Sporting Director Curt Onalfo on 2024 end-of-season roster decisions

FOXBOROUGH, MA– New England Revolution Sporting Director Curt Onalfo addressed the media following the New England Revolution’s end-of-season roster decisions.

Those in attendance in-person were myself, Seth Macomber of The Blazing Musket, Nick Boonstra of revolutionsoccer.net, Hayden Bird of boston.com, & Frank Dell’Apa of The Boston Globe.

Nov 25, 2024; New England Revolution Sporting Director Curt Onalfo talks to the press after the New England Revolution announced their end-of-season roster decisions. @ Revolution Training Center in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

Onalfo opened the press conference by stating, “Thank you everybody for coming. I know it’s a busy holiday week. Today, we made our end-of-the-season roster decisions public, and I’m sure there are questions, so I open it up to you guys.”

In his first question, Onalfo was asked directly to comment on the end-of-year roster moves and if there were any plans to replacing the 11 outgoing players.

“Anytime you say goodbye to players, it’s a difficult situation. But we had a very difficult season, and so we had to look very closely at our current roster and how we can improve upon it. With all the decisions that we made, our plan is to bring in players that are going to perform at a better level than the ones that no longer will be here.”

Adding onto how far along they were into the process of adding players, Onalfo stated, “Our season ended early, so we have put a lot of work and effort into it. We are very, very close to announcing some of those roster moves, but we also have a good period of time before we start preseason, and we are working diligently every day to replace the outgoing players with players that are going to help us have a successful 2025 season.”

Defender Xavier Arreaga and midfielder Dylan Borrero. © Burt Granofsky

Onalfo was then asked about the decision to decline the options of defender Xavier Arreaga and midfielder Dylan Borrero.

Onalfo stated, “I’ll start out with [Xavier] Arreaga. And again, any time you are talking about players publicly, I am not going to be speaking in great detail just out of respect for them. But in the case of Arreaga, he came in and did very well for us in the beginning. But his form, for whatever reason, really dropped off and to such a level that we as an organization, the coaching staff and front office, just made the decision that we would like to allocate those resources to a player that we believe can do better in that position for us. Those are difficult decisions. I think, for whatever reason, he had a hard time dealing with going to the [Ecuador] National Team and actually not playing. I think that hurt him and his performances with us, especially when you look at how he performed earlier. So, that was a difficult decision, but when players are on good salaries for our league, you really look hard at those players, because you have to be consistently producing. That’s the name of the game. So, that was the situation with Arreaga.”

“In the case of [Dylan] Borrero, it is a difficult one. He is an extremely talented young player who had an awful injury. He was just on the rise. The thing you probably don’t know is that his contract graduated; he is no longer a U22 player [beginning in 2025], so he was going to have a really huge cap hit. When, you look at what his current contributions were post-injury and then look at some of his struggles a little bit off the field, and family – he wasn’t able to have his family here because of visa issues and things like that – I think it wore on him. When you look at the whole picture and you look at the money that’s being allocated for us, it was a difficult decision for us to say goodbye to him, and we’ll use that money for other players.”

Onalfo continued on to note that the team is looking to bring in defensive reinforcements and adding attacking minded players to “score more goals”.

March 3, 2024; New England Revolution forward Tomas Chancalay (5) waits for the ball to be played to him during an MLS regular season game between the New England Revolution and Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (c) Burt Granofsky/Prost Amerika

Onalfo then noted that Designated Player forward Tomas Chancalay is expected to return to the field in early April. Chancalay suffered a partially torn right ACL in late May versus NYCFC.

In regard to roster flexibility, Onalfo went on to note that the club created a lot of space to do things and that it will be a very active window.

“A third of our roster is going to be replaced. Obviously, some of those players are supplemental roster players and others are senior roster players, but we have to replace them. So, you are going to see a very busy offseason, and we are very confident and very optimistic.”

According to sources:

Dortmund, Bayern, and Ajax are keen to find the signature of USA U20 International, Peyton Miller.

The New England Revolution left back has been heavily scouted by all three teams during his breakout MLS campaign this season. The Revolution are likely to… pic.twitter.com/GtMREDkx7w

— USMNT Report 🇺🇸🇹🇷 (@USMNTReport) November 24, 2024

Onalfo was then asked to comment on the team’s young talent of Esmir Bajraktarevic, Noel Buck, and Peyton Miller attracting overseas interest.

Onalfo stated, “We have heard about potential rumors and stuff, but we don’t have anything concrete that has come to us. In the case of Peyton, he is not 18 yet, so we have time before offers come in for him.”

Following the discussion on the younger players, Onalfo was asked to characterize what went wrong in 2024 and what the goals were for the organization as they approach the 2025 season.

“We did not achieve our goals. It’s that simple. It was a very disappointing season. Obviously, our
fans feel it, but there’s probably nobody more that feels it than us as the front office, coaching staff, and
players. We fell short. Quite frankly, we don’t point blame, it is all of us who have to take the responsibility.
The way I look at it, there is the front office, there is coaching staff, and there are players. All of us,
collectively, fell short. I am not a guy that spends a lot of time just worrying about the past. But having said
that, we felt it and we feel it hard, probably more than anybody because that’s our job. The way we talk
about it is we use it as motivation to make sure that we do whatever we possibly can to put together the
best roster that we can under the parameters that we have, that we start the season well, and have a
season that we all can be proud of.”

“We brought Caleb [Porter] here to build a championship-caliber team, and that is what our goal
is. We want to be, obviously, a team that makes the playoffs and positions ourselves to compete for
championships. Nothing has changed there. I think often the difference, it’s emotional. Athletics are
emotional and there are times where, in most cases, the difference between winning and losing is very
slight. We had opportunities this year when we were really close. We won five of six games, and you are
thinking we are going to just be shooting up. Then all of a sudden, we get faced with a whole bunch of
unfortunate injuries. Those things happen, but our goal is to make the playoffs and position ourselves at
the end of the year that we can compete for a championship, but step by step.”

Following the shortcomings of 2024 and goals into 2025, Onalfo was asked whether he could use the reports of a potential stadium to recruit new players. He stated, “it is incredible news for us”, however, the team is “not quite there yet”.

March 3, 2024; Revolution fans cheer an early shot during an MLS regular season game between the New England Revolution and Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (c) Burt Granofsky/Prost Amerika

Building off of the poor results and frustrations from the front office, players, and fans as a whole, Onalfo was asked to send a message to the Revolution fans.

He stated, “Yeah, just like I said earlier, the lack of success that we had this year just motivates us more.
There is a strong foundation to build on here. Our training environment is outstanding, and I do believe the
start of the season will be very important. Not having Champions League and that extra burden, I think,
will really help us. You know, Caleb [Porter] is a great coach, and he has the chance to be one of the best
ever, and in order to do that, it is to win a championship [in New England]. We all set goals. Sometimes
we fall a little short, but like I said, the difference between winning and losing is slight. You see it all the
time in professional athletics where you have not the greatest season, and then all of a sudden, you put
together this incredible run. I’m extremely confident in our coaching staff, in our front office staff, in terms
of finding the right players to give our fans that hope. We will be successful; I have no doubt in my mind. I
am unwavering in my belief and like I said, in the players and the coaching staff and in our process. We
are all self-reflective. We are all looking at ways to become better, and we’re going to have a successful
season.”

Coach Clint Peay (left) and new player/coach Andrew Farrell (right) © Burt Granofsky

Onalfo then commented on two coaching changes as Assistant Coach Clint Peay departed from New England and 13-year veteran center back Andrew Farrell signed a new player / academy coaching contract.

“Clint, for personal reasons, decided not to come back. He ended up leaving. We thank him for
his contributions. He was a big part of the pro pathway and the work that he did there for all those years,
and then obviously, the last year (plus) with the first team. A class act and we wish him well. I will say that
our plan is to replace Clint with a set-piece specialist. That is an area where we need to improve upon, so
that is something that we’re looking to add to our coaching staff.”

“Andrew – it just goes beyond soccer, Andrew Farrell. He is one of those rare human beings that
you look at and he is able to change people’s lives. He does life-changing things [for]people in the
community. I remember going to the [Special Olympics Massachusetts] Unified press conference and the
signings that we had and talking to the families, and how much he has impacted those people, it just
blows you away. He is a class act. He was drafted by the club; he will be back for his 13th season. He will
be coaching, when he has time, in the academy to help our young players, which he’s already spent time
with. He has this infectious, charismatic personality that I want in our club. That enthusiasm and that
knowledge that he can pass on will be outstanding. It positions him so that when he is ready to stop
playing, he can be in our organization in a coaching role. Certainly, just an awesome opportunity to put
him in hits unique role and make sure that he stays a Revolution player.”

The Sporting Director was then asked to comment on whether or not he anticipates the club to make any “big-money signings” with the resources available in the winter window.

Onalfo stated, “Right now, we currently have two U22 spots available, so those are areas this year that we will
likely make sure that we utilize. Whether or not we use both of them in the January window is to be seen.
Our owners are committed to us; they have shown that. They are great owners. We have also created a
lot of cap space, so we have the ability to make enormous change and we’re going to do that. The owners
have always been committed to making sure that we have a strong team on the field.”

June 8, 2024; New England Revolution forward Giacomo Vrioni (9) cheers on his team during a game between the New England Revolution and the New York Red Bulls at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (c) Burt Granofsky

Closing out the press conference, Onalfo was asked to comment on what he has seen from Designated Player forward Giacomo Vrioni and what more he needs to see of the player.

Onalfo stated, “So, Giacomo has one more year left on his contract. If you look at the 2023 season, if I’m not
mistaken, he scored six goals. Last year, he scored nine goals, so he improved upon that. I thought the
coaching staff did a good job with Giacomo in making him get back on track in terms of getting that form,
because when he was signed with the club, he was coming from an Austrian league where he had just
really killed it. Giacomo had a little bit of a downturn at the end of the year where he wasn’t scoring. That
certainly hurt us in terms of the results. The job for Giacomo is to come back and improve upon from six
[goals]to nine to what we want out of a DP forward, which is 12-15, 12-18 goals. That’s kind of what you
want to get out of a DP striker. So, that’s what we’ll look for out of him next season.”

New England Revolution Logo. Image Courtesy of New England Revolution.

Sporting Director Curt Onalfo along with Head Coach Caleb Porter will look to rebuild ahead of the 2025 season with the New England Revolution. For All MLS content, you can find it on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app.

(Editor’s Note: For more of Burt Granofsky’s photos, click on the link)