Another League One Day One has come and gone. We’ve seen a lot of exciting announcements between Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon press time. The announcements stretched into today, with Greenville waiting until this morning to even start, and Lexington trickling in a few more.
Here’s our review, analysis and lingering questions on everything we learned over the last 48 hours.
RELATED: 2024 Transactions Tracker
It’s Raining Goals
- Atês Diouf returns to Lexington after finishing third in the golden boot race. He’ll be backed by Tate Robertson and Khalid Balogun.
- Chevon Marsh and Ropapa Mensah signed on for another year in Chattanooga, after scoring 12 a piece in 2023.
- Long time USL veteran Steevan Dos Santos returns to Omaha after leading his side to the top of the table.
- Emiliano Terzaghi will spend a fifth year in Richmond, seeking to bounce back after a down year.
- Madison will have another year of Christian Chaney’s backflips.
- Leo Castro returns to Greenville alongside Lyam MacKinnon.
And while Golden Boot winner Trevor Amann previously signed with Sacramento Republic FC, we also have some big time goal scorers unaccounted for: Khori Bennett (CLT), Nico Brown (LEX), Alexis Cerritos (CVF), Jacob Labovitz (GVL), Marky Hernandez (NCO), Joel Johnson (CLT), Jake Keegan (KNX), Dane Kelly (CLT), Billy King (NCO), Tresor Mbuyu (CLT), and Noe Meza (OMA). We’re hearing a mix of news about these players, from negotiations ongoing with their current clubs, the pursuit of outside opportunities or even possible retirements. We should know more over the coming weeks.
Then there’s the question of who is going with NCFC to the USL Championship, including Oalex Anderson, Rafa Mentzingen, Garrett McLauglin and Louis Perez. NCFC has yet to announce roster moves. Might we see a player or two from the 2023 championship side remain in USL League One while the club moves up a level?
Goalkeeper Continuity
Not to let the goal scorers have all the fun, many of the league’s top goalkeepers are returning for another year. Rashid Nuhu and Akira Fitzgerald were previously announced under multi-year contracts. And goalkeeper of the year nominee Lalo Delgado returns to Northern Colorado. We speculated that he might return to the USL Championship after such a stellar season in USL League One. Bernd Schipmann returns to Madison, after a season in which the goalkeeper of the year award should have included him as a fourth nominee. Finally, both Amal Knight and Austin Causey will return to Lexington.
While we know that Jared Mazolla is headed to Sacramento, we still have a few big names unaccounted for, including Goalkeeper of the Year Austin Pack, the third goalkeeper of the year nominee Sean Lewis, as well as Carlos Avilez and Will Palmquist. Again, we’re hearing contract approvals and negotiations continue for a few of these names, but will we see some others jump clubs or levels?
Most Shocking Departures
Many times, player departures are expected. Everyone from the fans, the managers and the players themselves understand the matrix of performance, budgets and future needs. However, sometimes, departures still come as a surprise.
Especially when a club just one year removed from winning the league championship announces the release of nearly their entire non-academy roster: Tormenta FC. League superstar Kazaiah Sterling leads the pack of new free agents after yesterday’s announcement, along with fellow regulars, Arthur Bosua, Mukwelle Akale, Kingsford Adjei, Jake Dengler, Chris Heckenberg, Davey Mason, John Murphy, Deshawn Dembhard, Tobias Otieno and both goalkeepers, TJ Bush and Pablo Jara. Consider the free agent market officially flooded. Best of luck to all of these guys.
We also found out on Friday that Charlie Machell departed Lexington after captaining his side for most of the inaugural season. This places a fairly solid central midfielder on the market, with two full seasons in the league under his belt. Any club seeking a leadership-minded central midfielder would do well to pursue Machell, including Greenville, Northern Colorado and Spokane.
And One New Signing
After dropping the bombshell announcement that none of the unsigned non-academy players would be returning to Tormenta, the club turned around and made what is so far the lone new signing announcement. Tavio D’Almeida joins the South Georgia squad for 2024 from USL League Two side Fort Wayne FC. The midfielder was previously a product of youth squads for Cardiff City and AJ Auxerre.
Where are Spokane Velocity’s Announcements?
As the season’s expansion side, Spokane will likely start announcing in January. Leigh Veidman took the head coaching spot in mid-November, and has held several open tryouts over the last two weeks. We reached out to the club for a statement, but did not hear back by press time.
League One Day One 2024 Season: Summaries
Central Valley Fuego
Returning: David Diaz, José Carrera-García, Qudus Lawal, Omar Lemus
Charlotte Independence
Returning: Luis Álvarez, Rayan Djedje, Matt Levy, Bachir Ndiaye
Chattanooga Red Wolves
Returning: Omar Gomez, Mayele Malango, Chevone Marsh, Ropapa Mensah, Yahir Paez, Richard Renteria
Forward Madison
Returning: Nazeem Bartman, Christian Chaney, Jacob Crull, Derek Gebhard, Timmy Mehl, Aiden Mesias, Mitch Osmond, Bernd Schipmann
Greenville Triumph
Returning: Lyam MacKinnon, Tyler Polak, Gunther Rankenburg, Nate Shultz, Jamie Smith, Daniel Wu
Options Declined or Contract Expired/Negotiating: Brandon Fricke, Hassan Gabo, Evan Lee, Aaron Walker
Departing: Alex Cox-Ashwood, Devin Boyce, Lucas Coutinho, Venton Evans, Noah Franke, Fernando Garcia, Allen Gavilanes, Jared Mazolla, Noah Pilato, Tevin Shaw
Northern Colorado Hailstorm
Returning: McCain Clarke, Lalo Delgado, Brecc Evans, Irvin Parra, Bruno Rendon
Departing: Trevor Amann, Donald Benmna, Leo Folla, Stefan Lukic, Destan Norman, Arthur Rogers, Brandon Rosas, Valentin Sabella
Lexington SC
Returning: Khalid Balogun, Austin Causey, Erick Ceja-Gonzalez, Atês Diouf, Kaelon Fox, Amal Knight, Tate Robertson
Departing: Will Baynham, Owen Green, Joshua Head, Diallo Irakoze, Jalen James, Soso Kim, Charlie Machell, Franky Martinez, Cesar Murillo, Terique Mohammed, Drew Patterson, Luke Phillips, Don Smart
One Knoxville
Returning: Rodolfo Castro, Gio Calixtro, Jalen Crisler, Dani Fernandez, Ilija Ilic, Callum Johnson, Sean O’Hearn, Angelo Kelly-Rosales, Frank Ross, Jordan Skelton, James Thomas, Yesin van der Pluijm
Departing: Gabriel Claudio
Richmond Kickers
Returning: Nathan Aune, Dakota Barnathan, Chris Cole, Simon Fitch, Akira Fitzgerald, João Gomiero, Beckett Howell, Landon Johnson, Zaca Moran, Justin Sukow, Emiliano Terzaghi, Nil Vinyals
South Georgia Tormenta
Returning: Nick Akoto, Collin Mocyunas, Preston Kilwien, Jackson Khoury, Pedro Fonseca
Inbound Signing: Tavio D’Almeida
Departing: Kingsford Adjei, Mukwelle Akale, Elija Amo, Arthur Bosua, TJ Bush, Jake Dengler, Chris Heckenberg, Pablo Jara, Daltyn Knutson, Davey Mason, John Murphy Jr., Deshawn Nembhard, Tobias Otieno, Kazaiah Sterling
Union Omaha
Returning: Dion Acoff, Pedro Dolabella, Steevan Dos Santos, Joe Gallardo, Anderson Holt, Lagos Kunga, Luca Mastrantonio, Marco Milanese, Rashid Nuhu
Departing: JP Scearce, Chavany Willis