FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The arrival of Dimitry Imbongo and the impending return of Jerry Bengtson from Olympic duty allowed New England to cut ties with José Moreno, according to Revolution general manager Michael Burns.
Moreno completed his brief and peculiar time in MLS when the Revs waived him on Monday. The 30-year-old forward dropped down the pecking order over the past couple of months after he picked up an ankle injury in a 0-0 draw with Columbus on June 16 and struggled to reclaim his place in the side once he recovered.
Although Moreno's spell did not work out as planned after he produced just one goal from seven appearances and recently expressed his desire to return to Colombia, Burns said the Revs held no regrets about the decision to sign the forward at a time when the club needed to strengthen its attacking options.
GOAL: Moreno scores only MLS goal
“We knew at the time with the number of newly signed players we had – both domestic and international – that not all of them would pan out,” Burns told MLSsoccer.com on Wendesday morning. “We knew that going into it: When you bring in 15 or 16 players, you're not going to bat 1000 percent and you're not going to get all 16 players right. Instead of keeping him on the roster until the end of the year after bringing in two new forwards, we made the decision to let him go.”
Revolution coach Jay Heaps said the decision to waive Moreno now will give the club the latitude to strengthen the squad prior to the roster freeze deadline on Sept. 15. Moreno's departure leaves the Revs with two available international slots and two open roster spots.
“We were trying to be smart with the roster space and have a couple of more people in,” Heaps said. “At the same time, we want everyone to want to be here. For us, it's a step forward and we have to move on.”
Heaps noted that a couple of players have committed to link up with the club on trial as the Revs attempt to use that roster room to improve their squad over the next month or so. Those unidentified targets will likely feature in defense as the Revs search for another center back to join Darrius Barnes, Stephen McCarthy and A.J. Soares.
“We feel like we have a number of forwards now that can play and compete for positions on the field,” Burns said. “Over the next few weeks, we're going to look to add some depth in defense.”
