Before he developed into one of the US men's national team's best young players, former New York Red Bulls star and current RB Leipzig man Tyler Adams was a fan just like anyone else.
And like any young up-and-comer, Adams has a list of players he idolizes and has tried to emulate as he looks to make his own mark in the game. Adams joined MLSsoccer.com's Stephen Keel on the MLS Instagram Live player chat to discuss those influences, starting with a former Red Bull that he says he watched in awe as a youngster in the club's academy in Thierry Henry, who now coaches the Montreal Impact.
"Thierry Henry was a huge one," Adams told Keel. "First off, I was an Arsenal fan growing up, so when he made the transition to New York, it was amazing for me, because I was in the academy. It was someone I was able to go to the games and watch right in front of my eyes. That was a huge childhood hero of mine. Being able to watch him, the way he scored goals, just how good he was, he's world-class, of course. That was really cool.'"
While the goal-scoring Henry was one of his favorites to watch, Adams said a player he tries to emulate more in terms of his own style is Chelsea's N'Golo Kante, who is widely considered one of the best "dirty work" players in the world and impacts games in a variety of different ways.
"That was a player I tried to personally emulate my game off of," Adams said. "His energy, what he brings to the field, he's not a normal midfielder where you would say, 'Yeah, he's great on the eye.' But what he does in order to help his team obviously win championships and how successful he makes teams, I think that's a piece that every team needs nowadays and I, of course, emulate that."
Check out the full video of the segment below to see Adams' full list.
