ONE OF THE BIGGEST stories of the 2026 MLS season has been the surge of young American homegrowns who have forced their way onto the field with first-team minutes and who have delivered important performances. While U.S. youth internationals have been doing well in the league for several years, this year has been different in that it has been at elevated numbers at the start of the season, as opposed to later in the season when breakthroughs happen more frequently.

Throughout the first third of the 2026 MLS season, Real Salt Lake winger Aiden Hezarkhani has been among the more impressive U.S. youth internationals who have moved up to the first-team level. The Irvine, California native has made eight appearances in total along with six starts for Real Salt Lake.

His early appearances we strong enough for him to earn a call-up to the U.S. U-19 team for March as it prepares for U-20 World Cup qualifying this summer. Unfortunately, he was forced to miss the U.S. camp in Spain due to injury, but the likelihood is that he will back in the squad this summer for qualifying.

“Growing up watching all my favorite players on the national team on the biggest stage, now that I’m able to represent the country at the youth level, it just means a lot and I’m truly honored. I feel a lot of passion toward this country,” Hezarkhani said when he was announced on the roster. “To be able to represent them playing soccer is amazing.”

U.S. U-19 head coach Gonzalo Segares recently discussed his thoughts on the start of the U-20 cycle and mentioned how Hezarkhani has been taking the biggest jumps in the player pool recently.

“A lot of guys who, within their own clubs, something clicks and all of a sudden they're doing very well,” Segares said. “Look at Aiden, he is taking fully advantage of that opportunity at RSL. It's not that we didn't know about him and he had been in camps before but then looking at how well he's doing - he's scoring big goals for his club.”

While Hezarkhani, 18, earned headlines for his performances for Real Salt Lake along with his U.S call-up, he has been on a steady upward trajectory with his club for several years.

In July 2024, Hezarkhani signed with the club’s MLS Next Pro squad, Real Monarchs, after standing out with the club’s academy. His initial breakthrough came earlier that year Hezarkhani participated in the Academy’s monthly “tournament day” and was named the player of the tournament. With that, he caught the attention of head coach Pablo Mastroeini and assistant General Manager Tony Beltran and was invited to train with the first team that preseason.

From there Hezarkhani only continued to impress. He was invited to play with the first team in the preseason Atlantic Cup and continued to train with the first team on a regular basis into the season.

“Everyone can see that he trusts young guys a lot,” Hezarkhani said of Mastroeni. “It's about your reactions. Everyone's going to make mistakes in games and in training. It's how you react. That really helps me to play free because I know he has my back. It gives me and the younger guys a lot of confidence on the field.”

In both 2024 and 2025, Hezarkhani stood out in MLS Next Pro but at the start of the 2026 MLS season, Real Salt Lake was faced with an injury crisis to several regular starters, including U.S. national team attacker Diego Luna, and Mastroeni turned to Hezarkhani to help fill the void.

“I came from Strikers FC and I joined over the summer to RSL Academy and I had a good start to the year,” Hezarkhani said “I think I performed really well there, especially when second team, first team and staff who are watching as well. That really caught their eye and slowly I actually went to first team preseason. After six months with the Academy, I got lucky for that opportunity because a few guys got injured with first team and then they just thought with my recent performances it was good to bring me up. That all helped just gaining experience with the first team early on yeah to get to this moment today where now I can thrive at this level.”

Earlier in the season, Hezarkhani scored big goals in consecutive wins over Seattle and Atlanta. Both goals earned him a lot of attention for their quality, with his goal against Atlanta especially impressive. In controlling a looping pass that sent him into the attacking box, Hezarkhani dribbled well in a tight space before hitting a rocket with his right foot into the top of the next.

He showed a lot of skill on the play, but perhaps most noteworthy is that he is left-footed and did most of his work, including the shot, with his right.

Take a bow Aiden Hezarkhani! ????

Scored last week and now has a GOLAZO against Atlanta to make it 2-0 for @realsaltlake #RSL | @kslsports pic.twitter.com/HsZNrhGGCu

— RSL Show on KSL ??????? (@rslshow) March 8, 2026

“It was obviously a little surprising, especially on the right foot, but it's something that I've been working a lot,” Hezarkhani said. “Weak foot is also important, so I'm just glad I was able to contribute to the team.”

“Originally, I've always been a right winger, but moving up with the first team, they've been trying to get me to play as the 10 or as a right midfielder, like a right 10,” he said. “It's something that obviously took some time for me to adapt to it, but I've really enjoyed it and I'm finding a lot of success there.”

Following his breakout, RSL head coach Pablo Mastroeni was quick to point out how fast Hezarkhani is developing.

“He doesn’t get too high, he doesn’t get too low,” Mastroeni said. “His youthfulness in just letting shots go and not being worried about if it’s the right time to shoot is really important for him. He’s been a fantastic young player, and now he’s just growing into a really, really good pro.”

Like many top young players, Hezarkhani’s development began at young age within his family. His father played college soccer with Penn State and helped coach him throughout his early years. From there Hezarkhani blossomed with the Irvine Strikers, a top local club in Southern California which also has an affiliation with Real Salt Lake.

We’ll be thinking about Aiden’s first MLS goal for a LONGGGG time pic.twitter.com/rz6PQfkD0h

— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) March 1, 2026

With his success with the Strikes, eventually Hezarkhani needed to move to Utah to continue his progress towards the professional ranks.

“I was 15,” Hezarkhani recalled. “After U16, my club team had a really good year at MLS Next Cup. We played really well and I had a good performance and my club was already connected with RSL. With some of my teammates, we had a trial at the RSL Academy after the playoffs. We had a good performance so they decided to offer Academy contracts.”

“Regarding moving away from home, it was obviously a hard decision,” he continued. “You have got to risk a lot, you have got to leave a lot of things behind.”

What has also helped Hezarkhani with his development as been that he has not been the only young player breaking through with Real Salt Lake. Luca Moisa, 17, has also been starting in midfield along with Zavier Gozo, 18, who was one of the league’s most promising young players in 2025 and is now considered one of the best teenage Americans in the game.

In the early part of the season, Hezarkhani and Gozo have played well together and Gozo along with Luna have helped give Hezarkhani advice on breaking into the first team as well as what to expect with the U.S. U-20 team this summer.

“Their main message to me, it was more just that you are there for a reason,” Hezarkhani said of the advice he received from Gozo and Luna about playing for the U.S. “If you're trying to play simple, then you're not playing your game and you won't perform as well. You're here because you're good at the game. So you just gotta play with freedom and confidence.”