FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution announced today that the club has re-signed forward Juan Agudelo, one of the key figures in the club’s 2013 campaign. Originally acquired by the Revs in a trade from Chivas USA in May 2013, Agudelo scored seven goals and had one assist in 14 regular-season games for the Revs that season, helping the club reach the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2009. Agudelo will officially be added to the Revolution roster pending a physical and the receipt of his International Transfer Certificate (ITC). Per club and league policy, details of the contract were not disclosed.
Because Agudelo left at the end of his contract, the Revolution retained his contract rights within MLS. This allowed the club to re-sign him without being subject to the MLS Allocation Order. The 22-year-old is scheduled to begin training with the Revs next week as the club completes 10 days of training in Casa Grande, Arizona.
“Juan is a player that we always knew that we would be interested in welcoming back to the club if the opportunity presented itself, and now it has,” Revolution general manager Michael Burns said. “He is familiar with our club, our coaches, many of his teammates and the system that we play so we are confident that he will be able to fit right in and help us straight away.”
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In four previous seasons in MLS, Agudelo has appeared in 73 regular season games, making 44 starts while also starting four of his five appearances in the MLS Cup Playoffs with the Revs, Chivas USA and the New York Red Bulls, who signed him as the club’s first-ever Homegrown player in 2010. He spent the majority of the 2013 season with the Revolution, finishing tied for second on the team with seven goals to go along with an assist in 14 regular-season games. Agudelo finished the 2013 MLS season with a career-best nine goals between his time with the Revs and Chivas USA, adding three assists, including one in the postseason. He made 16 appearances in all competitions for New England that year, tallying a goal or an assist in half of those.
Following the 2013 MLS season, Agudelo’s contract expired and he departed the Revolution, signing a contract with Stoke City of the English Premier League. After failing to secure a work permit to play in England, Agudelo went on loan to FC Utrecht of the Dutch Eredivisie for the second half of the 2013-14 season. In 14 appearances with Utrecht, Agudelo scored three goals – including two game-winners – and set up three others to help the club finish in tenth place on the season. He returned to Stoke following the season but was again unable to secure a work permit, leading to the mutually agreed termination of his contract with the club and making him a free agent.
Originally born in Colombia, Agudelo moved to the United States at the age of eight and eventually signed with the New York Red Bulls in March 2010. He went on to play two plus seasons with the Red Bulls, scoring six goals and adding two assists in 33 games as one of the most promising young, attacking talents in MLS. He was traded to Chivas USA in May 2012 and appeared in 26 games in just less than a year with the club, scoring five goals and adding four assists. On May 7, 2013, Agudelo was traded to the Revolution in exchange for allocation money.
In addition to his accomplished club career, Agudelo has also collected 18 caps with the U.S. National Team. The Barnegat, N.J. native made his international debut on Nov. 17, 2010 in a friendly against South Africa, scoring the game-winning goal late in a 1-0 U.S. victory. That goal, which made him the youngest player ever to score a goal for the U.S. National Team, was the first of two international goals for Agudelo, who also has three assists for the U.S.
