Professional contract with Rot-Weiss Essen for James Gnagnon: The 17-year-old defender from the Rot-Weiss youth academy will join the third division professional squad in the summer of 2026.

Big day for 17-year-old James Gnagnon – from the Rot-Weiss youth academy to the third division team of Rot-Weiss Essen: Defensive player James Gnagnon has made this step.

The 17-year-old, who moved from Borussia Mönchengladbach’s youth team to the Rot-Weiss youth academy on Seumannstraße in 2024, has now signed a long-term professional contract with Rot-Weiss Essen in the presence of his parents.

According to forecasting information, this contract is valid until summer 2029.

As Rot-Weiss Essen reports, this means that the U19 player will now train with the pros once a week and thus be introduced to the first team.

Today, a dream has come true for me. It’s just great and a great honor for me to be part of the RWE professional squad. (…) Signing my first professional contract with RWE makes me very proud.

James Gnagnon

He was already part of head coach Uwe Koschinat’s squad during last summer’s preparations. He will also remain part of coach Michael Delura’s RWE U19 team, following the same approach as Nico Schulte-Kellinghaus. Gnagnon’s brother Joshua Quarshie showed him how it can be done: in 2020, he joined the RWE youth team and made a name for himself – he stayed until 2022 before moving to TSG Hoffenheim II. He currently plays for English second division club FC Southampton and, according to “transfermarkt.de,” Quarshie’s market value is four million euros.