Revolution Sporting Director Curt Onalfo Reflects On Busy Transfer Window

Onalfo: “We want to get better every single window.”

Photo Courtesy of the New England Revolution

New England Revolution sporting director Curt Onalfo believes that the club has improved after an active Secondary Transfer Window.

The marquee signings of the summer are U-22 winger Luca Langoni and defensive midfielder Alhassan Yusuf. Both players have won championships, Langoni with Boca Juniors of Argentina and Yusuf with Royal Antwerp of Belgium.

The club also added central defender Tim Parker and outside back Will Sands in trades with St. Louis and Columbus, respectively. Each deal came with $600,000 in General Allocation Money [GAM].

“It was a very busy period of time for us, extremely busy month,” Onalfo said. “Our goal going into this transfer window was to make sure we got better immediately, right now, so that we can make a legitimate push to make the playoffs in the last 11 games of the season, and then also position ourselves to be better next season as well, and we were able to accomplish that with the four moves that we made during this window.”

Head coach Caleb Porter noted earlier that the Revs were up against the cap at the start of the season. This made it difficult to make significant transfers.

There were rumblings that the rules regarding the U-22 initiative would change before the beginning of the season, but that didn’t happen until midway through the year.

“We had players that we were targeting [during the Primary Transfer Window],” Onalfo said. “We thought that there was going to be that change. It was frustrating.

“We obviously lost an incredible player in [Djordje] Petrovic in a situation where you have to sell the player, but then you have these funds, and you want to reinvest in the team, but you don’t have mechanisms to do so.”

The Revs got flexibility in mid-July when the league announced that teams with three Designated Players could have three U-22 players.

“With the league change of adding the [additional] U-22 initiative [slots], that was huge for us,” Onalfo said. “We were able to add Langoni, a game-changer type player. We spent a lot of money on that player. He fits Caleb’s model.”

The Revs also got some cap relief when they traded DeJuan Jones to Columbus and Henry Kessler to St. Louis, who were both on big contracts. Each player came with $600,000 of GAM, though only $300,000 was allocated for 2024.

“That gives us flexibility,” Onalfo said. “Our goal is to continually get better. It’s never fun to move players that you care about. I’m sure the fans felt it, and we felt it probably more because we work with them every day. It’s all part of the business.”

Onalfo noted that the emergence of 16-year-old Peyton Miller was a factor in trading Jones, who he described as a “lovable guy” that they “already miss”.

“We had the emergence of Peyton, who’s a really talented young player, and then we were able to get a left-footed player in Will Sands that between the two of them, puts us in a really good position in Caleb’s model.

“Caleb’s model, he likes his outside backs getting forward, but he likes them to be left-footed guys on the left, right-footed guys on the right side.”

One area that wasn’t addressed during the summer window was the striker position. The club currently has Giacomo Vrioni, who is working his way back from injury, and Bobby Wood as primary options.

“We want to get better every single window,” Onalfo said when asked about if the club looked to add a striker. “We’re going to do our best to add players every window. We added Luca Langoni, an attacker, we’re going to continually be looking for attackers.

“The positive for us collectively if you look at our team, Vrioni scored [in] six games, six goals. Bobby Wood has two goals in his last two games, which is great because that is kind of the form that he had last year and he was a little injury ridden this season, which has changed.”

Onalfo noted that the team has a host of talented attackers, including Carles Gil, Dylan Borrero, and Esmir Bajraktarvic.

Langoni is another attacking piece while Yusuf is a central midfielder who is “more vertical and that makes us more dynamic.”

“When you just incorporate all those, we now will be more robust. The goal and the feeling we have is that we’ll score more goals and win more games and make a push into the playoffs,” Onalfo said.

While the transfer window doesn’t close until tonight at 11:59 CST, Onalfo said, “We think we’re done. We still have time, obviously, where there could be a move, but the reality is we feel very confident, very good about this window. So, I think it’s unlikely that there will be any more moves prior to the end of today.”

But there’s plenty of work ahead as the club now turns its attention to future windows.

“We’ll be looking to add more players,” Onalfo said. “We’ll have another U-22 position available to look to add a player there and we’ll assess how this looks.

“Caleb and I are 100% on the same team, we’re aligned, we work together, and we see things similarly, and we’ll make the smartest decisions we possibly can make ourselves better in the January window.”

Onalfo complimented the people who work alongside him, noting, “We have a great network of scouting.” He specifically named David Kammarman, Remi Roy, and Chris Tierney before speaking about Porter.

“Caleb is outstanding at this,” Onalfo said. “Quite frankly never been around a coach that is that detail-orientated that knows exactly what he wants. A lot of the time, coaches aren’t as clear on exactly what they want but Caleb knows what he wants. So that makes it easier for us because the profile is very clear, and the game model is very clear.”

Onalfo also showed appreciation for the Krafts, saying “They are awesome owners. They just get it. They’ve built championship organizations, so they know what it takes.”

Damian Rivera Loan Report

The 2024 season hasn’t gone as expected for the Revolution, who started the year 2-10-1 before winning five of six. They then experienced another tough run—going 0-3-1—as injuries piled up.

That said, the club currently sits five points outside of the playoffs. They have at least two games in hand on all teams above them except the Columbus Crew. Of course, seven of their final 11 games are on the road.

The Revs are getting healthier as Carles Gil, Nacho Gil, Noel Buck and Borrero were seen participating in the early part of Wednesday’s training session. Miller was working off to the side and Vrioni is also getting closer.

Onalfo noted that Langoni is “on a flight right now, so he’ll be here shortly.” The club is hopeful that Yusuf’s P-1 visa will be “approved in the next couple of days.”

“It’s not going to be an easy challenge, but our guys are getting better every single day,” Onalfo said. “Caleb has got everybody dialed in, and we’re going to make a push. That’s why we were bold in this window.”

When asked to reflect on the season so far, Onalfo said he’s confident in the project.

“I’m steadfast,” Onalfo said. “Caleb is a championship-caliber coach. He’s won championships with two clubs and he’s going to win a championship here. It’s that simple.

“I’m unwavering in my belief in our project, Krafts are the same way and so is Brian [Bilello]. It’s a profession where there is a lot of ups and downs and if you can stay even-keeled throughout the difficult times, there will be more of winning five out of six games and hopefully that’s how we can start this next stretch, but we believe in what we are doing.”

“We all know that the Champions League is a tough challenge, especially when you have a brand-new coach that’s trying to implement a way of playing and I think it took a little time for Caleb’s way to start coming through the team.

“If you watch our training sessions and see the environment that Caleb and his staff has created for our team, it’s outstanding. So, it’s just a matter of making sure we get better, we obviously hit a ran of some bad luck of injuries and hopefully in the future that doesn’t happen but as the team gets healthy, you know, the important thing is to stay the course.

“Caleb is a great coach, and we just have to continually get better and continually add better players. Just get a little better each day.”

Of course, making additions is part of the process.

“Whenever you put a new coach in place, there is a period of time where you need probably three [transfer] windows to really kind of make the team the coach’s,” Onalfo said. “This was our second window, we wanted to make sure it was impactful.