As young American soccer players head to Europe in greater numbers, few call New England home. The vast majority come from a U.S. youth national team background or suit up for Major League Soccer academies, too.
However, the early groundwork exists for a local to possibly follow that path.
Milton Academy and GPS Massachusetts midfielder Aydin Jay (Boxford, Mass.) recently returned from a second training stint with Dinamo Zagreb, a Croatian club that’s produced global soccer stars such as Luka Modrić (Real Madrid) and Mario Mandžukić (Juventus).