Top Stories

Perry Kitchen officially unveiled by Scottish club Hearts

kitchen hearts

Perry Kitchen has officially found his new home.

Heart of Midlothian announced on Wednesday that the club has signed the former D.C. United midfielder. Kitchen joins the Scottish club on a two-and-a-half-year deal after leaving D.C. United as a free agent following the conclusion of the 2015 season.

“I’m really happy that we’ve managed to get Perry signed up,” said head coach Robbie Neilson. “Everyone’s worked really hard to get this deal over the line, so I’m pleased that he’s now officially a Hearts player. Perry’s a great talent and one I’m looking forward to working with. He’s got a wealth of experience over in the MLS but he wants to test himself in Europe, and I’m delighted that he’s chosen Hearts as the place to further develop himself.

“He’s a winner and will show real drive and determination in the middle of the park. We want to provide a platform for him to perform, and I know he will also help our younger players to progress as well.”

Kitchen joins Hearts following 158 career appearances and 10 goals with D.C. United. The midfielder has made three appearances for the U.S. Men’s National Team and was recently a part of Jurgen Klinsmann’s January camp squad.

“I’m very impressed,” Kitchen said of his new home. “The training facility, and with the new improvements as well, is going to be top class. Edinburgh as a city is beautiful, with the castle, the city, Princes Street, it’s what you want out of a city. I think this is a great place to be, a great place to start, for sure. I’m excited to get going. When I first got here Robbie gave me the rounds, showed me everything, explained how the team is and how they like to play. I was impressed with everything. It was all the right things that I was hearing.

“I feel like, coming off the U.S. camp which ended about a month ago, I’m still in pretty good fitness form. But it’s obviously different doing your own thing as it is to being in a training environment, so it’ll take a bit of time but I think it’ll happen pretty quickly.”

Kitchen could be in line to make his debut as soon as Saturday in Hearts’ clash with Dundee. Hearts currently sits third in the Scottish Premier League, nine points behind Aberdeen and ten behind first place Celtic.

What do you think of the move? Excited to see Kitchen play for Hearts? What do you expect from him with the club?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. People who think the MLS is a superior league to the SPL are mad. I enjoy watching the MLS because they play a lot of football…because it’s so slow. Atmospheres are very poor, big money draws retiring stars who want a pay day. Scottish football is faster and the atmospheres infinitely better, particularly at hearts, who are playing a great brand of football.

    Reply
  2. As a DCU fan I’m always been a fan of Kitchen. His play is solid and will be a great fit everywhere he goes. Kitchen is still a young guy and no matter the club or situation, we wish him all the best. He’s earned his success.

    Reply
  3. Great to have you Perry at the Famous Heart of MIDLOTHIAN hope the future is good for you and for the JAMBO’S in 2016 /17 good luck from all the JAMBO’S in Australia ….⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️.

    Reply
  4. Sometimes, a 24 year old just wants to see the world. If I was Kitchen I think I would have felt the same way. Is it a lateral move? A good move? A bad move? More money? Less money? Who cares? Really, the guy is getting a chance to play international football in a pretty great place. One day he’ll retire and he’ll be able to say “I lived in Scotland and I traveled and played soccer all over Europe.” How many of us can say that? Plus, Hearts is under new ownership that is really making an effort to put a good product on the pitch. Good luck Perry Kitchen.

    Reply
  5. MLS has better technical quality but SPL is faster tactically (mentally). Guys are touching the ball once and move, where in MLS, most get 2 touches and time to think on the ball. You will get your legs broken if you think while you have he ball instead of beforehand. This is how 1 touch works;
    you have to know what to do/where to put the ball before you get it.

    Reply
  6. This move in a nutshell is why the MLS is not “Major League” Kitchen is the kind of player that major league should hold on to. He is young, talented and is still improving. If he went to a big European league I would be fine with that. No disrespect to the SPL but a league with aspirations of greatness shouldn’t be losing top talent to them. Kitchen is as good as lots of the big name retirees that MLS lavishes money on. The league should have searched through its mattress covers to throw some spare change his way.

    Reply
      • United made every effort to hold on to him. He didn’t want to stay.

        I wasn’t present in negotiations, but I struggle to believe they were caught off guard with this. Where MLS continues to look amateur is helping develop him as a professional for four years only to watch him walk away with nothing in return.

        MLS/clubs within MLS need to do a better job of utilizing the transfer market to their benefit and not at their expense.

      • They offered a contract during his last few months. That is the worst time to renew a contract, especially when said player has a few clubs rumored to be scouting them. They should have tried to renew last year, and if he turned them down, then seek a transfer and get your money’s worth.

        MLS clubs hate when JK steers our teens toward euro clubs, but then they continue making head scratching moves like this in the transfer season. Did you really think Red Bulls weren going to wait for Miazga to finish out his contract? Hell no, and DCU should’ve sought a transfer a year ago (His stock was also much higher in 2014 than 2015).

    • “If he went to a big European league I would be fine with that.”

      Well, Big European League teams clearly don’t seem to agree with your assessment/rating of this player.

      “top talent”

      LOL, stop man. He is a nice player but this is hyperbolic.

      Reply
  7. 24 year old given the opportunity to live in a great European city getting a good pay check. I wouldn’t be passing that up.
    Also Hearts in 3rd place by a long margin, so they will be in for Europa league qualifiers at the minimum and if they do well in qualifying Perry could be exposure to other European teams.
    Also the more likely step up from SPL is the championship then the EPL, which isn’t half bad either

    Reply
    • You hit the nail on the head. Can’t be mad at the guy for wanting to test himself in Europe. I see very little, if any, downside to this move.

      Reply
  8. It’s OK. Kind of a lateral move, except that Hearts play in Scotland and a lot of the English teams recruit from the Scottish league. If he is outstanding at a place like that he is likely to be seen more readily by EPL and even other clubs and given a chance – more so than at DCU. And the clubs will know he is thru the work permit hassles a lot of American players face. Could be a good move if he can move on from there quickly. If he gets stuck at Hearts though, could be a mistake.

    Reply
    • It’s a lateral move with the potential to be an upgrade. Agree with OPs about getting a work permit and then being spotted by scouts from European leagues. Next step is a mid-level European league.

      Reply
  9. He was offered a fairly good salary but DCU so I’m wondering how much Hearts is paying him. If it’s less, then it’s a terrible move.

    Reply
    • Based on what? Hearts will likely participate in the Europa League this year. DC’s already out of the CCL.

      Hearts also plays a good brand of football (watched more than a few of their matches this year) which is more attack-minded than what Ben Olsen’s been running out the past few years.

      And he’s got a better platform to get noticed by continental teams (they don’t really care about MLS yet).

      Don’t see where you’re getting the “backwards step” from.

      Reply
      • Of course there are positives to this like you mentioned, but a huge negative will be the quality he will seeing week-in, week-out, which will be a drop for the most part, outside of Celtic, Aberdeen and Europa League (Maybe a few other clubs as well; I don’t pretend to know too much about Scottish football currently).

        Overall, I think its a positive move for his long-term career, but at most a side-step for the short term.

      • Mac, so your self-proclaimed lack of knowledge enables you to say it’s not a good move but doesn’t allow you to judge the teams in the SPL?…… Something doesn’t add up. Lol

        There are way more positives…. Bottom feeder in MLS vs top 3 in SPL…… Perry can get his work permit easier and can jump to another better league quicker than trying from MLS. He also gains euro exposure, etc. this may not be a blockbuster move to Chelsea but it’s nowhere near a “step down”

      • It’s a step backwards because the SPL isn’t as good a league as MLS. And in recent seasons SPL teams have lost pretty quickly in the Europa league. The fact that Hearts noticed PK in MLS cuts against your argument – also Miazga was noticed by Chelsea and others obviously, If you’re good enough, top teams will find you.

      • Just looked it up and the three Scottish teams in the Europa League this season other than Celtic went out to teams from Armenia, Romania and Kazakhstan. The previous year, the two SPL reps went out in the second qualifying round to teams from Switzerland and Iceland. Not exactly giants of European football. I think this move is ok but nothing more than that.

      • Davis- My self proclamation of not knowing enough about the SPL was toward the overall talent level of individual clubs not named ‘Celtic’. This isn’t 2008, when it was considered a top 10 league in Europe. Scottish football has gone down hill A LOT since. The last UEFA coefficient rankings (Oct. 2015) have Scotland at 30th, below the mighty Welsh and Isreali leagues.

        And you should practice you’re reading comprehention, “Of course there are positives to this like you mentioned….Overall, I think its a positive move for his long-term career…”

        I’ve been arguing that this is a very good move, long term, from the very beginning. Greater exposure to scouts, work permit, living abroad, etc. ALL POSITIVES. I would also bet that his contract is also very short, maybe 2 years, no more than 3. Assuming he blows the competition away (I think he will), he’d be a very attractive acquisition for a club on the level of Southampton or West Ham.

        But, you cannot deny, that he will be facing inferior competition, overall, in the SPL, and that will probably effect his national team picture, temporarily. He’s already a fringe player, and frankly not that young anymore. If he doesn’t blow the competition away in the SPL, and move to a bigger/better league before the next Gold Cup, he will certainly fall even farther behind.

Leave a Comment