New England Revolution acquire Blessing from LAFC
The New England Revolution LAFC can receive up to an additional $300,000 in conditional GAM. Blessing, 26, spent the last five seasons with LAFC after originally coming to the league with Sporting Kansas City in 2017. The Ghanaian midfielder was selected in LAFC's Expansion Draft and made 145 regular-season appearances with the club, winning two Supporters' Shields and one MLS Cup. Blessing won the 2017 US Open Cup with SKC as well.
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The pre-European window signings deserve appreciation before they come in and hog all the attention. Here are the best moves of the offseason so far.
Oh, hey, look at that, a baked-in excuse to talk about the biggest news of the day. Amazing how that works. Also amazing how New England pulled off one of the best moves of the offseason so far. They’re picking up an excellent player in Blessing who helps address one of the biggest holes in their roster.
Now, it’s no real secret that Blessing has fallen off a bit since an absurd 2019 that, per American Soccer Analysis’ goals added metric, ranks among the single-most productive central midfield performances of the last five years. Blessing made just 16 starts in 2022, and it seemed like the all around right time for him to find a new environment. Enter the Revs, who have grabbed a player whose ceiling is “one of the best midfielders in the league” as he enters his age-26 season. For a team whose biggest issues over the past few years have stemmed from midfield, picking up Blessing for just $400k in GAM feels like a steal.
Atlanta’s strategy of attempting to coalesce a handful of dribble-happy attacking players with a handful of replacement-level central midfielders hasn’t been the most fruitful roster-building strategy over the last few years. Etienne’s signing seems to be a direct acknowledgment of that.
Because Etienne does this amazing thing where even when the ball isn’t at his feet, he goes ahead and moves anyway. It’s straight-up wild. In Atlanta, it’s going to be a much, much-needed breath of fresh air in attack. Not only that, but he comes as a value buy. As a free-agent signing, his cap hit should be relatively minimal compared to some of his less productive teammates. This is the antithesis to so many of Atlanta’s worst moves over the last few seasons, and it’s a sign that the club has learned from some of its mistakes.
Only one club has gone ahead and made a club-record signing this offseason. And that signing seems like he has the potential to instantly make the Timbers MLS Cup contenders again. He thrived at Denmark’s Midtjylland, scoring 50 goals and dishing out 38 assists over five seasons. He even found time to score five times and deliver seven assists across UEFA Europa League and Champions League.
Sometimes that kind of success doesn’t translate to MLS. Or at least it takes some time to translate. That might be the case for Evander. However, you can’t fault Portland’s ambition here. And if he does become an immediate hit, Portland will immediately become very dangerous.
If it takes some time, well, Portland have him locked in through at least 2026. It kind of feels like we might have to prepare for the Timbers to have yet another outstanding attacker for a decade or so.
This move felt solid on the surface. Herrera has been awesome for RSL for a while and Montréal picked up the 25-year-old for just $500k in GAM. It became even more intriguing though when Montréal hired Hernan Losada to replace Wilfried Nancy.
I’m not saying he’s going to turn into Julian Gressel, but it’s not hard to envision Herrera having a similarly outstanding breakout year under Losada. Gressel turned in a Best XI-caliber year one under Losada and while they’re not exactly the same mold of player, there’s clearly opportunities for a full back like Herrera to make a major impact within Losada’s system.
No matter what, Montréal got a great player for a value. They probably need a few more of those to replace all the talent they’ve lost, but it’s a start.
I’m grouping these together in the “I want these to be good signings in my heart” category.
Austin grabbed Zardes as a free agent, and he won’t take up too much of their salary budget. The Rapids grabbed Cabral on a cheap trade that could potentially end up helping the Galaxy more than anyone. Long term, neither club needs these guys to work out. But it would be way more fun if they did.
Zardes has somehow circled back around to being underrated, while Cabral is an xG Hero with now famous issues turning expected goals into goals. There’s a decent chance that both of these players come good and the clubs look brilliant. There’s also a decent chance that neither raises the ceiling of the group and everyone will look back at these signings as lacking in ambition. In my heart, I want it to be the former. But I know that’s not normally how things work out in MLS.
Austin FC sign free-agent goalkeeper Bersano: Austin FC have signed free-agent goalkeeper Matt Bersano through the 2024 season with an option for 2025. Bersano joins the Verde & Black from the San Jose Earthquakes, who declined his contract option following the 2022 season.
Nashville SC sign former US youth international Freeman: Nashville SC have signed forward Tyler Freeman through the 2026 MLS season. The 19-year-old, a former US youth international at the U-14, U-16 and U-17 levels, joins the Coyotes from D.C. United's USL Championship affiliate Loudon United FC, where he netted eight goals in 24 appearances last season.
- Matt Doyle looked at where MLS Eastern Conference depth charts and rosters currently stand for 2023.
- Joe Lowery picked out eight players in Europe MLS teams should scout.
Good luck out there. Start your day off right.
