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4 things to know about newly signed Revolution midfielder Alhassan Yusuf
The 24-year-old Nigerian arrives in New England with international and Champions League experience.
The Revolution formally announced the acquisition of midfielder Alhassan Yusuf from Belgian club Royal Antwerp FC on Monday, adding another interesting piece to New England’s midfield.
Yusuf, 24, will join the Revolution pending receipt of his P-1 visa International Transfer Certificate. He will occupy one of the team’s international roster spots, and is under contract through the 2027 MLS season (with a club option for 2028). The transfer fee is reportedly between $2 million and $3 million.
Here are a few things to know about the newest member of the Revolution:
New England made the signing with the help of a special salary mechanism.
As with anything pertaining to MLS, the Revolution’s signing of Yusuf involves the usage of a somewhat byzantine roster rule system. The league has specific parameters regarding its salary cap, as well as the allowed number of international players.
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In the case of Yusuf, New England completed the signing via the “season-ending injury replacement mechanism.” That is a specific reference to Revolution winger Tomás Chancalay, who was ruled out for the season in June due to a torn right ACL.
MLS allows clubs to make one annual replacement player signing using the injured player mechanism, provided the player designation has been formally made prior to the secondary transfer window, which opened in July.
With the loss of Chancalay, New England was able to make the midseason acquisition of Yusuf thanks to the injured player mechanism.
He arrives in New England having played at a high level.
Yusuf heads to New England coming off a three-year stint at Antwerp that included winning multiple trophies as well as high-level competition in the UEFA Champions League.
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On top of helping his team win the domestic league’s first-division championship, the Belgian Cup, and the Belgian Super Cup, Yusuf was also part of the team’s first-ever qualification for the UEFA Champions League group stage.
And in his first-ever Champions League appearance, Yusuf scored a quality goal against Porto (though Antwerp went on to lose the game 4-1). He later notched an assist against Barcelona.
Prior to Antwerp, Yusuf featured for Swedish Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg between 2018-2021, where he won the league’s Newcomer of the Year in 2019.
He has international experience for Nigeria.
Along with his contributions at a club level, Yusuf, who comes from Kano, Nigeria, has played for his country as well.
He made his Nigerian debut in a 1-1 draw to open the team’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament run in January as a somewhat surprising Starting XI inclusion due to the injury of Wilfred Ndidi.
Though he had to be subbed off due to injury in the 69th minute of the eventual 1-1 draw with Equatorial Guinea, Yusuf eventually returned to the active roster for the knockout stage of the tournament.
In all, he made two more appearances as a substitute amid Nigeria’s run to the finals. He has seven caps to his name, having also featured in the team’s World Cup qualifiers since AFCON.
His style of play should fit well with the Revolution.
Given Revolution head coach Caleb Porter’s general preference for a 4-2-3-1 system — with a “double pivot” of two center midfielders — Yusuf’s natural versatility should mesh with his new teammates.
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Specifically, he is expected to bring a little more defensive tenacity than some of Porter’s current options at the position.
“Yusuf is an athletic, box-to-box central midfielder that has all the qualities we look for in our double pivots,” Porter offered via the club’s statement. “He is very complete on both sides of the ball and will bring ball-winning defensively and verticality to our attack.”
It represents another younger signing for Porter, as New England also added 22-year-old Argentine attacker Luca Langoni earlier in the transfer window. Yusuf, per Porter, represents “another addition who is in the prime of his career and has championship pedigree.”
The Revolution could use some of that championship pedigree, as the club currently finds itself in last place in the Eastern Conference. That said, New England (7-2-14) is only five points behind the final playoff spot. The Revolution have two games in hand, and next play against Montreal on Aug. 24 when the regular season resumes following the conclusion of Leagues Cup.
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