Curt Onalfo Comments On The Current Revolution Roster
Onalfo: "We have a strong roster so we feel very, very good about it. Obviously, we’re always going to be looking to enhance every part of the organization, every single position.”
Curt Onalfo is happy with the current state of the New England Revolution’s roster, though he’ll continue to look for opportunities to improve it.
The newly-appointed sporting director was unveiled to the media on Friday, an hour after the club released their year-end roster moves.
During his press conference, which lasted more than 30 minutes, Onalfo expressed optimism about the future.
“We’re very confident in the roster that we have,” Onalfo told the media. “We’ve made some roster moves just recently. We have currently 27 players on our roster. We have a strong roster so we feel very, very good about it. Obviously, we’re always going to be looking to enhance every part of the organization, every single position.”
One player who is unlikely to return is Gustavo Bou, as he is out of contract and recently did a goodbye post on Instagram.
Bou, a designated player, was the first transfer made by the Revs after Bruce Arena and Onalfo joined the club. He collected 51 goals in all competitions since arriving in 2019, placing him fifth on the club’s all-time goals scored list.
"Gustavo was a player that I was instrumental in bringing here to the club and I have a strong, very close relationship with Gustavo and love Gustavo,” Onalfo said. “But the minute we picked up the option and bought Tomas Chancalay, that meant we had 3 DPs. At that point, it makes it much more difficult to sign a player like Gustavo Bou and his quality but I stay open-minded that there still could be a possibility [he returns]."
The other players who are out of contract are Omar Gonzalez and Justin Rennicks. The Revs also declined the options on Emmanuel Boateng, Maciel, Christian Makoun, Ben Reveno, and Ben Sweat.
Any of these players could return if a new deal is agreed upon.
Onalfo was specifically asked about Boateng, who amassed six goals and ten assists in 66 appearances (28 starts) since joining the Revs in 2021.
“Ema, he’s an exciting player,” Onalfo said. “I had him when I was in LA. We love Ema, we love the contributions he’s brought to the club, and we keep an open dialogue with him and his agent at this particular time.
“There is an opportunity for him potentially to return to our club. We’ll see how the roster unfolds. It’s an evolving, always-moving process so we always stay open to that.”
Onalfo didn’t go into specifics regarding Tomas Vaclik, whose contract is guaranteed for 2024.
The 34-year-old goalkeeper was added as a free agent last summer when Djordje Petrovic departed for Chelsea but didn’t make a single appearance.
“With all of our players, to speculate exactly what the role is going to be moving forward is going to depend on performance, injuries, and everything else,” Onalfo said when asked by Sam Minton about Vaclik’s role for next year. “But Tomas is a player that’s on our roster and will be back next year.”
While Onalfo is happy with the current state of the roster, he noted, “Our stance is, we’re always looking to enhance our team, so we’ll look at each position and if it makes sense for us to make a move that enhances us and we can do it within our salary cap and the rules of the league, we’ll go ahead and do it.”
The Revs currently have all three DP spots filled, as well as their U-22 slot.
Dylan Borrero is a U-22 player who was listed as No. 13 on MLSSoccer.com’s 22 Under 22 list and probably would’ve been higher if he hadn’t been sidelined with an ACL injury since mid-April.
Chancalay is the Revs’ newest DP as the club recently exercised his permanent transfer option. In a press release, Onalfo said it was a “straightforward decision” and that Chacalay has the ability to “be an elite attacking talent in our league.”
Carles Gil is one of the best attacking midfielders in the league and he just had the final option of his current contract picked up. Gil had 11 goals, a career-high, and 14 assists last year.
The final DP spot belongs to Giacomo Vrioni, who is slated to return for his second full season after joining the Revs midway through 2022.
The DP striker has seven goals and two assists in 36 regular season appearances (15 starts). He also had a hat trick during Leagues Cup and an assist in the 2023 MLS playoffs.
"Giacomo is part of our team,” Onalfo said. “He scored nine goals last year in limited time, so he's extremely motivated to come back and have a strong season.
“It will be up to the new head coach and Giacomo to make sure they forge a really good relationship but he's a player we believe in. He scored nine goals in limited time so if he had played more time, could he have scored more? He's a good kid, he works hard. Like I said, we're optimistic about next year."
While the Revs have all of their DP and U-22 slots currently filled, club president Brian Bilello hinted that there could be some changes to the roster rules ahead of the 2024 season. If they do change, the Revs will look to take advantage of them.
Bilello explained, “We’re a club that has filled our three DP slots. The way that it’s structured today, we’re only allowed one U-22 slot and we’ve filled that spot. Like I said, we’ve had a lot of outbound business for this club and we’re looking to do as much inbound business as we can. Anything that changes, that gives more flexibilities for teams like ours, I think we’re in favor of.
“I think when you’ll look back, we’ve been one of the highest-spending clubs in the league over the last few years. We don’t anticipate changing that philosophy in any way.
“With three DP slots and one U-22 slot filled—again, with players that we like—but we’re looking for opportunities to bring in as many good players as we can to the club, so we would welcome any ways that we can do that.”
While it’s certainly possible that not all 27 players are with the Revs for the 2024 season opener, the bulk of last year’s roster is scheduled to return. The club will also be making additions in the coming months.
Onalfo said that 2023 “was a challenging year” but he is “extremely optimistic about the future.”
“The difference between winning and losing is slight so it comes down to details,” Onalfo said while reflecting on 2023. “It was a lot of disruption and we need to start preseason properly, get off to a good start. We want to strive for excellence every day and we need to get a little bit better every day.”
"We love Ema ...." but we're not going to pay him. Off to a poor start.