Teenager Freddy Adu must wait until June to find out if Manchester United will try and sign him, after completing his two-week trial at the club.
The USA midfielder impressed boss Sir Alex Ferguson, but under UK employment law he cannot make an offer until Adu reaches his 18th birthday next year.
“Freddy has done all right,” said Ferguson. “He is a talented boy. He’ll go back to the US and we’ll keep a check on him. When he is 18, we will have to assess what we can do next.”
Adu, who was given the nod by his MLS club DC United to attend the trial, has been training with United’s academy players at their Carrington training ground.
“What we did was to bring him here to give him an idea of what United was like so he could see the place and see how comfortable he was with it,” said Ferguson.
“He is a very confident and good, young boy but there is nothing we can do about him.”
The Ghanain-born Adu already enjoys a high profile in the US, where he became the youngest player to represent the national side.
The teenager, who is keen to test his mettle outside the US, has also attracted interest from Chelsea and Reading.