Jordan Pefok enjoyed a positive spell at Stade Reims in the earlier days of his career and the American forward has sealed a return to the club in hopes of getting it back on track.
Pefok rejoined Stade Reims in a permanent deal from Union Berlin, both clubs announced. The 28-year-old signed a three year contract and Stade Reims reportedly paid €4.50 million for Pefok’s services.
“It is always a pleasure to see the return of a player trained at the Club,” Reims general manager Mathieu Lacour said. “Jordy has always been part of our history, and his return is a great opportunity to strengthen our team. He has proven, both nationally and internationally, that he is a quality striker. We can’t wait to see him step on the lawn of Delaune again.”
Pefok came through the Reims ranks before scoring 25 goals in 75 first team appearances. He was the club’s leading goalscorer during the 2017-18 as Stade Reims earned promotion to Ligue 1.
He later joined Stade Rennes, Young Boys, and Union Berlin, while also spending time on loan at Borussia Moenchengladbach. Pefok struggled for consistency at times in Germany, but finished with 12 goals in 91 combined appearances for Gladbach and Union Berlin.
A U.S. men’s national team debutant in 2021, Pefok has earned nine caps for the United States.
Stade Reims sits 13th in Ligue 1 and are four points clear of the relegation zone.
Pefok was stretchered off after 20 minutes with what was described as “a very serious looking knee injury”
I hope Poch bring hims back as Balo heals. I don’t agree with Beerholder banishing him to the abyss after he miss the placed shot on goal from the pass from Gio.
Wishing him all the best. I was hoping he; Konrad de la Fuente and Emmanuel Sabbi, would be coming to DC United but Oh well…….hahaha.
All the best kid….
I sometimes think we overvalue guys just because they play in Europe…much of Europe has actually fallen significantly behind MLS the last couple years and the gap is only widening…MLS is actually bearing down on Ligue 1 in terms of spending and would be VERY close without PSG’s $200+ million roster skewing the averages. Konrad de la Fuente has some skill but he’s also failed to impress in previous stops, including in leagues far below MLS. The Swiss Super League is one of those and de la Fuente’s team Lausanne Ouchy absolutely was. Ouchy – what a name! – was Switzerland’s cellar-dwellers in terms of spending; their whole payroll was right around $5 million US – less than half the cheapest-spending MLS squad. Which, incidentally, was Montreal at around $12 million…while the top team in Switzerland, Young Boys, spent around $17 million US, which would have only been good for around 20th or 21st in MLS last year.
In contrast, the biggest knock you can really make on Pefok is, he doesn’t speak English, or didn’t a couple years ago. Of the three, Pefok was playing at (by far) the toughest level and would likely have the most potential impact. Sabbi was playing in Ligue 1, granted…but he was also at La Havre…which had a salary budget ever-so-slightly below Montreal’s at a hair below $12 million, and Sabbi himself was only making around $280K a year. It’ll be an intriguing case study to see if he winds up as a lock starter or a squad guy for Vancouver…though the opportunity to start certainly looks like it may be there with the similar (but better) Fafa Picault now having moved on to Inter Miami. (Picault was making $680K for the Caps, by the way.) The thing is, though, Vancouver has 150% of La Havre’ salary budget and spent an eye-raising $18+ million last year…on paper, anyhow, that’s a significantly harder roster to break into than La Havre though again they do have that hole on the wing now. So I’m genuinely interested to see how Sabbi fares on this side of the pond.
Thanks for the breakdown…..it’s going to be very very interesting to see how guys like Emmauel Sabbi and Luca De La Torre stack up to MLS /competition standards
“we overvalue guys just because they play in Europe…”
quozzel,
Who is “we”?
The buzz around Konrad was almost entirely because he was at Barca Anywhere else and he would have been forgotten long ago. The eye test would have told you that stylistically he did not fit into anything the USMNT was doing at the time.
Pefok was dropped from consideration because his form tailed off at a bad time for it to do so.
Were he to get back to his best Pefok would immediately endanger Brandon Vasquez’s spot. There is only room for one of them on a USMNT roster.
Sabbi was at Le Havre. They have an American owner if you believe that influences anything. They did hire Bob Bradley just before he moved to Swansea. I’m sure Sabbi will do fine in MLS..
You wouldn’t need Pefok and Beneteke. I’m not sure if Konrad can’t get on the field in Switzerland you’d want him in MLS.
Pefok also had some untimely injuries but it did appear that Gregg did not think he fit well with whatever he was trying to do. I think there is a possibility he held the miss against him; a win in Azteca during qualifying would have been a first.
Hopefully a good for him.