The U.S. men’s national team has seen its growing share of dual-nationals commit to them over recent time and Lennard Maloney just might become the next.
Maloney, a 23-year-old midfielder, was called into his first senior USMNT camp on Thursday ahead of a pair of October friendlies against Germany and Ghana. Born in Berlin, Maloney has previously represented both Germany and the United States at youth level, last representing either country in 2018.
Currently in his second season with newly-promoted Bundesliga side Heidenheim, Maloney has made six league appearances to date and has totaled the most distance covered in the division (76.7 kilometers). Similar to Sergino Dest, Yunus Musah, and Folarin Balogun before him, Maloney now has his first chance to impress under Gregg Berhalter.
“With Lenny, first off he has the most distance covered in the Bundesliga as a defensive central midfielder,” Berhalter said Thursday in a press conference. “What really attracted the staff to him was the way he plays the game, the way he plays with a lot of emotion and passion. You see him clapping for his teammates, you see him going into tackles and being a really committed player. He is a really team oriented player and we’re excited to have him in camp and to see what he can do.”
Maloney has mainly featured as a defensive midfielder during his European career to date, making two appearances for Borussia Dortmund, as well as having other stops at Chemnitzer and Union Berlin.
His strong work rate and range in midfield could certainly be a necessity to the USMNT squad, especially with Berhalter seeking a No. 2 option behind captain Tyler Adams, who suffered an injury setback. Yunus Musah and Johnny Cardoso could also have chances in Adams’ No. 6 role this camp, but Maloney will be fighting to make a positive first impression after a strong start to life in the Bundesliga.
The USMNT hosts Germany in Connecticut on October 14 before closing out its two-match window in Tennessee against Ghana on Oct. 17.
The reality is that Adam’s is going to be out for awhile. His current team is going to be in a relegation scrap all season and I predict Bournemouth will be relegated. Adams could end up on back to back relegation teams.
Maloney is an old school DM. Destroys attacking plays, gets forward occasionally, makes a more assured pass, and is a real threat on attacking set pieces due his size and ability in the air. He covers a ton of ground. I would hazard to guess he will have better Bundesliga teams looking at him as a potential transfer target at the end of this season.
I know nothing about him but if he is a 6, that is good because the US is very thin at that spot. Right now, I would say Musah is 1, injured Adams is two, Acosta 3, and Cordosa is 4. If an injured guy is still your next best option, you are probably a little thin and Adams won’t be a starter in 2026 unless his ball handling improves significantly between now and then.
Kinda-sorta disagree on the thin part though Musah and Adams are not really 1-for-1 replacements. Musah’s more 8 than 6 at the moment and he’s a box-to-box guy who is one of the best at breaking lines and advancing the ball I’ve ever seen in the US pool. Adams is a pure defensive mid with limited offensive chops and passing range whose best attribute (by a bunch) is that he can – or could, before his injury – buzz around and cover every blade of grass on the field, and put out fires left and right.
In an ideal world, Musah’s probably your 8, or playing as a double-pivot 6 with either McKennie or Adams alongside him. I do not want Musah as a single 6, though, because that limits his ability to slash forward with intent the way he does, and essentially negates much of Musah’s ability to advance the ball. A single 6 has to be careful not to get caught out and you don’t want Musah worrying about that.
I personally think the emergence of Gio and Malik Tillman as 10’s means we’re going more to a double pivot with co-6’s playing behind a 10. In that case Luca de la Torre definitely slots in as a co-6 as well as Musah and McKennie along with Adams. Luca’s a different creature than he was even last year. He’s gotten far more polished as a La Liga starter and is going to be very hard to beat out.
And a midfielder is likely going to have to beat one of those six out – or have one of those six guys be injured – to make the roster. I’d go ahead and pencil Maloney in with the “next group up” guys – Acosta, Johnny Cardoso, Tanner Tessmann, James Sands, Djorde Mihailovic, and Gianluco Busio. It’ll be interesting to see if he can distance himself from that pack…which is pretty durn talented in its own right.
We’ve definitely never had this kind of depth in our midfield before, or even close.
I haven’t seen him play but I saw his passing chart and Maloney is a back pass merchant, like almost every pass he makes is backward. That has me leery. He’s in the 2nd percentile for Top 5 League MFs in progressive passes and 1st percentile for progressive carries, his progressive passes received is also 1 percent, only 17 for passes completed and 11th passing completion percentage. Basically he gets a ball passes it back and stays out of the way. Tyler Adams who isn’t known as a passer is in 63 percentile for progressive passes.
I haven’t seen him play, but would say that in general DMs get the ball much of the time by winning it (either tackle or interception) or receiving a pass from the backs. In both of those situations, passing back is often the only realistic option, especially, if your team is generally under pressure or if the forwards are not doing their part by being in good, open spots. I guess we will have to see how he functions with the USMNT.
Dennis I get that but compared to other DMs he has the fewest progressive passes. 99% of DMs in Top 5 leagues pass it forward more than he does. Now he has only been in Bundesliga for a month so I don’t know if they are only including those 7 matches and comparing it to others with 12 months worth.
Eek. Did not know and like you I do not like.
There are some try-hard defensive teams struggling to stay up in the Top 5 leagues and I knew his club – like pretty much all newly-promoted teams – was one of them. Those kind of squads have a use for a pure lead-footed destroyer, which as a CB/6 hybrid is what he definitely looked like to me.
I did not realize he was that one-dimensional. You’d think that one dimension had better be pretty durn spectacular if he’s going to have a chance with the USMNT.