The New England Revolution have made a pair of minor moves on the final day of the MLS season’s primary transfer window, trading for Seattle defender Xavier Arreaga and signing former Portland goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic.
Neither figure is expected to help New England’s struggling offense, which has scored a league-worst five goals in a 1-6-1 start. First-year coach Caleb Porter reiterated that the team had very little deal-making ability given salary cap constraints, and that another move for a midfield player — reportedly Ghanaian international and current La Liga player Iddrisu Baba — “fell through . . . at the 11th hour” for medical reasons.
“We need talent. We have talent, but we need more talent,” Porter said Tuesday. “If we had more flexibility, we would make more moves.”
Arreaga, 29, was acquired for a 2025 international roster slot, plus up to $75,000 in general allocation money. The one-time designated player and Ecuadorean international made 105 MLS appearances for the Sounders, and was a key part of both their MLS Cup winning team in 2019 and their Concacaf Champions Cup winner in 2022. He made the all-tournament team in the latter, but lost his starting job in 2023, appearing in just 14 of 34 regular-season matches.
Porter was effusive in his praise for Arreaga, calling him a “top-quality central defender.”
“He brings experience. He brings quality on the ball, the ability to play out of the back. A real calm. A real presence,” Porter said. “Defensively, he is a smart player who reads the game extremely well and will complement our other defenders. I really like his track record of winning trophies in Ecuador and in MLS, and his international experience will add leadership and confidence to our locker room.”
Ivacic, 30, made 54 appearances for the Timbers from 2020-23 before he was waived last month. He made 32 starts for Portland in 2022, leading MLS with 112 saves.
Ivacic, who has made a handful of appearances for the Slovenian national team, signed a two-year contract and was initially placed on New England’s supplemental roster. Henrich Ravas has shown some unease in his initial MLS season; he has given up 13 goals in seven starts, narrowly escaping danger on multiple misplays handling the ball across his appearances.
In a corresponding move, the Revolution waived goalkeeper Jacob Jackson, a 2022 SuperDraft pick who made three MLS starts and spent the rest of his time with Revolution II.
“We basically are able to move a fourth-string goalkeeper and add what we feel is a very strong backup, who has been a starter in this league with a very good team in Portland and who could push for the starting role,” Porter said. “I feel like we got better there.”
The league’s summer transfer window opens July 18. Porter said the Revolution intend to be more active then.
“We expect to have much more flexibility in the summer window, and we expect to make another three to four to five moves in that window as well. We have targeted positions and players,” he said. “We did the best that we possibly could in this window with the cap that we had available. We still have a little cap because, obviously, the one target we didn’t get, but we’ll move our emphasis on finding a player in that position in the next window. In a lot of ways, it allows us to maybe find a better one.”
