American youngster Christian Pulisic has been named in Borussia Dortmund's Europa League squad after making his debut for the club last week.
Pulisic, 17, came off the bench for Dortmund during the 2-0 defeat of Ingolstadt on Saturday and said afterwards that he had "worked hard for this day."
The midfielder, who joined BVB in 2015, was involved in the club's winter training camp in Dubai in January, alongside 17-year-old Felix Passlack.
During the January transfer window, Dortmund allowed Adnan Januzaj to return to Manchester United and sold Jonas Hofmann to Borussia Monchengladbach, but despite reported interest in the likes of Oliver Torres, Mikel Merino and Yunus Malli, they failed to sign any replacements.
As a result, Pulisic and 20-year-old Slovenian centre-back Jon Gorenc Stankovic were named in Dortmund's Europa League squad on Wednesday for the knockout stages of the competition, where they will face Porto in the round of 32 this month.
Bild reported on Thursday that United States head coach Jurgen Klinsmann wants to call up Pulisic to his squad as soon as possible. Pulisic also holds a Croatian passport, and Bild said Klinsmann is eager to secure his international future.
On Thursday, Der Westen published an article comparing Pulisic to Bayern Munich attacker Mario Gotze, who also came through the ranks of BVB's youth academy.
"We are all aware that he is a great player," academy coach Hannes Wolf told Der Westen, adding that he has "already hinted at it."
However, Dortmund supporters have remained cautious of the hype surrounding the player.
"Comparing him to Gotze at this stage is a joke," Maurice Morth, a writer for BVB fanzine schwatzgelb.de, told ESPN FC.
"It's outlandish to create hype just because someone has won 20 minutes for the first team," he added, citing the example of Julian Green, who currently plays for Bayern's reserve side.