Juan Toja and his infamous mullet are headed to Gillette Stadium.
The New England Revolution used their place atop the MLS allocation order to select Toja, a former MLS All-Star at FC Dallas who signed with the league late last week. Toja, 27, rejoins MLS after a foray into European soccer with Romania's Steaua Bucharest and Greece's Aris FC. He was an MLS All-Star in 2007 and 2008 with FC Dallas, scoring eight goals and assisting on three others in 43 MLS games.
“We’re pleased to add a player of Juan’s skill and experience through the Allocation Process, and we’re looking forward to getting Juan in with the team as soon as possible,” Revs general manager Mike Burns said in a press release. “He’s not only played in MLS and is familiar with the league, but he’s also been very successful in MLS. We believe he’ll be a valuable player for us.”
The acquisition marks the second straight season that the Revolution have benefitted byt he allocation order, using their place to select Benny Feilhaber last season.
With the Revolution using their place at the top of the order, Toronto FC ascends to the top spot, followed by Chivas USA, the San Jose Earthquakes, D.C. United and Portland Timbers to round out the top five places. Only a couple of weeks remain for that to be relevant for this season, as the league's roster freeze date is set for Sept. 15.
Toja joins Eddie Johnson, Kamani Hill, Bakary Soumare and Luis Robles as players to join MLS through the allocation order this season.
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What do you think of this development? What do you think it means for some of the Revs' midfield playmakers like Feilhaber, Lee Nguyen and Kelyn Rowe? Do you see the Revs using Toja as a trade chip instead of keeping him?
Share your thoughts below.