Who will be back, and who won't be? Revolution announce series of year-end roster moves
FOXBORO -- With a new sporting director in place in Curt Onalfo, the New England Revolution announced a series of roster moves Friday morning. The club announced a series of roster moves on Friday, which brings their 2024 roster to 27 players.
However, part of the announcement mentioned that five players will not be returning.
Here are the 17 players who will enter the 2024 season with guaranteed contracts and will continue to hit the pitch for the Revs in New England next season:
Midfielder Esmir Bajraktarevic
Forward Joshua Bolma
Forward Dylan Borrero
Midfielder Noel Buck
Defender Brandon Bye
Goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr.
Defender DeJuan Jones
Midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye
Defender Henry Kessler
Midfielder Tommy McNamara
Midfielder Nacho Gil
Midfielder Jack Panayotou
Midfielder Matt Polster
Defender Dave Romney
Goalkeeper Tomáš Vaclík
Forward Giacomo Vrioni
Foward Bobby Wood
While Carles Gil (team-high 11 goals and 15 assists in 2023) and Andrew Farrell are not part of that group, both had their one-year options picked up by New England. The club also picked up one-year options on goalkeeper Jacob Jackson, midfielder Damian Rivera, and defender Ryan Spaulding, plus its two-year option on midfielder Ian Harkes.
A trio of youngsters will also be joining the club in 16-year-old defender Peyton Miller, 18-year-old forward and Groton native Malcolm Fry, and defender Santiago Suarez. All three were regular starters for Revolution II last season, and helped the team advance to the Eastern Conference Final.
Earlier this week, the Revs exercised the purchase option to acquire Tomas Chancalay from Racing Club earlier this week, which will keep the 24-year-old forward as a Designated Player through the 2026 season with a club option for 2027.
As for those who will not be back in 2024, the Revs did not exercise the options on five players: midfielder Emmanuel Boateng, midfielder Maciel, midfielder/defender Christian Makoun, defender Ben Reveno, and defender Ben Sweat.
You're likely wondering about forward Gustavo Bou, who scored seven goals in his 19 matches in 2023. He is one of three players who remains unsigned -- along with defender Omar Gonzalez, and forward Justin Rennick -- but New England did not rule out a return by any of those three players.
Onalfo has some work to do to boost the New England roster, though his priority at the moment is finding a new head coach. In a 1-on-1 with WBZ-TV's Dan Roche on Thursday, the new sporting director expressed optimism for the next season and beyond.
"We have a very good roster. We obviously have areas we can get better at, and we want to be the best in every area on the field. That's our goal and I'm very optimistic and extremely excited," said Onalfo.
