United States international defender Auston Trusty has left Arsenal to complete a transfer to fellow Premier League side Sheffield United, the clubs announced Thursday.
Trusty, 24, signed for Arsenal from the Colorado Rapids in January 2022 but never made an official appearance for the Gunners’ first team. He spent last season on loan in the Championship with Birmingham City, where he was named their player of the season.
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“We are so proud to see how far Auston has come and the journey he has been on,” Arsenal sporting director Edu said. “If you look at him when he joined us compared to now when he is leaving us, he has achieved so much.
“We see him now, a USA international having won Player of the Season with Birmingham City in a competitive league, which you have to remember was his first in English football. He now moves to a Premier League club where he will play top-flight football.
“Everyone involved in Auston’s progression to this point should have great satisfaction in the steps he has taken, moving on to this new challenge.”
Trusty’s performances with Birmingham earned him a first appearance for the U.S. men’s national team in March’s Concacaf Nations League win over Grenada.
“I’m delighted we’ve managed to get this one over the line, it is one of the positions we’ve been looking to fill and it is with one our own, a permanent transfer rather than a loan,” Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom said.
“He is at a good age to progress, he has experience having played at international level and in the Championship last year, where we monitored him and he picked up Birmingham’s player of the year award. As a coaching team we feel that he has the athleticism and desire to succeed in the Premier League.”
Trusty had only just arrived back from the U.S., where he took part in Arsenal’s preseason tour, but is now ready to take part in Sheffield United’s return to the Premier League following their promotion from the Championship.
“I am more than excited,” Trusty said. “The opportunity to be here at this historic club, and an opportunity to play in the Premier League and show my ability, it is everything I could have ever dreamed of growing up as a kid. In Pennsylvania, this was a dream — almost an impossible dream but I believed in myself and the opportunity has come around, it is everything that I dreamed for.
“It is crazy how quick things happen in football. I have just come back from a U.S. tour with Arsenal and a couple of days later I am sitting here doing this interview. Things did happen very quick, but that’s how football works. I was really looking for an opportunity so as soon as it came about, things and details were ironed out. I am here, I wasn’t wasting any time.”
