Ben Reveno signed on loan

Late Friday the Legion announced the signing of defender Ben Reveno on loan from the New England Revolution of MLS. Reveno joined the Revs in 2022 after being selectred 52nd in that year’s SuperDraft. Before that he had a stand-out career at UCLA, where he played 3 years after a previous 2 years at UC Irvine. As a youth player he was also in the San Jose Earthquakes academy system. Reveno appeared just once for the Revs ‘ MLS team, going 105 minutes at right centerback in a US Open Cup game against New York City FC, a game they eventually lost 1-0. After that he played 20 games in MLS Next Pro.

This is an interesting signing for several reasons. First, the loan is open-ended. That means a couple of things. Generally speaking, it’s easier to recall a player from such a loan, as compared with a fixed term loan under which the borrowing team has a much greater expectation of having the player’s services for a defined period of time. In turn, that implies the Revs have a fairly high opinion of Reveno. On the other hand, the Revs are perfect so far this season (admittedly only two games) and have not allowed a single goal (their opponents were Charlotte and Houston, which isn’t saying much). But the open-ended loan also means he could be around for longer than a season, the typical length of a loan.

Second, although Reveno was typically listed as a centerback at UCLA, Jay Heaps’ comments on the signing point to versatility. Looking at his highlights, he certainly plays that role, but he also like to play wide, and does so equally comfortably on both right and left flanks. That’s good news, because at 6’1″, he’s not that tall for a centerback, although he is solid in the air. He’s also strong intercepting the ball, and looks to very accurate in long passing. His short passing appears a tad iffy, however. Given that the Legion still has a Jonny Dean¹Jonny, by the way, was on the bench but did not play in the Chicago Fire’s only game so far this season.-sized hole at right back, there’s a clear potential role for Reveno. He does like to get forward, but he probably isn’t as fast as Hotlinks (after all, who is?). There are also indications he can a midfield position, but his highlights don’t include any obvious examples. In any event, it will be interesting to see how the Three Sparks deploy him.

With all that, welcome to the Magic City, Ben! Or maybe that should be welcome to Foxborough South?