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Per a club release, the New England Revolution has signed forward Charlie Davies on a free transfer from Denmark's Randers FC. Davies spent the second half of the 2013 season on loan with the Revs from the Danish club, and the Revolution made the move permanent by signing Davies once his contract with Randers had been dissolved by mutual consent. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"We're pleased that Charlie will be re-joining us and that we were able to find a way to make it work with MLS and Randers," General Manager Michael Burns said. "Charlie came in last summer and showed us a lot of good things, and we're looking forward to seeing him integrated into the squad more in 2014."
Davies, 27, made four appearances as a substitute in New England in 2013 after joining the club in early August from Randers FC, where he had played since the start of the 2012-13 season.
A Manchester, N.H., native, Davies was an All-American at Boston College before signing professionally with Swedish club Hammarby in December 2006. After 55 league appearances that produced 21 goals at Hammarby - including 15 goals in 2008 - Davies moved to French club Sochaux in July 2009 and emerged as a budding star with the U.S. National Team ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
After recovering from serious injuries suffered in a car accident in late 2009, Davies was loaned to D.C. United for the 2011 season, where he scored 11 goals in 26 appearances. Following the stint in D.C., Davies returned to Sochaux for the remainder of the 2011-12 season before moving to Randers FC last summer.
This is relatively good news for the Revs as they were looking pretty thin up top prior to this acquisition, although they still could stand to bolster their corps of attackers. Davies' lack of involvement in 2013 was a bit puzzling for Revs fans until it was revealed that coach Jay Heaps had his sights set on moving Davies out to the wing, a role which has taken the former U.S. international some time to adjust to. Not only that, but Davies came to New England in August, a time when tinkering with his lineup was far from Heaps' mind in the midst of a heated playoff push.
If Davies can find his footing as a wide attacker, and work hard at the defensive responsibilities that come with playing this position, then he could potentially be a pivotal contributor in the Revs' 2104 campaign.
As things currently stand, the Revolution will be entering next week's SuperDraft with 21 players on their roster. New England has four picks in this year's draft; it will be interesting to see how they use them to fill out the back end of their 2014 roster.