Carles Gil and Bruce Arena reflect on New England Revolution transfer activity

This has been an active transfer window for the New England Revolution.

The secondary transfer window opened up on July 7th but New England made moves prior to them bringing in Djordje Petrovic and Dylan Borrero. Petrovic has played in nine games and has three shutouts along with a 1.22 goals against average. Borrero has also appeared in nine games and has two goals and an assist.

Head coach and sporting director Bruce Arena seems pleased with the acquisition of the two young players.

“Well Djordje [Petrović], I don’t think you need me to explain how he’s done. He’s played very well in the goal,” Arena said. “The job of a goalkeeper is to stop shots and position your team to get points and Djordje’s done that. Dylan [Borrero] at 20 years old is still young, learning the league, learning to be a professional. He has a real upside and good attacking player, good pace and he has I think two goals for us, but he’s done very well and both of those players have great futures. They’ve been very good moves for us.”

New England also made another big move just before the opening of the window with the acquisition of Giacomo Vrioni. With 21 goals and five assists in all competitions, fans are excited about what Vrioni can do.

But Vrioni has played less than 60 minutes and it could take him some time before he is fully fit after joining the team in the middle of his offseason.

“I think he is improving after he had a long [offseason],” Revs captain Carles Gil stated. “It’s not easy to be fit, to be 100 percent, but I think he needs maybe two, three more weeks to be 100 percent. Maybe in September. But he’s showing what type of player he is. He’s a very good striker. He’s doing very good movements for me to try to pass him a good ball. I think he’s improving and I’m sure he will score many goals for us.”

Since the window opened, most of New England’s moves have been sending players out. Jozy Altidore was sent on loan to Club Puebla of Liga MX and recently Sebastian Lletget was sent to FC Dallas for $600,000 in General Allocation Money.

Arena once again reiterated that Altidore wanted to leave in order to get more playing time and also touched upon the departure of Lletget.

“Jozy [Altidore] wanted to be somewhere where he had a chance to play more,” Arena stated. “And I think the move with Sebastian [Lletget] was both personal and soccer-wise and I think him going in a new setting will help him. So, we certainly wish him the best.”

Arena also mentioned that it was tough to move on from Lletget.

“Yes and no,” Arena replied when asked if he was disappointed in Lletget’s time in New England. “I think he [Sebastian Lletget] had two goals, five assists for us. He was one of the more productive players we had, but I think the move was good for him personally. I think it will help both of us in the end, so I think the world of Sebastian. I hate to see him leaving, but I think it’s a good opportunity for him.”

But New England has made some acquisitions since the window opened. Christian Makoun’s deal was officially announced on Thursday. The Revs sent Charlotte FC $400,000 in 2022 and 2023 in GAM.

Makoun arrives in New England with 43 MLS appearances and 33 starts between Charlotte FC and Inter Miami CF since 2020.

“He [Christian Makoun] is a good young defender, 22 years old, left-footed center back, good size physically, experienced internationally with Venezuela,” Arena stated. “We think he’s a player that can help our team.”

Gil also touched upon the moves that New England has made.

“We’re making some moves. It’s a decision about the players, the staff here,” Gil stated. We lost [Jozy] Altidore first and now Sebastian [Lletget], we’ll miss him inside and outside the pitch. He’s a top player, top person, so I hope he will have very good times in Dallas. Now, we have [Christian] Makoun, a new player. A young player, good center back. I think we’ll have more players come here. Hopefully, we’ll have good players to help us for the end of the season and try to make the playoffs.”

With the deadline closing at midnight on Thursday there are still some rumored moves that Revs fans should keep an eye on. While the deadline is at midnight, moves can be announced later.

New England is rumored to bring in goalkeeper Clement Diop from Inter Miami and Ismael Tajouri-Shardi from LAFC. While these moves are still up in the air, there is no denying that the Revs are trying to boost their roster for a playoff run this season.