THE START OF THE 2024/25 season has been a wild ride for Leo Duru. The young Blackburn right back got word that the United States U-20 national team was scouting him for a call-up. On the last day of August, he made his first team debut for Blackburn in the Championship and a few weeks later, he made his international debut for the U.S. team’s October camp in Chile.

Duru, 19, has been with Blackburn since the U-10 level and has been making significant progress with the club in recent years. He signed a scholarship contract in 2021 followed by a professional contract in 2023 and an extension this past May. He grew up in England and is the son of Nigerian parents. In his development, he drew inspiration from his family, including his cousin Kel Akpobire who played for Bristol City and serves as his mentor.

For Duru, his first team debut came on August 13 when he played the second half for Blackburn in a 6-1 win over Stockport County in the EFL Cup. Then on August 31, he made his Championship debut when he played the final minutes of a 1-1 draw with Burnley. In total, he has made the first team bench six times this year in league play. The club sits fifth place and enters mid-December on a five-game winning streak. The promotional race has made it harder for young players like Duru to break in.

“With Blackburn, we've got a really good start to the season,” Duru told American Soccer Now at the last U.S. U-20 camp in Spain. “We've got a really good squad pushing for promotion. It's been tough for me trying to get into that starting 11… Obviously I need a lot more first team minutes whether that comes in the coming weeks at Blackburn or whether that's on loan. I'm uncertain at this moment in time. It's just good to be around first team environment, training with them every day and I just think it makes me a better player.”

As Duru has been breaking into the first team with Blackburn, he is also making progress with the United States. While being born in Manchester, UK, Duru also holds eligibility for England and Nigeria. His American citizenship stems through his mother who lived in the Philadelphia area for several years and was able to pass on citizenship to her son.

What was amusing for Duru is that when he was called up by the United States U-20 national team, many at Blackburn were completely unaware that he held American citizenship.

That also raises the question how U.S. Soccer was able to identify him if many at his club didn’t know of his U.S. eligibility. For Duru, he suspects that it came from a questionnaire a few years ago when players were asked to list all their citizenships for a league website.

“My mom lived in America for quite a long time growing up. That's how I can play for them. They live around Philadelphia,” Duru explained. “Maybe two years ago we were told there was a portfolio for the Premier League website when I was playing with the U-18s. You had to fill out the nationalities that we could play for so it would go on the website or something like that. I'm guessing that's how they found England, Nigeria and USA.”

“I think even the people around the club, they were shocked,” he added about his subsequent first call-up. “They didn't know I had American citizenship. I found out [U.S. Soccer] were watching maybe two months prior to getting put in the preliminary squad. Then I made my debut was doing well for Blackburn. Then I got the message about being in the preliminary squad. That in itself was massive. I was over the moon. And then like a week after that, I got the message that I was going to be in the final roster. Everyone was so happy and it was really good, really good.”

Duru has only spent limited time growing up in the United States, through typical tourist vacations such as Disney World, but he has now made the U.S. team a priority for him. His first camp in October was a success where he made significant contributions in a 3-0 win over Chile in Santiago. Then in November, he featured in a big 2-1 win over France in Spain.

“It's just a different style of play that head coach Marko wanted from me. It was just good to adapt to a different style of football,” Duru said of adjusting on the field to the U.S. U-20 team. “But in some aspects there's a lot of similarities [to Blackburn]. Marko likes the fullback to play forward as much as possible, which is similar, but then join the attacks, which is also similar. But I'd say the differences are off the ball and with body positions - things like that... They want us to play out a lot, which happens at Blackburn as well, but I think more so in this set up. There's a lot of playing out and short passes.”

His growth within the team is made even more impressive given that he didn’t know a single player when he arrived for his first U.S. camp in Santiago. But he was able to get to know everyone quickly and was impressed by his new team.

“The first camp, I literally knew nobody there,” Duru said. “Julian [Eyestone] moved from America to England but I didn't know him on a personal level. But all the lads were really welcoming. It was quite easy to settle in.”

“I was impressed,” Duru added of his initial impressions of the U-20 team. “The ball was moving fast. Obviously, that's what you expect playing for a national team. There's a lot of really good, technical players. I enjoyed it. It was fast and, maybe not as physical as first team football in England, but definitely the pace of the game and the technicality was all there.”

For head coach Marko Mitrovic, Duru made a positive first impression and is a testament to U.S. scouting.

“He's new into the system, which is great for me,” Mitrovic said. “That's why we have a scouting department. That's why we watch so many games to try to create the environment that it's an open door - you earn it, you'll be there. Watching recently his development with Blackburn and his games, we believe that was a great time to give him an opportunity and to evaluate him in person with our group. He's very nice, very charismatic. I believe that he had a decent performance this camp. And looking forward in the future to work more with Leo and to learn more about him … for Leo everything was new. His adaptation to this was very positive.”

His teammate Pedro Soma of Barcelona agrees that Duru has done well both on and off the field.

“Leo is a great guy,” Soma said. “We always make fun of his accent, his English accent, but he's a great player. Off the field, he's a great guy. I went through the same thing in my first camp with the U-17 cycle. You feel like you're an outsider, but three or four days go by and then you feel like they've been your brothers forever. And I think that's what they all went through. And if you ask him now - for sure, he feels very comfortable here. I know he likes he likes our team.”

While 2024 laid the foundation for Duru’s career, 2025 should be the year where he builds on it. In January he will turn 20 and he will now need to put himself in a position where he can play regular first-team minutes.

Then there is the U-20 World Cup which will get underway in September. Mitrovic will likely have camps in March and then in the summer before final preparations in early September. Duru has made it a goal to be part of that.

 “I looked at the USA team even before I got called up - looking up to players like Dest, who is really, really good - same position as me,” Duru said. “You need to kind of look at your competition and look at what they're doing and try and implement that into your game.”

“I've got something now that I need to try and go after and make sure that I'm in that final squad for the U-20 World Cup - just keep on impressing Marko and the coaching staff so I'm one of the first names on the sheet when it comes to the World Cup next year. It's definitely something to be excited for and keep working for.”