Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Revs Offseason Update #2


We're back for another offseason check in as a few things have happened since the last update. The Revs signed a coach in Anton McElhone from Tottenham as the new Head of Fitness, and re-signed Teal Bunbury, Andrew Farrell, Brad Knighton and Brian Wright. Right there you have a good depth and squad rotation veteran, a likely starting right back, a very good backup goalkeeper and a nice forward project to factor into the young attacking core. 

The Revs also signed midfielder Isaac Angking as the fourth Homegrown Player in club history. The kid is 17 from Rhode Island, and scored 12 goals in 11 games for the Revolution Academy last season. In the Jay Heaps Era, young guys, namely Zach Heriveaux, got little to no time on the field to develop, so hopefully Angking and Zach can get good minutes under Brad Friedel. After former #1 Revs prospect Justin Rennicks had a bit of a falling out with he club and chose to go to college to play instead off staying in the Revs system, Angking became the new top guy in the Academy. I do still hope Brad can convince Rennicks to come play for the squad at some point. 


Next up, new jerseys! The Revs debuted the 2018 home kit at midnight on January 1, 2018. Here's Kelyn Rowe wearing it:
A post shared by New England Revolution (@nerevolution) on



At first glance, its... meh. This is actually a much better look at it than the computer rendering they dropped at midnight. It's just a bit of a departure from the navy blue and red scheme of the past. We don't have light blue in the logo, or any part of the club really, so that part seems a bit out of place. I, like many others, want to see both the home and away uniforms go with a blue, green, white, red combination to model after the American and New England flags. But these are alright. Nothing special, but they will do the job. I am far more interested in what the new aways will look like heading into 2019, since I thought the update last year was a big downgrade from the previous red, white and green edition. 

Finally, some rumors...

Gabriel Somi

The Revs have reportedly signed Gabriel Somi from Swedish side Östersunds. This article is an interview with the player in which he says himself he's coming to Gillette Stadium. Its also in Swedish so thank you to Google translate for the assist. He plays along the left side and is not exactly a world beater, but we also have a lot of roster space to fill up, so he is at worst a death signing and could actually be part of a left back platoon with the rapidly aging Chris Tierney. This would also hopefully mean no more wasting Kelyn at left back. 

Evgen Opanasenko

Opanasenko is a 27 year old right back, meaning his signing would likely mean a battle at RB between him and Farrell. If he and Somi both sign, we could see a much better looking defense in 2018 with better depth than ever. New fullbacks and a nice looking partnership in the middle with Delamea and Dielna. We also don't know what formation Friedel will favor yet, so he could opt to go wth 5 in the back and utilize Farrell in the middle as well.

Cristhian Machado

 The 27 year old is apparently the best CDM in Bolivia. Check out this Reddit thread on him, but to paraphrase, he's a good depth signing. It looks like the three players we have either already singed or are close to signing are all potential starters who will at least offer competition to the likes of Tierney, Farrell and Scott Caldwell.


Samuel Shashoua



One of the better Tottenham Hotspur prospects at the moment, Shashoua is an 18 year old attacker. Given the fact he is regraded somewhat highly in London, I doubt the loan would come with an option to buy, but loaning promising players for a year or two from bigger European clubs would be very interesting. Obviously, Brad's Tottenham connections would help immensely in deals with Mauricio Pochettino's club. 

Possible Big Names
Rob Stone from FOX Sports apparently mentioned Gareth Fucking Bale as an actual option, but Cardillo has denied that. I am very interested to see if Friedel actually brings in a known name for the "Splash Factor" we have been missing since signing Jermaine Jones in 2014.

Lee Nguyen is reportedly being looked at by Vietnamese clubs. He initially only came back to the US to increase he is chances of a USMNT call up, and he accomplished that. But with he US missing the World Cup, and Nguyen not being part of a team since around this time last year, he could see a return to Vietnam as a big time possibility. He was an absolute rockstar there as a young player. Check out this mini-doc on Lee for a better look at it. I love the guy, so hopefully his family and friends being well-established here more so now than then helps keep him in New England.

The status of Gershon Koffie and Xavier Kouassi are still to be determined as well.

And finally, we have opener dates. The Revs open the 2018 season on March 3 at Philly and the home opener is a week later on March 10 against Colorado.

SuperDraft is coming up and with all the player rumors there will be plenty to occupy us leading up to preseason.
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