Catanese: Giacomo Vrioni And The Revs Long List of Unsuccessful DP's
New England has a long list of talented players that simply didn't work out, and it's usually very easy to see why.
With his trade to CF Montreal, striker Giacomo Vrioni etched his name into a long list of respectably talented players who… failed to live up to their expectations I guess is the nice way of saying it, in their New England Revolution playing careers.
Now, for most of the Revolution’s DP history this has included salary cap shenanigans that pushed Milton Caraglio and Jerry Bengston into the DP threshold, promoting Shalrie Joseph and Jose Goncalves into that category and of course more recently, the wildly successful tenure of Carles Gil (signed in 2019) who holds the title of longest tenured DP in MLS currently.
We could honestly extend this list well beyond the Designated Players to include major trades (looking at you Benny Feilhaber) and TAM signings (we all liked Antonio Delamea) but we’re going to keep it mostly simple.
The New England Revolution do not (entirely) have a problem finding and signing good soccer players. They absolutely have a problem with using those players to succeed as a team in Major League Soccer.
I’d like to think Giacomo Vrioni would admit he did not play up to his capabilities while in New England. He generally underperformed his expected goal metrics (a -1.90xG according to ASA in 2024, 9G against 10.90 xG) while having one of the lowest usage rates in the league. It was so low Andy Judd wrote in midseason that Vrioni’s usage rates were sub-leasing the sub-basement of the MLS metrics.
Both of the following things can be true: Giacomo Vrioni is not as good at soccer as his contract indicated and two Revolution coaches misused him horribly in different ways while he was here. But I find it hard to believe a guy who lead the Austrian Bundesliga with WSG Tirol scoring 19 goals suddenly forgot how to play soccer after landing at Logan.
Vrioni’s successful loan in Austria (from Italian giants Juventus lest we forget) sent him searching for a big contract somewhere and the Revolution obliged, inking the young goal scorer to replace Adam Buksa fresh of his transfer to FC Lens.
At which point a knee injury and a constant supply of aerial crosses kind of undid his 2022 season as New England took a long time to realize Buksa’s large and magnificent Polish forehead was no longer on the team. We do not speak of 2023, and then last year came Vrioni’s longest run of consistent play in Caleb Porter’s horrid build from the back system that never saw him get the ball.
Here’s how I know I am right when I say Giacomo Vrioni is good at soccer and the Revs failed him both on and off the field.
During the summer New England very briefly played the fast, counter attacking style that we all think they should be doing all the time. Vrioni scored seven goals in seven matches with two braces during a two-month stretch prior to the Leagues Cup where the Revs won six of their nine total games on the year ending with that post-LC rout in Montreal where he scored off the bench. That would be Vrioni’s last goal for the Revs who would only win once the rest of the year as they reverted back to playing slow, predictable soccer.
I believe that New England failing to use Vrioni properly is not a scouting/talent evaluation failure but a coaching one. Now, I completely understand where signing Vrioni — a non target-man style lone striker — to replace Buksa can be perceived as a mistake. Vrioni didn’t fit what how Revs were playing in 2022 which led to Vrioni on the bench a lot more than a No. 9 DP should be.
Again, I think that’s a coaching issue in not being able to adapt your playing style, not a scouting one but I understand the argument. With the MLS roster restrictions the way they are, limiting yourself to just one style of play can be dangerous and refusing integrate a Designated Player into a starting lineup is not just a recipe for disaster but sporting malpractice at the MLS level.
The larger point of this article is to highlight the long list of struggles New England has had in the MLS Designated Player era. Since 2010 the New England Revolution have advanced in the playoffs exactly two times:
2014 - MLS Cup Final run
2020 - Beat PHI Union and Orlando as an 8 seed
No we’re not counting Gustavo Bou’s walkoff thunderbastard against Montreal, play-in games don’t count. Even if we were counting them, that’s the only one the Revs have won anyway. That’s it. That’s the list.
Yes, there’s a Supporter’s Shield win and league points record that could only be broken by the Inter Barcelona Florida Over 30 team in that stretch but New England in the DP era has been not just underwhelming but largely dreadful. Either the Revs are missing the playoffs entirely or getting bounced at the first opportunity.
The two most successful Revs teams of the last decade and a half featured a MVP caliber season from their star playmaker (Lee Nguyen/Carles Gil) and hitting on another DP level signing (Jermaine Jones/Bou/Buksa) as well as almost no major injuries and a goalkeeper standing on his head (playoff Bobby Shuttleworth/Matt Turner).
The margins of error for a team like New England on a DP signing are so fine that even a slight underperformance will feel like a disaster. When Christian Benteke and Denis Bouanga are putting up 20 goals and putting up double the metrics of your DP striker, that’s going to feel like a failure. Because it is. Not because Vrioni is a bad player but because the Revs largely haven’t been capable of getting the most out of the DPs since the rule’s inception.
I think Jerry Bengston and Milton Caraglio are good players. You don’t score 23 international goals with Honduras or a few dozen goals in Liga MX by accident. Were those players worthy of a DP tag? Probably not, but in the early years the Revs used that roster spot to bring in potential goal scorer on bad teams. It didn’t work…not because Bengston or Caraglio were bad but because the roster around them wasn’t great. Those two were never going to succeed on a roster that was likely going to miss the playoffs.
The Goncalves/Jones era ended so disappointingly after that 2015 season…an MLS Cup run bolstered by an offseason of nothing and then dismantling that team over the next year or two. The Kei Kamara era was fun and a healthy Xavier Kouassi maybe adds to that. No I don’t want to try and explain the Claude Dielna-Michael Mancienne era either. Having two Caicedo’s on the team was fun too even if Juan Fernando Caicedo played backup striker minutes.
The Revolution are not perfect when it comes to signing international players, Gabriel Somi and Guillermo Hauche come to mind as does the legendary Marvin Ceballos. The staff peanut gallery demands Alexander Buttner, Christian Mafla, and Tomas Vaclik get mentions here as well and for good reason.
The New England Revolution can not afford to miss on an international roster spot let lone a DP spot. Heck I don’t think the Revs can afford to miss on first round draft picks still, not unless the Krafts decide to start spending LAFC/Miami levels of money overnight.
But where the Revs have been operating over the last five years or so has been a pretty good place. They’re selling homegrowns, keepers, draft picks, and DPs abroad for profit and they are able to sign young and talented attackers.
Now injuries and …*gestures at the Bruce Arena saga*… everything else going on the last couple of years have derailed the momentum of that 2021 Shield campaign. But New England’s rise to breakout selling team in MLS is something young players absolutely are noticing. The Revs are doing something right as an organization as far as identifying, developing, and selling players.
The winger trio of Dylan Borrero, Tomas Chancalay, and Luca Langoni I think are an extension of the Revs overall thought process. Younger, U22-level attacking talent brought in at the TAM level with a chance to play, grow, and be sold. Injuries, and Borrero’s post-recovery attitude/performance, warranted his option decline and again losing a player you brought in on transfer for nothing hurts but the Revs have been successful in other sales enough to cover for these misses.
But those misses come at the cost of on-field success.
Giacomo Vrioni’s signing was supposed to be another one of those transfer success stories. It didn’t work. Not just because Vrioni didn’t perform up to his capability but because the village that was needed to be built around Giacomo to help him succeed was proverbially on fire during his time here. I think a lot of Revs fans, including our intrepid podcasting duo of Greg and Andy, aren’t taking that into account enough.
Giacomo Vrioni had a bad time in New England. So did basically everyone else the last two years here. The Revs getting a bag of soccer balls in return from Montreal in the trade yesterday is mostly a reflection on how the Revolution supported him the last two years and not entirely on the striker himself.
If you think that’s a crazy take leave a comment down below. I wish Giacomo well in his future ventures in Montreal and elsewhere and look forward to what the Revs are going to do with that open DP spot. Cause you don’t trade a DP ever let alone within your own conference if you aren’t plotting something.
Absolutely agree that Giacomo is a talented player and that the system they built up around him failed to put him in the best spots to succeed. Across 2 coaching staffs no less. I’m legitimately interested to see how he does in Montreal.
But he didn’t cover himself in glory when given clear opportunities to score. He was always at his best trying to beat a high line and splitting the CBs but far too often his shot would let him down or he would pull back and look for a foul.
A lot of good points here. And, good history for those of us (ok, me) who are relatively new to following the Revs.