By RYAN TOLMICH
After nearly a year of inactivity, Juan Agudelo is set to return to the field by joining the club that he most recently said goodbye to.
Goal USA reported Thursday that Agudelo has signed a deal to return to the New England Revolution, for whom the 22-year-old forward played for in 2013. Agudelo has reportedly signed a four-year non-Designated Player deal worth roughly $400,000 a year.
Agudelo will now rejoin the Revolution on a contract worth less than the one previously offered when the forward departed MLS for a move to the Premier League’s Stoke City. Agudelo’s England move was repeatedly derailed by work permit issues, and he hasn’t featured since playing on loan for FC Utrecht last spring.
He reportedly turned down a recent contract offer from Bundesliga 2 side 1860 Munich, opting instead for an MLS return.
Agudelo, who started his career in 2010 with the New York Red Bulls, scored seven goals in 14 games for the Revolution in 2013. On the international level, the forward has earned 18 international caps and scored twice.
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What do you think of Agudelo’s decision to rejoin the Revolution? How much do you think he is regretting his decision to not initially stick with New England? What do you expect from him this season?
Share your thoughts below.
Forgot to mention his time at Chivas…
Wow! Revs are going to be something this season.
what’s crazy are the teams he turned down. no short corners reported about 10 teams who put in an offer. he must have felt his chances for playing were slim because there were some good teams in the list.
Good job Juan. Way to show them.
Good! Welcome back!
Not a fan of US players going to Germany. Very hard for them to get a fair shake in that country. A good place to stall a career…(of course there are a couple exceptions)
No allocation process?
I felt like his first move abroad was rushed because he had never quite made his big splash here — like even Shea did — and it felt like he even started goofing around when he moved to NE knowing he was gone. His career suffered from that point on. I think he was getting awful career advice in Europe and during this period where he was looking around. I hope he comes back and takes it all more seriously because he has a bunch of talent.
+1 Good take. I think it’s a great move for Agudelo, but as you’ve said all of that is contingent upon whether he is willing to take the right approach. Once a player has developed bad habits, it can be incredibly difficult to restore a proper professional mentality. I think the Revs are a good landing spot for him in this way– they have some good leaders and role models, as well as other reclamation projects (Davies comes to mind) who have found a good home there.
+1
+1
+1
At least he didn’t end up Juan Adugelo
I think I see what you did there ??
A Freddy reference joke linking into bad career moves comments. I’d give it a 5 out of 10.
Agreed to an extent. But I’ll take a slightly different take. Juan has swagger and he f’ing went for it. He had a prem club wanting him. If you think you got the goods.. go for the gold young man.
This back fired on him.. but he’s still just 22. Let’s see where he’s at (dedication/performance wise) next summer.
Also agreed on the comment above. I was never a hater.. but damn. MLS is getting more interesting every single year. I actually like the non FIFA schedule. Give us summer watching and that new season is coming feel in Jan/Feb.
Man, the Revs are going to be good.
One of the best teams last year, they gotta be hungry after being so close, they are young, so they should be better just through that, and they are adding players.
I think we may have to start revising our opinion of what “good” is in MLS.
I see a bunch of squads that on paper are vastly more loaded than typical MLS teams have been in the past…though MLS teams have been steadily improving. There was nothing “steady” about this offseason – there was a big, big upwards bump. MLS brought in a boatload of talent this offseason. At least half a dozen new DP’s, plus about 20-30 Euro league players – both American and foreign – came in below the DP threshold. It seems EVERYBODY added a player or two…and I don’t think they’re done. Once the new collective bargaining agreement is reached I think there’ll be a new flurry of spending as well…but nobody knows what they’ll have to spend, or what the allocation process is going to be.
At some point you have to figure one of these teams will break through in CONCACAF Champions League. I think they’re starting to get much, much closer to the Liga MX teams.
I think we may have to start revising our opinion of what “good” is in MLS.
I see a bunch of squads that on paper are vastly more loaded than typical MLS teams have been in the past…though MLS teams have been steadily improving. There was nothing “steady” about this offseason – there was a big, big upwards bump. MLS brought in a boatload of talent this offseason. At least half a dozen new DP’s, plus about 20-30 Euro league players – both American and foreign – came in below the DP threshold. It seems EVERYBODY added a player or two…and I don’t think they’re done. Once the new collective bargaining agreement is reached I think there’ll be a new flurry of spending as well…but nobody knows what they’ll have to spend, or what the allocation process is going to be.
At some point you have to figure one of these teams will break through in CONCACAF Champions League. I think they’re starting to get much, much closer to the Liga MX teams.
So he turned down a two year deal for 1.8 million or so from Anderlecht in the summer and previously a dp deal from New England only to get 400 a year. Glad soccer not brains is his strong suit.
From what I hear, the $400k was less than the Revs offered him to stay.
There must have been some reason in the Stoke buy-out that kept him from playing. Perhaps they had an offset payment once he started playing somewhere else… Otherwise, he would have had no reason not to take the money in Europe and play again.
This coming season is looking interesting. I really hope they knock out a CBA in time.
Good for him. That is a pretty good salary for a 22 year-old who hasn’t had a team in a year.