After one year with the New England Revolution, Juan Agudelo made his mark on and off the field.
So as he lay idle during a failed European journey, the 22-year-old striker stayed in touch with his old teammates and coaches, following them as they came up just shy of their first MLS Cup.
Agudelo’s decision to hold out for a work permit so that he could play with Stoke City, the club that signed him after a stellar 2013 with the Revs, left him without a club for nearly eight months. But with his return to New England, the forward now has a golden opportunity to receive plenty of playing time in a familiar setting.
“I’m bummed out that it didn’t work out,” Agudelo said of the Stoke City situation. “But everyone moves forward, and I’m really excited to come back to a team that I’m familiar with. It feels like I never left.”
There are still plenty of familiar faces – 13 players in all, in addition to head coach Jay Heaps – from the team that returned the Revolution to the postseason two years ago when Agudelo netted a career high seven goals after being traded from Chivas USA.
After a loan to FC Utrecht and another denial of a work permit, Agudelo was without a club since last May, entertaining offers while training in numerous places.
New England, who retained Agudelo’s rights after he left, stayed in touch, hoping they might have an opportunity to bring back the talented striker. Those conversations started heating up over the last two months.
“December through January we started to have more dialogue,” Heaps said. “I think Juan realized there was a really good opportunity here not only to come back to somewhere he was familiar, but also to come back and get really good playing time with good players around him.
“When he’s at his best and he’s playing well, he should be in that national team camp. He should be looked at as a forward that Jurgen [Klinsmann, US national team head coach] is looking at.”
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Although the USMNT is another familiar place he’d also like to return to, Agudelo is looking to put those lofty goals aside and just take care of business with the Revolution.
“When I was younger, the way that I was getting on the national team was really not thinking about the national team but focusing on my club,” said Agudelo who has 18 career appearances with the USMNT. “I’m focused on the things on the field. After that comes the rewarding factor of hopefully going back to the national team. Definitely, it’s one of my goals.”
An even bigger goal for Agudelo is helping to put the Revolution over the top.
“It’s not a bad team to come back to,” he said. “They got so far last year and just came up a tiny bit short. I’m just hoping that I can help the team anyway that I can to finish it off.”
