Bobby Murphy: Michel Poon-Angeron Looking to Make Most of Opportunity in Maine
“He's got a son and he feels that responsibility to make the most of this opportunity he has to better his son's life.”
Michel Poon-Ageron made history as he was announced as the inaugural signing for the Portland Hearts of Pine. He hopes to make the most of his opportunity in Maine.
The 23-year-old is a defensive midfielder who has experience on the international level with Trinidad & Tobago. With a strong work rate and the type of aggression you would expect from a No. 6, Portland head coach Bobby Murphy was impressed.
Murphy discussed the scouting process in a conversation with The Blazing Musket.
“Yeah, it started with watching a lot of video and getting a sense of who he is on the field watching him both with his club team and with the national team,” Murphy said. “Then you're comparing him to guys in the Trinidad team or either maybe in the [USL] Championship or maybe abroad and in Europe. So you’re like ‘okay he's holding his own with those guys now with no problem, so all right this makes sense.’ Then we had a couple phone call conversations and chats about the project here and what he wanted to do for himself and how he wants his life to look like.”
Beyond his ability on the field, Murphy also liked what he saw in terms of who Poon-Angeron is as a person.
“He was just very endearing, very sweet young man,” the head coach said. “He's got a son and he feels that responsibility to make the most of this opportunity he has to better his son's life.”
With his experience on the international level, Poon-Angeron is likely to be a successful signing. In Portland, he will have the chance to see how he competes against talent in the USL. It will be exciting to see how he performs and what he is able to make of this opportunity to become a player that Hearts fan’s remember fondly.