Caden Clark #23 of CF Montréal dribbles while defended by Ashley Westwood #8 of Charlotte FC (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
At 21 years of age, Caden Clark has emerged as one of the brightest talents in MLS for New York Red Bulls, has trained at one of the biggest teams in the Bundesliga, and has won silverware with the United States’ U-20 side. He’s already played in the United States, Germany and Denmark, but today, he’s delivering the best form of his career in Canada.
Born in the rural Minnesota town of Medina, a suburb of Minneapolis with a population of nearly 7,000, Clark was raised by his mother Stacie and his father Chris, whose career as a performance coach with a specialization in exercise physiology helped shape Caden’s growth as an athlete.
While he wanted to play hockey, Chris only allowed him to focus on one sport: soccer. Caden started playing at five years of age and never let it go, quickly impressing with the Minnesota Thunder, the highest-level youth club in the Twin Cities area. He was even selected for a US Club Soccer trip to Spain to compete in the prestigious youth tournament Mediterranean International Cup.
While in Spain, he attracted the attention of various European giants, including Barcelona, which told him he could have played in their renowned La Masia academy if he had a Spanish passport. Instead, they settled for the next best thing, heading 1,700 miles south to Casa Grande, Arizona, and joining the Barcelona Residency Academy in 2017.
“[Chris has] done everything he can to set me up in the right way and put me into situations where I had to do the hard work,” said Caden in an exclusive interview with RG. “He’s definitely done his part in being a good father and helping me get to where I am. We focused on getting to the next level with soccer, but it wasn’t too much pressure until I went to Barça, it was more ‘let’s see how far we can take this thing and keep going.’ It’s hard to get a platform in Minnesota, so that was his decision to bring me to Arizona.”
Clark was able to spend three years developing in Barcelona’s North American outpost before eventually taking his talents to the Big Apple and joining USL Championship side New York Red Bulls II.
Little did he know it, but a global pandemic was about to wreak havoc on the entire footballing ecosystem, and he would have to wait another five months before making his debut on July 17, 2020. Patience proved to be a virtue for Clark, who registered three goals and four assists in 12 appearances in the USL Championship before finally being promoted to the first team.
“New York did a lot of great things for me and helped me a tremendous amount. Luckily, I had my godmother living with me for the first 1.5 years, and my parents came to visit all the time. The pandemic came around and obviously delayed things, but going to a big market at a young age was very good for me.”
Bit by bit, Clark started to hone his trade in the same developmental set-up that produced future USMNT stars like Timothy Weah and Tyler Adams, adapting his game to fit New York’s aggressive, high-pressing tactics.
“It’s not rocket science, you’ve got to be gritty, you’ve got to work hard and have your guy’s back,” said Clark of the NYRB style.
“All these things take hard work and focus, you have to make sure you’re on your toes. You could be pressing for 30 minutes and then will have to do a 80-yard sprint, but the way they have players buy into it, it is really special.”
Making His Mark In The MLS
On October 10, 2020, New York Red Bulls acquired his MLS rights from Minnesota United in exchange for $75,000 of General Allocation Money. That same day, Clark made his first-team debut and opened the scoring after halftime in a 1-0 victory against Atlanta United, becoming the fifth-youngest player to score on his MLS debut and the 19th-youngest overall in league history. The following match, Clark equalized in the 77th minute to snatch a point at Toronto, becoming the youngest player in MLS history to score in his first two league matches, whilst he also found the back of the net in their 3-2 playoff defeat against eventual champions Columbus Crew.
“That first goal helps you get over that edge of thinking if you’re good enough to play at this level. It helps you going forward. Once you get the first one, you know you can play at this level and affect games in certain ways. Having that mental message in your head and having a coach believe in you will only help the player,” said Clark.
It was good enough to see the then 17-year-old named the New York Red Bulls Newcomer of the Year. It was also good enough to secure a transfer to RB Leipzig, with the initial agreement stating that he would join on a three-year deal after the MLS season ended.
The timing couldn’t have been worse: Leipzig announced the deal on June 24, 2021, days after Clark was forced to have his appendix removed. This provoked ire amongst the New York front office and caused a friction that never quite dissipated. Clark struggled to get back to top form under manager Gerhard Struber and found himself relegated to the bench. Having scored four goals and one assist in eight games prior the appendectomy, Clark would register just two assists in 17 appearances in the remainder of the campaign.
“Getting surgery in the middle of the season is not easy, especially the way Red Bulls play. It’s tough to get back to full fitness after spending a month where you can’t do anything and can’t use your upper or lower body,” said Clark about his injury.
“You’re just sitting there watching. it’s painful. It definitely sucks. You just hope when you get back you can get the minutes to get fit again but unfortunately, it didn’t happen for me.”
Clark was loaned back to the Red Bulls for the 2022 campaign but failed to rekindle his previous form, making just three starts and registering a mere one goal and one assist in 16 MLS appearances.
“It’s always tough when you have a player who has a contract with another club. That made it tough and I hung around with New York for another year. Some people wanted me in, some wanted to move on from me. They know I’d only be there in the short term, but I do wish there was a little more trust. I had been there for two years and I wanted the best for the club, otherwise I wouldn’t have asked to come back on loan. There’s a lot of people that didn’t want me here and I felt it sometimes but we move on and they move on, everyone’s doing well now.”
MLS For Life
A decision was made: it was time to return to his parent club and try his luck with Leipzig.
After previously missing out on a move across the Atlantic Ocean due to not having a European passport, Clark was going to be playing for one of the best teams in German football.
While his time in the Big Apple may have ended on a sour note, Caden still has plenty of love for his former club, and when the Red Bulls face off against LA Galaxy in Saturday’s MLS Cup Final, he’ll be cheering for New York.
Stay tuned for Part Two of our exclusive Caden Clark interview next week.
Zach Lowy is a freelance football journalist who has written for leading outlets like FotMob, BetUS, Apuestas Deportivas, and who has appeared as a radio and television guest for BBC, SiriusXMFC, and various other platforms. After pursuing a global sports journalism degree at George Washington University, Zach has been able to tap into his multilingual background and interview major footballing figures in Spanish and Portuguese as well as operate the weekly podcast 'Zach Lowy's European Football Show' on BET Central.
