:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/52426753/usa_today_9181424.0.jpeg)
Daigo Kobayashi will be back with the New England Revolution in 2017.
The team announced the move just over an hour before the second stage of the MLS Re-Entry Draft which Kobayashi would have been eligible for. The Japanese midfielder has played four seasons in MLS, the last three with the Revs after being acquired via trade from Vancouver during the preseason of 2014.
“Player X” scored his first goal with the Revs in the season opener of the 2016 season, a late equalizer in a 3-3 draw against the Houston Dynamo. Kobayashi has always made a minimum of 20 appearances in each of his four MLS seasons and made 6 starts along with 21 substitutions last season.
Kobayashi has one international cap with the Japan national team, played extensively in the J-League and also has club experience in Norway and Greece.
With the retirement of midfielder Steve Neumann announced earlier today, the Revs will not have any eligible players in today’s stage of the Re-Entry Draft at 3pm.