It will take a little bit of work to extend the relationship between Charlie Davies and the New England Revolution into next season.
Davies joined the Revolution on loan from Danish side Randers FC in August, but he played just 23 minutes as he settled into a side in the midst of a playoff push. The club opted to decline the option it held to retain him on Friday and sent him back to Randers to fulfill his contractual obligations there.
The next step at this point: figuring out whether Davies will continue his career with Randers or pursue a permanent move to the Revolution. Davies expressed his interest in continuing with his hometown club earlier this month, but all involved parties – the player, the two clubs and MLS – must reach an agreement on his current Danish deal, his transfer to MLS and any ensuing contract Stateside in order to seal the move.
“It's just a little more complicated than just exercising an option or having a player that is already on a guaranteed contract for next year,” Revolution general manager Michael Burns told MLSsoccer.com on Monday. “We're trying to navigate through that to see if it makes sense for him and for us to acquire him on a permanent basis from his current club.”
The tenuous situation up front – not including the out-of-contract and likely out-of-the-picture Juan Agudelo – provides further impetus to reach an amenable accord. New England exercised contractual options on Jerry Bengtson, Dimitry Imbongo and Saër Sène for next season, but Bengtson may angle for more regular first-team action ahead of the World Cup and Sène will face a protracted recovery from left ankle surgery.
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Imbongo offers at least one confirmed possibility for next season, but Burns said the Revs plan to augment the current choices during the winter and bolster their attack before training camp starts in January.
“I don't think you can ever have a situation where you have too many good forwards and too many good options in the attacking third,” Burns said. “There is some uncertainty there. That's a position we're looking to strengthen. … Having said that, forwards and strikers tend to be the most difficult to obtain for good reason. It's hard to find goalscorers.”
