Curt Onalfo “optimistic” about Revs’ future after summer spending spree
Major League Soccer’s secondary transfer window has officially closed.
The New England Revolution were one of the busier MLS teams this summer, making a flurry of transactions resulting in one of the most impactful windows for the club in recent years, and its highest-spending window ever.
The landmark move of the window was the addition of Argentinian winger Luca Langoni for a reported $6.8 million fee, a club record, from Boca Juniors. Along with the U22 forward, New England signed Nigerian midfielder Alhassan Yusuf, a recent league champion with Champions League experience, from Belgian side Royal Antwerp FC. The Revs also made a pair of intraleague trades to add 2023 MLS Best XI defender Tim Parker from St. Louis CITY SC and young left back Will Sands from Columbus, each coming with a haul of cash to help relieve the cap.
On deadline day, Revolution Sporting Director Curt Onalfo joined DJ Bean on “The Soccer Show” to discuss the club’s recent moves, which sets the Revs up well for a playoff push over the final 11 games of the regular season.
“That’s our job, on our side, to try to do whatever we can to manage our cap properly and add players that help the coaches have more assets,” Onalfo said. “We’re more robust and we’re able to utilize the league rules to be able to do that. We also picked up $1.2 million in GAM (General Allocation Money), which helps us in this window and it’s going to help us for next year as well.”
With the team getting healthier and several new faces in the fold, New England has set itself up for a better end to the season than its beginning. Although they currently sit last in the Eastern Conference, the Revolution are only five points below the playoff line with two matches in hand.
The Revs resume MLS play next Saturday, Aug. 24 with a visit to CF Montreal. Onalfo, Caleb Porter and their team know it will be an uphill climb, but there is ample optimism that New England can pull off the rescue act with its new reinforcements.
“It’s going to be challenging, but it’s our goal,” said Onalfo of reaching the postseason. “The signings and the aggressiveness that we went with in terms of trying to make our team better during this window shows that we want to get better now, but also make sure that we’re better for the future.
“So, we’re optimistic about these next 11 games, and we want to make sure that we have something to show for this year.”
Langoni arrived in Foxborough on Wednesday night and is expected to be training in full next week ahead of the matchup in Montreal. Yusuf is expected follow in the coming weeks when his P-1 visa is approved. For Sands and Parker, the two have already integrated themselves into the squad, with the former making two substitute appearances during New England’s recent Leagues Cup 2024 campaign.
“They are players that fit Caleb Porter’s game model,” Onalfo said of the four new signings. “Langoni is a winger. He’ll help in creating goal-scoring chances through assists, and also with his ability to score. He has that game changing ability.
“With Alhassan, he is a box-to-box midfielder who fits Caleb’s game model in the sense that he’ll be a player that covers a lot of ground defensively and is able to help us play more vertically, which will help us be even more potent in our attack.”
