Caleb Porter on Xavier Arreaga: “He Is A Great Guy"
“He is a great guy. We don't sign guys unless we know they are good people and have good character."
Whether it be about his play on the field or his character as a person, New England Revolution head coach Caleb Porter hasn’t been shy when it comes to praising the newly acquired Xavier Arreaga.
The former Seattle Sounders center back has been immediately inserted into the starting XI and appears poised to line up next to Henry Kessler for the foreseeable future.
“He is a great guy,” the head coach said. “We don't sign guys unless we know they are good people and have good character. We did our homework on him and he brings a positive energy. He's bilingual as well, so he can connect with the English speakers, the Spanish speakers. He enjoys his work. He has a good energy, but he's also focused and he's competitive, and he wants to win. He's been a great addition to the locker room.”
On the field, Arreaga has been great for New England. He is strong with the ball at his feet and a tough defender to beat. His energy seems infectious as fans got a glimpse at when Arreaga gave a message to Revs fans after the club’s 1-0 win over Chicago.
Arreaga did encounter some controversy in 2022, however.
He faced criticism for a comic that was posted to his Instagram story while he was a member of the Sounders. On Thursday, The Blazing Musket asked the center back what he learned about himself as a person having gone through this incident.
“[It] never was my intention [to] show or say something bad about that community,” he said.
He later added, “Like I say, you know everybody's free [to] think, you know, [choose], you know, how to take this life. I love everybody. I'm here [to] give my love for everybody, the fans, all the guys [that are] around me.”
When the incident occurred initially, Arreaga apologized to those he hurt after deleting the post from his story.
“I reposted a post of a famous Christian artist in my Instagram stories which at the time seemed normal to me and without thinking that this image was going to cause and hurt the people of our community, which never it was my intention. I want to express that I respect the way of life and thinking of all people.”