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With mid-summer Designated Player Xavier Kouassi scheduled for surgery to repair his right knee, the New England Revolution are reportedly interested in acquiring Gershon Koffie per Kyle McCarthy.
New England is expected to reinforce central midfield options by acquiring Gershon Koffie from Vancouver, per league sources. #MLS
— Kyle McCarthy (@kylejmccarthy) February 11, 2016
Per Marc Weber, VWFC beat writer for The Province, the trade would involve allocation money only from the Revolution. Weber also details Koffie's place on the Whitecaps depth chart and the salary cap issues facing Vancouver this year as well as the fondness the club has for Koffie.
Obviously a significant trade would have to be in the works since Koffie started 22 games in 28 appearances for the Vancouver Whitecaps last year as well as two playoff games last year. Koffie is a central midfielder who would likely slot into the lineup next to Scott Caldwell to replace the out-of-contract Jermaine Jones and injured Kouassi.
Our friends at Eighty Six Forever had Koffie linked to Belgium just last month and Waking The Red discussed the possibility of the Ghanian youth international suiting up for Canada. Koffie has permanent resident status in Canada but would likely count as an international player with the Revolution. He made $241,000 guaranteed compensation according to the MLS Player's Union. Koffie has complied 9 goals and 7 assists in his 5-year MLS career, making 131 appearances including 116 starts.
The Revs and Whitecaps are no strangers to trades, with the Revs making deals for keeper Brad Knighton and midfielder Daigo Kobayashi in recent years. New England also claimed Lee Nguyen off waivers from the Whitecaps and assistant coach Tom Soehn was the Director of Soccer Operations for Vancouver from 2010-12. Coach Soehn was in fact the scout who discovered and signed Koffie in 2010 to the USL/USSF Division 2 Whitecaps before the Koffie and team joined MLS in 2011.
#NERevs FACT: Koffie was discovered in Ghana by assistant coach Tom Soehn when he was director of operations at #VWFC back in 2010.
— The REView™ (@RevsViews) February 11, 2016
We reached out to the Revolution for comment but at the time of publishing had not heard back. We will provide updates to this story if and when more information becomes available.