmark and can’t make the first team? wow. i say this but wynder and him underwhelmed me at U20.
He was brought in by Hoffenheim when their manager was the old youth guy from Bayern. Then he got sacked and Che got injured right as he started dressing for the first team in Jan. He’d hardly played the 2nd half of last season because of injury leading into U20 WC. I kind of thought the Brondby move was weird and this is further confusing. It has a feel of they took the first offer from Europe without really listening to their plan for him then immediately started looking for a better spot when things weren’t what they wanted. FCD players have had some unsuccessful moves. Cannon didn’t get paid, Seely two year loan then returned, Thomas Roberts back to MLS after sitting in Austria, Reynolds to Roma, Pepi to Augsburg.