Jay Heaps stayed mum on Antonio Mlinar’s name after the New England Revolution’s first preseason practice, but is nevertheless excited to bring him and other off-season transfers into the team as soon as possible.
FOXBORO, Mass. – Antonio Delamea Mlinar—try saying that five times fast—is the latest player to join the New England Revolution.
The 25-year-old Slovenian defender comes to Major League Soccer from Olimpija Ljubljana, a team which he captained, and will now be tasked with bolstering a Revolution back line that conceded 54 goals last season.
BREAKING: #NERevs reportedly negotiating with Slovenian defender Antonio Delamea Mlinar (25 years old, 1 natl team cap) #MLS @MLSTransfers
— Julian Cardillo (@JulianCardillo) January 24, 2017
Antonio Mlinar will be introduced tomorrow as a new @NERevolution signing. 25yr old CB, club captain recently capped by Slovenia. #MLS
— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) January 24, 2017
New England had been preaching patience throughout the winter that defensive reinforcements were on the way. In fact, proper timing will allow Mlinar to join his new team during their first preseason trip to Casa Grande, Arizona, from January 27 to February 8.
The Revolution expect to announce the signing of another defender—possibly Peruvian center back Alexander Callens—by the end of the week.
“We want to have time to work players in, having international players it can sometimes take longer to adjust,” said Revolution coach Jay Heaps after his team’s first training session of 2017 on Tuesday night. “The sooner they’re here, the more acclimated they’ll get in terms of meeting guys, understanding the system in which we play, the style we play.
“It takes a little while. These are important pieces, right up the spine. The sooner we get them in the better.
“This off-season we spent a lot of time trying to find the right pieces. We’re excited to add the two pieces.”
Mlinar recently debuted for the Slovenia national team as a substitute in a friendly against Poland. That said, his international profile is relatively innocuous and doesn’t seem to fit the “over the max” description that was originally teased for the Revolution’s first two signings.
Though terms of the signing such as contract length and salary were not released, it is likely that the Revolution used targeted allocation money to acquire Mlinar.
If you want to reach Julian, email him at julianccardillo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @juliancardillo
