FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Revolution coach Jay Heaps says the decision to cut ties with three players on Wednesday will hopefully pave the way for a couple of additions during the summer transfer window.
The departures of John Lozano, Björn Runström and Jeremiah White give the Revs the roster and the salary budget flexibility to strengthen their current squad, according to Heaps.
“It's never easy when you make some roster changes and moves, especially when guys have been around since January and February,” Heaps told MLSsoccer.com on Thursday morning. “It's difficult, but, at the same time, we felt it was best for the club to be able to make some moves as the window opened yesterday.”
It may not take long for the Revs to make use of their three open roster slots and their three open senior international spots. Revolution general manager Michael Burns said the club has extended offers to two players in an attempt to fill a couple of those open berths in fairly short order.
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“We're in some serious discussions about adding to our roster relatively soon,” Burns said. “Offers have been extended on a couple of players. That certainly doesn't mean that deals are going to get done. But we've identified a couple of players that we're in serious discussions with and hopefully we can come to an agreement with two of these players.”
In addition to those potential signings, the Revs must also weigh their options through the allocation process. Vancouver's decision to trade the top spot in the order to Philadelphia earlier this week permitted the Union to acquire Bakary Soumare via allocation and pushed the Revolution to the top of the heap.
That particular process, however, may take a bit more time to unfold as foreign-based players contemplate a return to MLS during the summer transfer window.
“You never know how that is going to play out in the next month,” Burns said. “We're obviously hopeful that multiple players will want to come back to MLS. And then we'll have a decision on whether it makes sense to sign the player – depending on who it is – or make a trade.”
After unexpectedly landing Benny Feilhaber through the allocation process last April, the Revs understand that they must leave room in their plans for all possible eventualities during the summer window.
“Speaking from experience last year, Benny became available to us,” Burns said. “We never thought he'd get by one, two and that two teams were going to pass. With the summer window, it can change very quickly. We're prepared should something come down the pipe.”
