New Cosmos forward Haji Wright is new to much more than the team. Only 17 years old, Wright has spent his whole life on the West Coast save a stint in Germany last year. He had never been to the state of New York before signing his first professional contract with the club in late March, and recently walked through Times Square with his mom and older brother for the first time.

“In California the vibe is a little more relaxed and laid back,” Wright told NYCosmos.com after training on Wednesday. “Here it’s a lot of rushing all around you.”

The Los Angeles native has been on the fringe of U.S. soccer fans’ collective consciousness since being called into the Under-14 national team in 2012. In 2014 he scored 18 times and distributed 7 assists through 22 matches with the U-17 squad.

His name is often mentioned in the same breath as other promising young players that figure in the U.S. talent pool: Gedion Zelalem, Christian Pulisic, Zack Steffen and Wright are a sampling of popular conversation-starters amongst USMNT supporters. Pulisic and Wright helped the U-17 national team clinch a berth in the World Cup by beating Jamaica in dramatic fashion last month.

Before joining the Cosmos Wright was attached to the LA Galaxy Youth Academy. All the other names listed above are coming up through first division European clubs now: Steffen and Pulisic both signed with Bundesliga outfits in the past six months and Zelalem has been with Arsenal of England's Premier League since 2013 (though his status as a U.S. player is up in the air).

Wright trained with the U-17 squad of a Bundesliga side, FC Schalke 04, for a few months late last summer before returning to the States. He said his decision to join the Cosmos stems from a few factors.

“The Cosmos have a great coaching staff and great players,” said Wright. “New York’s a great city to live in. It’s all very attractive to a young guy like me.”

He also follows in the footsteps of the Cosmos’ marquee offseason signing: legendary Spanish striker Raúl. The Madrid native led Schalke to a Champions League semifinal appearance in 2011 after spending 16 seasons at Bernabeu. The Cosmos secured Raúl last October and he arrived in the city six weeks later.

According to Wright, Real Madrid’s all-time leading goal scorer has already factored into his development at training.

“They’re all great players,” said Wright of his new teammates, “but Raúl has been the best for me to train with so far. Technically he’s really good, and he’s teaching me how to score great goals.”

There’s a small problem with learning from El Ángel de Madrid, though.

“When I was young I always followed Barcelona and supported them, whether they were doing well or not so well,” Wright confessed. “Now that I’m here I just don’t really talk about it.”

Cosmos head coach Giovanni Savarese is bullish on the young striker’s ability to improve in New York.

“I think he’s an interesting talent and a player with a good future,” Savarese told the media on Tuesday. “But he needs to be developed and helped to keep going. We are here to participate in helping him become a better player. We cannot rush things. Right now he’s been training well with us. He’s happy and comfortable, and for now that’s the most important part.”

As of Wednesday, Wright hadn’t even moved into an apartment; he was living out of a hotel near the team’s practice facility. But he has an idea of what he’d like to get out of his stay in New York.

“I want to grow as a player,” Wright explained. “I want to make myself a really good player, and hopefully one day I can be like Raúl, Marcos [Senna] or some of the other guys on the team.”