When $2 million Danish striker Mathias Jorgensen was loaned out by New York Red Bulls to AGF Aarhus last month, it not only asked further questions of the club’s transfer policy but also raised the heat of an already sweltering spotlight on incumbent starting striker Tom Barlow.
In just over a year the 25-year-old St Louis native has gone from a beaming success story of the club’s development pipeline and scorer of the dramatic winner in a 2019 victory over Atlanta to a lightning rod for criticism of the team’s inconsistent goalscoring form. But as New York approaches a pivotal 2021 season in which the club will be operating more precisely under the principles of Red Bull’s cutting edge European-honed approach to modern football than ever before, it could be an unlikely opportunity for a quintessential American soccer product to take on a key role.