Yanks Abroad: Uly Llanez gets first goal in Austria's 2. Liga
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Sep 24, 2021
It's took than two years for him to score in his first professional goal at the club level.
Llanez, who signed with German Bundesliga club Wolfsburg in April 2019, scored for St. Poelten in its 4-0 win over Amstetten in Austria's 2. Liga on Friday. It was Llanez's second start in nine games for St. Poelten, which sits in 15th place out of 16 teams in the second-tier league.
Llanez, 20, was a prolific scorer for Wolfsburg's U-19s in the fall of 2019, earning a call-up to the national team as well as Wolfsburg's first team when play resumed in May 2020 after the Covid-19 lockdown.
Wolfsburg signed Llanez, who dressed for two Bundesliga games, to a four-year contract and loaned him to Dutch club Heerenveen, but an ankle injury set him back. He left the Eredivisie club in the middle of the season to return home without starting a game. A second loan deal was arranged with St. Poelten, with which Wolfsburg signed a partnership agreement after it folded its second team program.
Llanez, who played for the USA in its two senior friendlies in November 2020, was one of three products of the U.S. national youth team program to sign with Wolfsburg in recent years. None spent more than a year at the club.
Bryang Kayo and Kobe Hernandez-Foster were signed ahead of the 2020-21 seasons. Kayo spent most of the season with now-disbanded Wolfsburg II while Hernandez-Foster was with the U-19s.
Kayo was loaned this summer to German 3. Liga Viktoria Berlin but has made just one start. Hernandez-Foster played with the Wolfsburg first team during the preseason but was released before the end of the summer transfer window, allowing him to sign elsewhere as a free agent. He has reportedly drawn interest from HamKam, the Norwegian second division leader.
