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Crew bring back Arrieta on new deal

Jairo Arrieta

Photo by David Bernal/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

In his few weeks in charge, Gregg Berhalter has had no real qualms with parting ways with veteran players from the Columbus Crew.

Jairo Arrieta will not share that fate.

The Crew announced on Wednesday that they signed the 30-year-old Arrieta to a new deal that will bring him back to the club for a third season. Arrieta has spent the past two years in Columbus, scoring a combined 12 goals and delivering eight assists.

“We are pleased to welcome Jairo back to the club. He’s an extremely hard-working player and a dedicated teammate,” said Berhalter, the Crew’s new head coach and sporting director. “As he’s shown throughout his time in Columbus, Jairo has the talent to score goals and we look forward to his continued contributions in 2014.”

Arrieta had a bit of a disappointing season in 2013. After having a strong initial campaign in MLS in 2012 with nine goals and four assists in 18 matches, the Costa Rican international scored just three times in 26 games (21 starts) for a Columbus team that fell shy of reaching the playoffs.

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What do you think of Arrieta returning to the Crew? Do you see him bouncing back under Berhalter? Think Arrieta will be a starter?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Door was always open for him, he just needed to come down on his salary. Crew is freeing up alot of cap space so hopefully we can get some decent players in. So hopefully Santa will bring the Crew younger versions of Marshall, Gaven, and decent forward to compliment Oduro.

    Reply
    • RW absolutely killed Arrieta’s momentum last season. He was actually in really good form coming back from the first international call-up, scoring and playing well for both the NT and the Crew before that, and Warzycha benches him for leaving out of bitterness. That totally iced him and it took a long time to even get back on the field. Robert did the same thing the second time he left.

      I’m glad Jairo’s back and think that he could do some good things for us. It’s a good thing seeing how much he wanted to be back as well.

      Reply
  2. Good re-signing! If he became available I would see LA jumping on him in a heart beat. We got lucky on this one…..Well done Crew management…

    Reply

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