Caleb Porter details New England’s record transfer window on The Sports Hub
With the MLS Summer Transfer Window closing on Wednesday night, the New England Revolution can now look forward to making their push for another MLS Cup Playoffs appearance. New England will have 11 games and four new acquisitions to work with in order to make that happen.
Revolution Head Coach Caleb Porter joined Tim McKone and Matt McCarthy, who filled in for Zolak and Bertrand on 98.5 The Sports Hub on Thursday, to reflect on New England’s record transfer window and look forward to his team’s goals over the next two-and-a-half months.
Porter feels New England’s busy transfer window will pay dividends during the closing stretch of the regular season.
“It was a good window. That’s the second window that [Sporting Director] Curt [Onalfo] and I have had to improve the team,” Porter said. “First window, we added two good players, a goalkeeper and central defender, Aljaž [Ivačič] and Xavier Arreaga. Those two guys made us better, and we think these four guys in will make us better as well. Typically, it takes three windows to really put your mark on the squad and the roster, but we’re on our way. We’ll get a lot better.”
New England recently added two international players to the roster, including Argentinian winger Luca Langoni, a 22-year-old signed on a club-record transfer, and 24-year-old Nigerian midfielder Alhassan Yusuf, who featured in the UEFA Champions League last year for Royal Antwerp.
Langoni, acquired via the MLS U22 Initiative, arrived in Foxborough to meet his teammates on Thursday. Porter’s confident that both Langoni and Yusuf will succeed in New England.
“We added two international guys,” Porter said. “A center midfielder [in Yusuf] who’s going to really make us better, give us some athleticism, some ball-winning, some verticality in how we play. We added a winger from Argentina [in Langoni], who will give us pace and hopefully more goals. We need to score more goals.”
New England also added to its backline, acquiring central defender Tim Parker and outside defender Will Sands in trades with St. Louis City SC and the Columbus Crew, respectively. The Revolution parted ways with defenders Henry Kessler and DeJuan Jones in those trades, but acquired $600,000 in General Allocation Money with each move.
“Then we added two MLS, proven pieces, a left back and a central defender,” said Porter. “So, two guys out, four guys in, and we’re getting healthy, that’s the big thing too. It’s almost like we have five new signings with all the guys that are coming back from injury.
With four new additions and key attacking players like 2021 MLS MVP Carles Gil, Giacomo Vrioni, and Dylan Borrero closing in on their returns from injuries, the Revolution are in a prime position to climb their way back into the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.
“I always say this in every club I’ve been in: every window, we’re always going to get better, if we nail our signings and every player we get right on the way in,” said Porter. “Of course, with that, there are going to be some guys that we have to move out. If you get those players in and players out right along the way, you’re going to end up building a really good team.”
The Revolution have another full week to prepare for their next MLS match on August 24 at CF Montreal.
“We should have a really good squad to close the season out, and hopefully push for the playoffs.”
