Gedion Zelalem is a German-born footballer who plays as a midfielder for English club Arsenal, with the shirt number 35 and a height of 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in). His date of birth is 26th of January 1997.
Internationally, Zelalem made appearances for Germany’s under-15 team, under-16 team and under-17 team during 2012 and 2013. Zelalem has not played for the senior team, and thus remains eligible to play for Germany or Ethiopia. He is also a U.S. citizen and in the process of becoming eligible to play for the United States. Arsenal scout Daniel Karbassiyoon discovered Zelalem in the United States playing for Olney Rangers during a Dallas Cup match. After contacting his coaches, Zelalem was flown to London for summer training with the Arsenal youth academy; following the end of this camp, he was offered a permanent place in the Academy. Zelalem started out playing in Arsenal’s under-16s squad, before graduating into the under-21s in April 2013. His debut for the under-21 side came against Liverpool U21 that month, but was unable to prevent Arsenal slipping to a 3–2 defeat at Anfield; however, he drew praise for his performance. He made his second appearance for the side less than a week later in a 3–2 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers U21, once again drawing praise for his performance.
In July 2013, Zelalem was included in Arsenal’s 24-man squad for their Asian tour. Although regarded as a surprise inclusion, strong performances against an Indonesia Dream Team, the Vietnam national team and Japanese side Nagoya Grampus led to him being touted as a future star, and being compared favourably to Cesc Fàbregas.
Following these strong performances, Zelalem stated that he hoped to make a few appearances during the 2013–14 season. He remained in the team for the Emirates Cup match against Galatasaray on 4 August, but was unable to keep Arsenal from sliding to a 2–1 defeat. Zelalem was selected on the bench in Arsenal’s second Premier League game of the season, a 3–1 victory over Fulham on 24 August, but did not make an appearance. However, on 10 September, Zelalem announced on Twitter that he had sustained an injury that would keep him out of action for up to two months. Although he announced his return to training in late October, Arsène Wenger confirmed that he would not be fit enough for the League Cup match against Chelsea on 29 October, contrary to rumour. He returned to action for Arsenal’s youth side a week later in a UEFA Youth League fixture against Borussia Dortmund on 6 November, playing the entire match in a 2–2 draw.
On 24 January 2014, Zelalem made his debut with Arsenal’s senior squad, coming on as a substitute for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 71st minute of their 4–0 home FA Cup victory against Coventry City.
On 18 March 2014, Zelalem signed a new contract extension with Arsenal to last until 2017.
On 9 December 2014, he made his second appearance for Arsenal, coming on as a substitute in the beginning of the second half, in a 4-1 away win against Galatasaray in UEFA Champions League.
Gedion Zelalem, the 18-year-old Arsenal youth player who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in December, has been called up by Germany’s under-18 national team.
Zelalem was born in Germany but lived in the Washington, D.C. area from ages 9 to 15, when he entered the Arsenal academy. He played on German youth teams growing up, but declined an invitation to play for Germany’s under-17 team in 2014.
It’s unknown if he’ll accept the invitation to play for the under-18 team. 
Zelalem is regarded as one of the most promising youth prospects in England. He has appeared in the FA Cup and a Champions League game, but has yet to debut for the first team in the Premier League.
The U.S. is in the process of filing an exception with FIFA that would make him eligible to play for the U.S. immediately. US Soccer president Sunil Gulati told ESPNFC he hoped the paperwork would be done by April.
FIFA requires naturalized citizens to live in a country for five years after age 18 for them to play for the national team. An exception — which FIFA has granted liberally in the past, ESPNFC reports — would allow him to bypass that rule and play right away.
Coach Jurgen Klinsmann recently said,
Zelalem could walk into the U.S. first team once he’s eligible. That’s something that Germany, the reigning World Cup winners, cannot offer the 18-year-old. While Germany is the more prestigious team, there’s no guarantee that Zelalem — even if he goes on to have a successful career — will ever break into the first team, much less play in a major competition.
Klinsmann has been aggressive in recruiting dual nationals since he took over, particularly German-Americans. There were five German-Americans on the 23-man World Cup roster in Brazil.
Ultimately, it could come down to which country Zelalem identifies with more strongly. He was born in Berlin, but spent his formative years in the D.C. area.
Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger told SI’s Jeff Bradley last summer,
If you speak to Gedion, it sounds like you’re speaking to an American. And, certainly, when we found him, he was living in D.C. and thinking of himself as a young U.S. kid.
This one nah fight for the strongest oh….make we watch see who go win.
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