"I've been dreaming of it since I was a kid," Julian Hall says of the World Cup. If Thursday's contract extension is anything to go by, he's building his career specifically to get there.
The 18-year-old forward has signed a new deal with New York Red Bulls through the 2029-30 season, becoming the youngest American U-22 Initiative signing in MLS history in the process. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but under U-22 Initiative rules, Hall is now eligible to earn up to $1 million base salary — a dramatic jump from the $175,000 base and $257,241 in guaranteed compensation he was on as a Homegrown player last season.
The Red Bulls had every incentive to move fast. Hall's previous deal expired after this season, and without a renewal, New York risked losing him for nothing in January. That's not a hypothetical concern — RB Leipzig and Atlético Madrid have already been sniffing around, per The Athletic. Locking him in for four more years doesn't just keep him in Harrison; it ensures the club gets a significant transfer fee when the move to Europe eventually comes.
The numbers that forced this deal
Hall has nine goals and five assists in league play this season — the best attacking return on the squad — and earned his first MLS All-Star selection on the back of it. Across all competitions, he's at 16 goals and six assists in 67 appearances over four seasons with the club. For a player who won't turn 19 until later this year, that output is difficult to ignore.
"He has earned the trust of his teammates and coaching staff through his performances, his mentality and the way he continues to grow," said Red Bulls head of sport Julian de Guzman. That's club-speak, sure, but the underlying point stands — Hall isn't a project anymore. He's the axis of this attack.
The USMNT question that still needs an answer
The complication in Hall's story is the one the new contract doesn't resolve: which country does he play for?
The dual American-Polish national has represented the U.S. at youth level, starting three of four matches at the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar before the Americans exited to Morocco in the round of 32. But the Polish Football Association has called him up too, and federation president Cezary Kulesza has made his interest clear. Hall's own position, told to Sports Illustrated last month, is deliberately noncommittal: "I appreciate both of my nationalities... I am just going to continue to play football."
USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino hasn't made the senior call yet, but it sounds imminent — possibly as soon as next month, with four friendlies on the horizon and Pochettino explicitly focused on youth development ahead of 2030. The longer the Argentine waits, the more room he leaves for Kulesza to make his pitch.
From a pure football standpoint, staying at Red Bulls makes sense for Hall right now. Landon Donovan made exactly this argument on his podcast: "For me to get better, I had to play games and as many minutes as I could to get that experience, and that came at a lower level at MLS, rather than playing a few minutes at the first team at Bayer Leverkusen." Donovan spent four formative seasons with San Jose before returning to Europe a more complete player. Hall is following a similar blueprint, consciously or not.
Riding the bench at Leipzig at 18 and collecting occasional Champions League cameos isn't the same education as starting every week in MLS. The reps matter more than the badge at this stage.
Hall and the Red Bulls face Philadelphia Union on Saturday — a fixture that, given New York's reliance on him, will tell us plenty about where this team goes from here. His contract situation is settled. The nationality question very much isn't.
