Revolution Decline Five 2020 Options Including Juan Agudelo

The New England Revolution have announced their club options for 2020 for today’s league deadline.

The biggest name on that list is attacker Juan Agudelo whose $605K guaranteed salary perhaps proved to be the biggest factor. Besides a down year on the field with just three goals and two assists in 28 games/21 starts, Juan has lacked a defined role on the field for the Revs this year. Agudelo featured up front, out wide and even as a center midfielder to some success but an overall lack of production on the scoresheet combined with a large contract perhaps made this move necessary.

Four others had their options declined in defenders Edgar Castillo and Michael Mancienne, and strikers Brian Wright and Juan Fernando Caicedo. JF Caicedo was not ineffective for the Revs, making 27 appearances including 13 starts while recording 5 goals and 3 assists in around 1100 minutes but it wasn’t enough for the Revs to excercise his loan purchase.

New England have already signed Alexander Buttner at the left back spot but will likely have to sign a couple of centerbacks/defenders behind Andrew Farrell and Antonio Delamea whose options were picked up. Cody Cropper and Zachary Herivaux will be out of contract at the end of the year.

Wright, Herivaux and Cropper both saw some success at the USL level on loan and perhaps could be brought back to mainly feature with Revs 2 in the USL League One next season but they’ll have options to explore at various levels of the US pyramid.

New England has five 2020 SuperDraft selections in the first two rounds that will take place in January. Defensive depth should still be a priority for Bruce Arena and the front office, especially after losing Jalil Anibaba in the expansion draft, but there’s also a chance to find another #9 type striker like JF Caicedo to combine with Gil, Bou, Penilla and the rest of the attack. I will continue to advocate for a Jermaine Jones DP-type CDM but the Revs have potentially cleared several large contracts and opened up back-end roster spots for a large draft class.

Talk about the Revs moves in the comments below and where you think they should be adding in the draft or via other signings/trades. Would you bring back Agudelo at a lower contract if he accepts?