D. Mukasa: I am watching the performances of the Lithuanian national team. © lff.lt

Last week, a player from the "Manchester City" club academy, footballer Divine Mukasa, who has Lithuanian roots, visited Kaunas.

The footballer, who will turn 18 in August, is currently developing in the academy of one of the strongest clubs in England, "Manchester City," and is considered one of the brightest players of his generation.

The Lithuanian Football Federation, which has actively begun communication with young footballers born and raised abroad since this year, met with the young player in Kaunas on Friday.

The footballer's mother, Laima, is Lithuanian, while his father is from Uganda, and the family has been living in the United Kingdom for a long time.

"This is my first time in Lithuania; yes, I came here when I was maybe six months old, but I really don't remember it, so I am very happy to be here. My mom has been in contact with the federation for the past few months, and for me, personally, this is the first such relationship. I'm really curious to learn about their plans."

"I hope to discuss what the potential future might look like, evaluate the possibilities," said D. Mukasa himself.

The player started his career at the "West Ham United" club academy and is currently developing within the ranks of one of the strongest English clubs, "Manchester City," and should soon begin training with the main club team.

"My entire journey as a footballer has been really enjoyable; I spent about 10 years at 'West Ham,' which was a very good experience, and I enjoyed my time there. Then came the move to 'Manchester City,' where I have been for two years; I hope that next year I will get opportunities with the first team," said the footballer, who will turn 18 next month.

LFF president Edgaras Stankevičius also spoke in more detail about the communication with the footballer and his family.

"We have our scouting department, a list of potentially interesting players. Yes, there are many legal nuances; each case is different. Some players have Lithuanian passports, others do not, so we need to set our priorities on which players we want to see in the national team in the future. Divine is definitely one of those players, and I truly believe that one day he will represent our national team."

One of the responsibilities of the technical department is to pay as much attention as possible to our talent of origin, who currently live abroad, be they girls or boys. We evaluate who could help the national team, who might assist the U21 or U19 teams.

Nevertheless, Divine is one of our main targets, who could bring an unprecedented status to our team. He should be included in the main team starting from the upcoming season, possibly playing in the English championship or the Champions League, so having such a young player of this caliber in the national team would be truly remarkable," said the LFF leader.

Meanwhile, the footballer revealed that Lithuanian football is not foreign to him; he maintains connections with other Lithuanian-origin players growing up in England.

"I definitely watch a lot of national team football, and the Lithuanian team is no exception; I've been following them for the past year. We communicate a lot with Airidas Golambeckas, who plays in the West Ham United academy, and we talk about Lithuania," said the attacking midfielder.

In the last England U18 championship, the young man demonstrated exceptional performances, scoring 16 goals and providing 15 assists in 20 matches.

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