FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Michael Burns went to bed early Thursday morning tired, but happy.
The New England Revolution’s general manager was up until the wee hours finalizing a deal to bring forward Kei Kamara to the northeast, with the Revs sending a hodgepodge of allocation money and draft picks to Columbus Crew SC in exchange for Major League Soccer’s 2015 joint-leading scorer.
It was a move that needed to be made last night as the MLS primary transfer window will now be closed until July 4, and according to Burns, that sense of urgency pushed the deal through.
“It got done very late last night, at the 11th hour,” Burns said on Thursday morning. “Sometimes you need that deadline to get it done on both sides. Without that deadline, maybe it doesn’t get done last night. Maybe it does.
“But I think for us and Columbus, knowing that it had to get done [last night], it kind of put the onus on both of us to get something done.”
Kamara is expected to arrive in New England late Thursday night, which would likely put him in contention to make his Revolution debut on Saturday night when the Revs will kick off a three-game homestand against the Chicago Fire.
When the 31-year-old Designated Player does take the field for New England, he’ll add strength, speed and size to the Revolution’s frontline – what head coach Jay Heaps called “a true number nine.”
But what else will he add?
“Simple. Hopefully goals,” said Burns. “If he continues scoring at even close to the rate that he’s been scoring at Columbus, then he’s going to be alright and we’re going to be alright.”
Kamara racked up 22 goals last season – tying Sebastian Giovinco for the league lead – and he’s already added five more through his first nine appearances this season. The 6-foot-3 striker had a pair of goals in his final appearance for Columbus last weekend against the Montreal Impact.
But it was a public disagreement that Kamara had with former teammate Federico Higuain that stole the headlines following that game, sparking Columbus’ decision to move the charismatic forward.
It’s a situation the Revolution’s front office considered carefully when making the move.
“Of course we’ve considered everything: on the field, off the field, locker room – everything,” said Burns. “When you weigh it all, our feeling was that to add a player of this quality to our team, we didn’t want to pass it up.”
Key to the deal from New England’s perspective was the ability to add Kamara without subtracting from their current group. While they sent a significant package of assets to Columbus, it didn’t include any players, so the Revs were able to simply add Kamara to an already talented attacking corps.
“We wanted to keep our roster intact,” Burns said. “We had the roster space and the budget space to add a player without having to move a player. The fact that we were able to get this done with being able to keep our guys – not having to move any of them – and acquire Kei, that made it a little easier for us.”
Through the first 11 games of the current campaign the Revs have been near the top of the league in chance creation and shots, but they’ve struggled to turn those chances into goals on a consistent basis. Kamara should help in that respect immediately.
“We were looking to strengthen the team and we were looking to add another attacking player,” Burns said. “He’s a proven goal scorer in this league and he’s had success in this league. We’re looking forward to his arrival.”
