“We found a player that is really good handling the ball in both directions,” Klinsmann said of Nagbe in an interview with USSoccer.com. “He is responsible defensively, to always go behind the ball and to defend, and help out. When we go forward, he knows when to pass, when to dribble, when to keep things racing forward, and also when to take some risks in a certain moment.”

Nagbe, he added, “had to wait a long time, and we’ve been waiting for him as well, but it’s a great fit and we are glad to have him on board.”

The pathway to American citizenship was not easy for Nagbe. Born in Liberia during its long civil war, he stayed behind with his mother while his father, Joe, a mainstay with Liberia’s national team alongside the former world player of the year George Weah, played professionally in Europe.

“It was a really difficult time, especially for my mom,” Nagbe said. “I hear a lot of stories about the time my dad left to go to France to play. My mom hadn’t followed him yet, and then the war broke out. At nights, she was hearing gunshots, and there was no electricity. My older brother was 3, and she was pregnant with me. She had to find someone to deliver me and was getting help from rebels. They managed a way to stay together, stay alive, and flee the country.”

Once they left Liberia, the Nagbes bounced around from France to Greece to Switzerland to — in the one move not involving Joe’s playing career — Cleveland. Early in his Akron coaching tenure, Porter got a phone call from the former United States national team player George Nanchoff, Nagbe’s youth coach at the time, imploring Porter to scout Nagbe. When he did, Porter recalled, he described Nagbe’s performance as “jaw-dropping.”

“He is world class technically, and I mean that,” Porter said. “When you compare him to some of the best players in this country — national team guys — he has composure on the ball that they don’t have. Now, he is missing some other things, but I think those things will come with a new challenge and a new environment. For me, those other things are a little bit of edge, aggressiveness, responsibility of taking a game over and taking a little bit more of that pressure on your shoulders.”