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UPDATE:
Have confirmed that Gedion Zelalem does not have a Twitter account--and that his authentic Instagram is http://t.co/qPAhoJKDFY
— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) December 23, 2014
Gedion Zelalem may have just become a United States citizen. The Arsenal starlet has been reportedly on the verge of citizenship for months and just tweeted this out.
— Gedion Zelalem (@GeZelalem) December 23, 2014
Note: We have no idea what this means because we have not spoken to Zelalem, nor do we have a hard date for when he was supposed to get citizenship so we're making an emoji inspired leap. 2014 is great.
Zelalem is a 17-year-old from Germany who moved to the United States as a kid. He lived in the Washington, D.C. area and was a phenomenal young talent, so good that Arsenal plucked him and he joined their academy. He quickly emerged as one of the Gunners' best kids and was training with the first team in the preseason at the age of 16. If he was part of the U.S. system, he'd immediately be one of the Americans' best prospects, but he wasn't part of the system.
The teenager was still not a U.S. citizen. He had been working on it for a year, primarily through his dad. If his father became a citizen, Zelalem would automatically be eligible for citizenship, but he had to get it before his 18th birthday next month. Multiple reports indicated that his father was close to citizenship and that Zelalem would not be far behind. Now he may have gotten it.
Zelalem has played for Germany youth teams, but the latest report indicated that he preferred to play for the U.S. The problem was that until he had citizenship, he was not eligible. Now he may be -- in this world where we're reading into a tweet with an emoji -- and if so, he would be a huge coup for the U.S. and Jurgen Klinsmann.
Or, you know, he's home with his parents for Christmas.