Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By IVES GALARCEP
The 2014 Generation adidas class has begun to take shape.
MLS revealed the first four members of the 2014 Generation adidas contracts on Thursday night, announcing the signings of Andre Blake (UConn), Marlon Hairston (Louisville), Eric Miller (Creighton) and Schillo Tshuma (Maryland).
The players are the first underclassmen to agree to Generation adidas deals this year, but more signings are expected to be announced in the coming days, with sources telling SBI that Cal defender Christian Dean and UConn forward Cyle Larin are also considering offers made by MLS.
Sources have confirmed to SBI that highly-regarded UCLA midfielder Leo Stolz has passed on a Generation adidas contract offer and will return to UCLA for his senior season.
In addition, MLS also announced that it has signed breakout forwards Patrick Mullins of Maryland and Steve Neumann of Georgetown. Mullins had won the coveted MAC Hermann Trophy in 2012 and is up again for the 2013 award that will be announced next week. Nuemann scored 10 goals this past season. Sources have confirmed to SBI that Cal defender Steve Birnbaum has also been made an offer by MLS but has yet to sign.
MLS also announced the addition of nine more college seniors to the annual adidas MLS Player Combine in South Florida, which is set to begin on Jan. 10.
Here is the list of added players:
Player Position Citizenship School
Tesho Akindele F USA/Canada Colorado School of Mines (Division II)
Chris Duvall D USA Wake Forest University
Oliver Gore F England Rocky Mountain College (NAIA)
Pierre Omanga F France Southern New Hampshire University (Division II)
Fabio Pereira MF Brazil University of Michigan
Kyle Renfro GK USA Virginia Tech University
Patrick Slogic D Brazil Cornell University
Wojciech Wojcik F USA Bradley University
Tomislav Zadro MF Canada University of Wisconsin
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The 2014 MLS SuperDraft will be held Jan. 16 in Philadelphia.
What do you think of the signings? Which player are you most excited to see coming to MLS?
Share your thoughts below.