You can’t miss Diego Luna when he’s on the field.
He’s the one on the ball, pulling the strings for his team in the attack. Whether that team is the U.S. men’s national team, or Real Salt Lake, the El Paso Locomotive, or the Barca Residency Academy makes no difference — you can’t miss Luna. Following his competitive USMNT debut in March under Mauricio Pochettino, a batch of impressive moments for RSL in MLS, and another national team call this summer, the 21-year-old’s stock continues to rise.
His smooth play on the ball is obvious. But what other things make Luna such a promising attacking midfielder? What on-field qualities and off-field personality traits have shaped his career?
Backheeled spoke with a group of coaches who have overseen Luna along his journey from the youth ranks to the national team, getting the insider’s view on the hottest young player in American soccer.
You can’t miss Luna. But here’s what we miss, even when we see him.
It’s difficult to find a more thoughtful voice in the American soccer landscape than Pablo Mastroeni.
Once a fiery U.S. men’s national team midfielder who, by his own admission “lost his head” from time to time, the 48-year-old now serves as the manager of Real Salt Lake. Happy to discuss the human condition and the intricacies of his team’s buildup play in the same breath, Mastroeni has overseen the most recent phase of Luna’s development that began when he signed for RSL in 2022.
