Josh Sargent is riding a hot run of form to begin his fourth season with Norwich City.
Sargent scored twice in the past week as the Canaries advanced in the EFL Cup and also picked up their first EFL Championship victory. The American forward earned SBI Americans Abroad Player of the Week honors.
After delivering his first goal of the season on opening weekend, Sargent carried that form into his next two appearances.
He scored Norwich City’s opener in a 2-1 road win over Watford midweek before scoring their second goal in Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Portsmouth. Sargent, 25, now has three goals in his first three appearances of the 2025-26 campaign.
Despite being linked with a summer exit, Sargent has remained at Carrow Road for the time being. Norwich City are desperately trying to keep hold of him after he’s helped them to two wins out of the past three.
Sargent’s strong run could also boost his chances of a U.S. men’s national team call-up for September friendlies against South Korea and Japan. However, he will have to stay injury free over the next two weeks to have a chance of representing his country again.
Here is a closer look at the top Americans Abroad performers from the past week:
Haji Wright
It was also a productive week for Haji Wright.
Wright assisted once in Coventry City’s 1-0 EFL Cup win over Luton Town before scoring one penalty kick goal in the Sky Blues’ 5-3 league victory over Derby County. The American forward played a part in both results for Frank Lampard’s squad, starting off the new season on a positive note.
John Tolkin
John Tolkin helped Holstein Kiel advance to the second round of the German DFB Pokal competition.
Tolkin scored the opening goal in a 2-0 road victory over Homburg, delivering a strong 90 minutes in the starting lineup. The former New York Red Bulls homegrown created seven offensive opportunities, won three duels, drew one foul, and completed one tackle.
Tolkin will now aim to carry his Sunday performance into the upcoming weeks of the 2. Bundesliga season.
Paxten Aaronson
Another first-time goalscorer this season was Paxten Aaronson.
Aaronson scored once in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 5-0 German Cup victory over Engers, coming off the bench and making an impact. The 21-year-old played just 11 minutes in the match, but delivered a positive cameo while celebrating his first goal for the club.
Aaronson will aim to remain a key part of Frankfurt’s squad as the new Bundesliga campaign kicks off next weekend.
Sergino Dest
Sergino Dest’s positive start to PSV’s season continued Sunday in Eredivisie play.
Dest logged a strong 90 minutes as PSV defeated FC Twente 2-0 away from home. The USMNT defender won 10 duels, drew two fouls, and completed seven dribbles from his right back position.
Dest is playing with a lot of confidence in the early stages of the season, which is a major boost for PSV and the USMNT.
What did you think of this week’s selections? Were there any players that you thought we left out?
Share your thoughts below.
ONE DAY I’M GOING TO LOG ON HERE AND SEE:
” AMERICANS ABROAD PLAYER OF THE WEEK: GIOVANNI REYNA”
SIGH….One day
Feels closer today (Tuesday) than it did yesterday.
JR, bizzy,
Hate to lead you on but:
https://www.si.com/soccer/giovanni-reyna-getting-closer-borussia-dortmund-exit
I’ve been waiting since Parma sold Leoni (sp?) to Liverpool supposedly for 24 million. I thought that might give them the extra couple of million they need. But Parma is also looking at another attacking midfielder, Arsenal’s 25 year old Viera, but he’s at 20 million.
Biz: I had seen the original Romano tweet that that story was written off of. Hopefully we wake up to a “here we go” tweet from him tomorrow. Parma (owned by American’s from my area in Iowa) has been operating at a loss since they bought it a few years ago. Not as bad as Textor and Lyon, but hopefully they’re still bargain shopping and Gio hasn’t forgotten how to run once he arrives. He was slower than 35 yr old Thomas Muller last season.
JR,
Remember when Gio dribbled through most of the Mexican team before losing the ball in front of the goal?
Watch it again and tell me if at any point he sprints.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tdorTUSy0ZY
.
Vac: he used to run back then. If you look at his numbers the last three years he has gotten slower and sprinted less. He doesn’t need to be the fastest and run the most but he went from average for Bundesliga attacking players to the slowest. Unless you have Messi level skill it’s hard to pull that off.
JR,,
On that sequence , it felt like Gio was not moving at much above a brisk pace. It was like the Mexicans were lining up to take him on one on one.
For me the biggest physical change in Gio since he came up is he has filled out. He used to be slender; now he’s more built, he looks bigger and stronger. Compare pictures of him today vs two or three years ago.
How or if that affects his performance I don’t know.
Latest rumours are that Real Sociedad and BMG are renewing interest. Parma just had their latest big signing, a center forward, blow out his ACL. Don’t know if that is good or bad for Gio.
Some good performances. Hope to see Paxten continue to get meaningful minutes. He is talented. Thought he should have been used more in the Gold Cup.
He played 10 minutes against a side from the 5th Division. He was the third attacking midfielder brought in and that was with Goetze not playing. I think he’ll be back on loan by next week.
And there you go, sounds like he’s headed to Colorado. But I guess sold not loaned.