The New England Revolution have worked to address their central midfield issues, with the club announcing on Thursday they have acquired Gershon Koffie in a trade with the Vancouver Whitecaps in exchange for general allocation money and targeted allocation money. Vancouver will also receive a percentage of any future transfer fee obtained by New England.
Koffie, 24, has been with the Whitecaps since their inaugural MLS campaign in 2011. He’s been a key cog in Vancouver’s midfield, recording nine goals and seven assists in 133 career regular season appearances.
“Gershon is a strong central midfield player who, at just 24, has proven success and experience in MLS,” said Revolution general manager Michael Burns in a team statement. “We’re pleased we were able to acquire him and we look forward to getting him into camp with the rest of our players and coaching staff as soon as possible.”
The Whitecaps’ midfield has become increasingly crowded, however, with the presence of captain Pedro Morales, Costa Rican international Christian Bolaños, Argentine Designated Player Matias Laba, Canadian international Russell Teibert and promising youngsters Kianz Froese and Deybi Flores making Koffie expendable in Vancouver.
The Ghanaian is expected to fill a huge need in New England, who were facing the prospect of having Scott Caldwell as their lone natural defensive midfielder for 2016. The Revs haven’t re-signed out-of-contract US international Jermaine Jones and saw Xavier Kouassi, who was recently signed to a DP pre-contract and is set to join the team in July, go down with a reportedly severe knee injury last weekend while playing with Swiss club FC Sion.
