Via the Italian publication Corriere dello Sport, D.C. United academy player Chris Durkin will be training in Italy with Serie A partner club Inter Milan in April. The training will be for an undetermined period of time, but would be the third consecutive year an Academy player trained with the Nerazzurri, with former homegrown player Michael Seaton going on a training stint in 2014, and several academy players repeating the training in 2015.
Durkin, listed as a midfielder both on the U.S. Soccer and Top Drawer soccer sites, was invited to the U.S. Soccer Residency program in January, and is one of D.C. United's highest-rated Academy players. Yesterday, he was named by John Hackworth to the US U-17 team, as a defender, for the 44th International Montaigu Tournament to be held in France from March 18 to the 29th. This time frame would transition well into a training stint with Inter.
When reached for comment, D.C. United could not confirm the names of any specific players training with Inter, but said:
Because of our partnership with Inter, we send Academy kids to get experience with the Inter Academy. We sent several kids last spring, and we are sending several this spring.
While D.C. continues to send their youth players out to Italy, and Inter sends over the son of coach Roberto Mancini to appear on the first team roster, it looks like the partnership continues to move along for both sides.