An MLS Cup winner has come back to the league.
New York City FC announced they have signed winger Rodney Wallace on Wednesday, on a free transfer. NYCFC traded $75,000 General Allocation Money and $50,000 Targeted Allocation Money to the Portland Timbers for Wallace's right of first refusal in MLS.
The 28-year-old is a versatile wide player, and has played in defense, midfield and attack in his previous tenure in MLS. The Costa Rican international began his career in 2009 with D.C. United, before joining the Timbers for that club's MLS expansion season in 2011. His time in Portland was capped off with a strong 2015 season, culminating in an integral role in winning MLS Cup that year.
After that, he played briefly for FC Arouca in Portugal in 2016, before moving to Brazil to play for Sport Recife.
“Rodney is a quality player who can play as a winger, as a left-back or as a left midfielder," NYCFC head coach Patrick Vieira said in a team statement. "He’s really good with the ball and he knows how to win the championship as he did it with Portland. He will bring his experience to this squad which is great for us – I’m really looking forward to him coming because I believe that he’s one of the top players in this league.”
“It’s a great honor to be an NYCFC player – it’s a dream come true to get this done and be here with such a great organization and a good team," Wallace said in a statement. “I’ve watched a lot of the NYCFC games since the team came to the league and I was attracted to the style of play. I want to win trophies with this club, I want to come here and add to a bigger piece. We all want to achieve big things together and I’m just really happy to be here and to work towards that."
NYCFC reached the playoffs for the first time in their two-year history in 2016, finishing second in the Eastern Conference regular season standings before falling to Toronto FC in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
New York City FC |
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<strong>ROSTERED PLAYERS (24 of 28 spots filled):</strong> |
<p><strong>GK (3):</strong> Eirik Johansen (INT'L), Sean Johnson, Andre Rawls<br><strong>DEF (7):</strong> RJ Allen, Frederic Brillant (INT'L), Alexander Callens (INT'L), Maxime Chanot (INT'L), Shannon Gomez, Ronald Matarrita (INT'L), Ethan White<br><strong>MID (10): </strong>Miguel Camargo (INT'L), Mix Diskerud, Jack Harrison (GA, INT'L), Yangel Herrera (INT'L), Mikey Lopez, Tommy McNamara, Maximiliano Moralez (INT'L, DP), Andrea Pirlo (INT'L, DP), Alexander Ring (INT'L), Rodney Wallace<br><strong>FWD (4): </strong>Jonathan Lewis (GA), Sean Okoli, Khiry Shelton, David Villa (DP, INT'L)</p><p><strong>DESIGNATED PLAYERS (DP):</strong> 3<br><strong>HOMEGROWN PLAYERS (HG):</strong> 0<br><strong>INT'L ROSTER SPOTS FILLED (INT'L): 12</strong><br><strong>GENERATION ADIDAS PLAYERS (GA):</strong> 2<br><strong>UNSIGNED DRAFT PICKS: </strong><em>Kwame Awuah, Jalen Brown, Chris Wingate, Michael DeGraffenriedt</em><br><strong>TRIALISTS: </strong><em>Ben Sweat, John Stertzer, Roberto Louima</em></p> |
