The New York Red Bulls management team has started to make moves to better the team for the 2015 season. Tim Cahill did not get much playing time toward the end of last season, and reports are that he is going to be leaving the team in this offseason. Fans were also surprised after the season ended, when Mike Petke was fired.
Now, the Red Bulls will have even more competition with the addition of New York City FC and fans also want to see what will happen to the team with the retirement of Thierry Henry and the departure of some other players. This week, Red Bulls management made some moves to free up space with Sacha Kljestan in their sites. Then today, according to reports from MLSsoccer.com and Sacha Kljestan's Twitter, the signing has officially been announced.
Kljestan comes to the Red Bulls having played the last four years for Belgian club Anderlecht. He has also played for the Seton Hall Pirates, Orange County Blue Star, as well as Chivas USA in Major League Soccer. In his time with Chivas USA, he scored 15 goals in 114 matches. Also, he has made appearances with the United States Under-20 Men’s National Team and the US Men’s Senior Team. His first cap with the senior team came in 2007.
The trade that brought the top spot in the allocation order to the Red Bulls also included sending Montreal Impact midfielder Felipe Martins to New York in exchange for Ambroise Oyongo, midfielder Eric Alexander, an unspecified amount of allocation money, and an international roster spot for 2015.
Newly hired Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch played at Chivas USA with Kljestan and was quoted as saying he was excited to have Kljestan on his squad. Marsch also believes that Kljestan's addition will pay dividends on the pitch and in the locker room.
The Red Bulls are currently in preseason training and announced the move from Florida, where they are training for their season opener March 8th against Sporting Kansas City at Sporting Park.