PHILADELPHIA – Leo Stolz is coming to MLS.
The UCLA midfielder had been rumored to be going back home to Germany to play in the second division, but after the New York Red Bulls selected Stolz with the 18th pick in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft, head coach Jesse Marsch assured reporters that the midfielder would be wearing the club’s shirt this coming season.
“From the beginning… He didn’t quite understand our system, and he wanted to be able to control his destiny a little bit more,” Marsch told reporters on Thursday. “And at the same time he had interest in Germany… But yeah, no, he’s committed to being here, so we will see him in a New York Red Bulls jersey.”
Stolz, who won the 2014 MAC Hermann Trophy last week, was absent from the Combine in Lauderhill, Fla., despite receiving an invitation. Stolz was a finalist for the Hermann in his junior season last year, but elected to stay at UCLA rather than sign a Generation adidas deal.
Stolz finished his senior year with nine goals and six assists.
“I expect him to be a contributor right away,” Marsch said of Stolz. “I think he’s the most MLS-ready player in this draft. It’s partly he’s a little older. He has some bigger experiences than a lot of the other kids coming out of college.”
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At first glance, Stolz doesn’t fill a need for the Red Bulls. Marsch admitted that center back is still a concern, and though he said that at the moment he expects midfielder Tim Cahill to be in New York at the beginning of the season, the Australian’s future with the club is still very much up in the air.
“We’ve looked internationally, and we’ll look again with our second pick to see if we can improve there,” Marsch said of his options for reinforcing the backline. “Listen, I think that we’re going to continue to supplement how our roster gets put together by our youth academy and by our young players, so there’s a lot of importance on this next draft pick, but we also know that in our academy we’re going to push the experiences of those kids so that they’ll be more ready now down the line.”
