{"id":817848,"date":"2026-07-23T02:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T02:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/817848\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T02:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T02:44:12","slug":"us-clubs-startling-reaction-over-socceroos-record-breaker-as-european-giants-circle-after-wc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/817848\/","title":{"rendered":"US club\u2019s startling reaction over Socceroos record-breaker as European giants circle after WC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Socceroos young gun Lucas Herrington\u2019s rapid rise has caught the attention of some of European football\u2019s biggest clubs following his breakout FIFA World Cup campaign.<\/p>\n<p>But while interest continues to grow, his MLS club has delivered a firm response to the mounting transfer speculation.<\/p>\n<p>Tszyu v Spence Jr. | Sunday July 26 from 11am AEST | Tim Tszyu takes on the biggest name in his career so far \u2013 future hall-of-famer Errol Spence Jr, in a can\u2019t miss event for boxing fans around the world. | <a href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au\/en-AU\/welcome\/ppv\/tszyu-v-spencejr?extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkboxing-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-box-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The 18-year-old defender impressed as Australia reached the Round of 32 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, becoming the youngest Australian ever to play at the tournament when he started the Socceroos\u2019 group-stage match against Paraguay.<\/p>\n<p>Now back with MLS side Colorado Rapids, Herrington\u2019s composed performances on football\u2019s biggest stage have thrust him onto the radar of several European heavyweights.<\/p>\n<p>Lucas Herrington during the FIFA World Cup.Source: AFP<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tribalfootball.com\/article\/soccer-mls-colorado-rapids-not-entertaining-interest-from-europe-s-elite-in-lucas-herrington-76baf971-6a1b-4771-8ee3-9f0a4cc245e7\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Tribal Football<\/a>, Barcelona, Liverpool and Manchester United are among the clubs monitoring the teenage defender following his impressive rise.<\/p>\n<p>Rapids boss Matt Wells, however, made it clear the club has no intention of letting its prized youngster leave anytime soon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLucas is here. Lucas is our player,\u201d Wells said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a reason that we went through a very stringent process to identify the best young centre-back out there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe happened to find one in Australia, and we brought him here. We thought he\u2019d be a perfect fit for this style of play that I was bringing to the club.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I think, less time spent on speculation, more time on praise for the club in terms of the process they do. It\u2019s not easy to ID a player of that age, on the other side of the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then you see the player that he has become in such a short space of time&#8230; I think the club deserve a huge amount of credit for that process.<\/p>\n<p>Record $30M bid for Socceroos star | 00:30<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are no timelines on anything other than, can I get him fit for San Diego?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause he\u2019s been away for a long time. We\u2019re delighted to have him back and let\u2019s get him ready for Wednesday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Herrington\u2019s breakout tournament also included one of the most difficult moments of his young career.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE:<\/p>\n<p>MLS INVESTIGATION:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/football\/premier-league\/football-2026-morgan-rogers-joins-chelsea-for-britishrecord-fee-real-madrid-reconsider-blockbuster-move-for-ballon-dor-winner-rodri-latest-football-transfer-news\/news-story\/eb229728e9f1b172040ee699860e557f\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"> Man Utd star\u2019s Messi move sparks tampering investigation<\/a><\/p>\n<p>AUSSIE TRANSFER WATCH:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/football\/football-2026-nestory-irankunda-set-to-join-sporting-cp-tansfer-updates-and-latest-news\/news-story\/1b90874ea2ae6082150cd753f1449c66\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"> Irankunda on brink of $33m blockbuster move<\/a><\/p>\n<p>During Australia\u2019s Round of 32 defeat to Egypt, the teenager stepped forward to take a penalty in the shootout but was unable to convert.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denver7.com\/sports\/from-making-history-to-the-zlatan-rapids-herrington-reflects-on-world-cup-run\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Denver7 Sports<\/a> following the World Cup, Herrington reflected on the miss and the support he received from football icon Zlatan Ibrahimovi\u0107.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest moment of my career, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever forget it,\u201d Herrington said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously it\u2019s a tough moment for me, but just being given the responsibility to take a penalty at the World Cup meant so much to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ibrahimovi\u0107 publicly offered his support to the teenager following the match.<\/p>\n<p>Former star and TV pundit Zlatan Ibrahimovic.Source: AFP<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want to reach out to Herrington,\u201d Ibrahimovi\u0107 said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re 18 years old. This is just the beginning of your career. You stepping up there, you showed a lot of courage; not everybody would do that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy friend, you\u2019re the best, don\u2019t listen to the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Herrington revealed Ibrahimovi\u0107 had also attempted to contact him directly, but the Australian was asleep and missed the call.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt meant a lot, him saying that on live TV,\u201d Herrington said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a young player watching him play, one of the greats of the game, it was special to hear that from him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Socceroos young gun Lucas Herrington\u2019s rapid rise has caught the attention of some of European football\u2019s biggest clubs&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-817848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}