FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution added a fresh face to their goalkeeper corps on Thursday morning, announcing the signing of former U.S. Under-23 shot-stopper Cody Cropper.
Cropper, who featured in Olympic qualifying for the U.S. this past March, had previously spent his entire professional career in England. He rose through the academy system at Ipswich Town before signing with Southampton in 2012, then joined MK Dons upon their promotion to the Championship in 2015.
Head coach Jay Heaps revealed on Thursday that the Revolution had been tracking Cropper’s progress for an extended period, and had even spoken with the goalkeeper about a potential move last year.
“He’s an up and coming goalkeeper,” Heaps said. “He has excellent talent, he’s got a very good pedigree, trained really well and played at a high level with MK Dons and of course our U23 national team.
“When you add an American goalkeeper that has played with some international experience, you feel like you’re gaining some ground. Obviously he’s new to the group and we’re excited to get him introduced to everybody.”
Cropper trained with the Revs for the first time on Thursday morning – donning the #1 jersey -- but he’ll be unavailable for selection until the club receives his International Transfer Certificate.
The 23-year-old goalkeeper joins a corps that already features the veteran duo of Bobby Shuttleworth and Brad Knighton, as well as rookie Matt Turner. Shuttleworth has been the primary starter for the past two-and-a-half seasons – with Knighton always challenging – and Cropper’s presence will add yet another dimension to the competition for minutes.
“He’s someone that we wanted to bring in to our mix and really just make our group stronger in the goalkeeper area,” Heaps said of Cropper.
With Cropper on board, New England’s technical staff now turns their attention to other areas of the field ahead of the roster freeze date. Although the transfer window has closed – preventing the purchase of players from other clubs – MLS teams are allowed to sign unattached players until September 15.
While the club is typically coy about which positions they’re targeting, Heaps said the Revs “looked closely at a couple things” during the transfer window and are continuing their quest for players, both for this season and when the window reopens in January.
“We’re definitely having active conversations. We always do,” Heaps said. “Obviously you’re ahead of every window, so we’re looking at the next window, as well. Some decisions that we make now will affect what we do in January.”
