Reports out of Peru suggesting youth international Christian Sanchez was transferring from Sporting Cristal to the New York Red Bulls would appear to have been confirmed: the player has indeed turned up on RBNY's roster - or rather, the roster of the RBNY Academy's U17/18 team.

#USA El volante Christian Sánchez (1999) jugará en el New York Red Bulls U-18 de la U.S. Soccer Development Academy (USSDA). pic.twitter.com/zvNtMNy5yt — De Sangre Peruana (@DeSangrePeruana) April 21, 2017

This would suggest Sanchez has not joined the Red Bulls in the conventional sense: he hasn't signed a pro deal. Not yet, anyway. The RBNY Academy is, of course, now a proven pathway to a pro career with the Red Bulls - either before or after college. The 18-year-old Sanchez will make his own decisions in due course.

In the meantime, as part of the RBNY Academy, he should be eligible to play the occasional game for NYRB II in USL. Or more than the occasional game: Noah Powder and Kevin O'Toole were II-team regulars in 2016, while remaining attached to the Academy. (And neither, as it happens, is currently a pro with the club.) Or he might play none at all: the decision to field an Academy player for the II team appears to be based as much upon the player's commitments and priorities as that of the club - they're not pros under contract, after all.

Youth players switching teams is not an uncommon occurrence, and is often merely a reflection of changes in personal circumstances. But in an interview with Toque y Gol, Sanchez - at least via Google Translate - made it sound as though he had been recruited:

I'll be playing at the New York Red Bulls. I had already come to a test two years ago and they called me a few weeks ago.

So fair to assume RBNY actively hopes to see this player move to a pro deal with the club. Also fair to assume Sanchez isn't a target of the Red Bulls ongoing search for a defender to add to the first team roster.