http://quakestalk.com/2016/08/10/who-is-henok-goitom/
The Front Line
Who is Henok Goitom?
Alex Morgan 16 hours ago 0 0 44 views
It’s almost impossible to predict the transfer business of the San
Jose Earthquakes due to the incredibly wide scope of the club’s
scouting range. The club’s front office circumnavigates the globe (at
least via online scouting platforms) in an attempt to discover
undervalued talents that can yield returns on a limited transfer
budget. In recent years, these efforts have brought in players from
Costa Rica, Mexico, Hungary, England, Argentina and even Azerbaijan.
It’s fully in character for the Quakes, then, to be linked to a move
for thirty-one-year-old striker Henok Goitom out of Sweden. Although
nothing official is yet to come out of the Quakes organization
regarding the potential deal – and the club did not return a request
for comment – everything points towards it being an impending move.
Goitom is currently a free agent, having last played for Spanish side
Getafe in the spring, and could offer the Quakes a much-needed
reinforcement up front. Head coach Dominic Kinnear has hinted at a
potential signing for weeks, and the trade of Matias Perez-Garcia for
Orlando City’s Darwin Ceren paved the way for such a deal. Although
the MLS Transfer Window window closed on Friday night, it’s still
possible to sign free agents from outside the league, such as Goitom.
It makes too much sense, then, for the reports not to contain elements
of the truth. If anything, the obscurity of the link lends to its
legitimacy, with the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet quoting Goitom as
saying:
“I got a contract proposal from AIK and the proposal was very far from
the proposals that were on the table last fall. I understand of course
that the conditions have changed and I do not get a similar proposal
last, but the difference was very large.”
“The adventure in San Jose is a different adventure with a different
type of football … I will get to pick up experience to add to my
toolbox for a future as a coach.”
He has had a nomadic career, playing for seven different clubs in the
last nine years. On the international level, he played for Sweden’s
youth national team but switched allegiances to Eritrea in 2015. Born
to Eritrean parents, Goitom grew up in Stockholm and currently manages
a youth soccer team that cultivates the children of local immigrants.
He moved to Italian side Udinese as a teenager in 2003, dubbed as
“Udinese’s New Pearl” by La Gazzetta dello Sport, but a serious knee
injury derailed his career at the club before it could really get
started.
Goitom then bounced between moves in Spain at Ciudad de Murcia, Real
Murcia, Valladolid, and Almeria, but has been able to produce strong
goalscoring returns in the right situations and a return to Sweden
heralded the most successful period of his career. Having previously
been pegged into more traditional center-forward roles, Goitom was
given more freedom to drop into the middle and assist in the build-up
play for top division side AIK, a role that suits his technical skill
set. The results? Thirty-nine-goals in ninety-three games and an MVP
award in the Allsvenskan last season.
Nevertheless, AIK couldn’t meet his contract demands at the end of the
2015 season and he departed with regret. Although he claims to have
had offers from the Middle East, China and the US at the time, Goitom
elected to return to Spain and join Getafe.
This move didn’t pan out, however, and the player left at the end of
the season in June as Getafe suffered relegation. There is, then, an
element of risk involved in the deal for the Quakes, especially given
Goitom’s age, but rumors suggest that he will sign a only six-month
deal through the end of the season, which would fit the club’s salary
cap requirements.
The Quakes would also have the option extend the contract through next
season and presumably Goitom would be competing for a position with
Alberto Quintero, whose year-long loan deal also ends at the end of
the year. (That is assuming the club can’t get Innocent Emeghara off
their hands.)
There are, of course, many other complexities involved in MLS signing
machinations, but a potential deal for Goitom looks to check several
boxes for the Quakes.
UPDATE: It appears that Goitom is at Avaya Stadium and has signed for
the club, although the Quakes are yet to officially confirm the
transfer
UPDATE 2: It’s official! Here’s a little of what to expect from the
latest Quakes signing:
Tags 2016 Season Henok Goitom Transfer News
Alex Morgan
Alex Morgan, founder of Quakes Talk, is in his second season covering
the Quakes as a beat reporter. He is also the managing editor of
Football Every Day, an award-winning website covering the Premier
League, European soccer and beyond.
Received on Thu Aug 11 2016 - 06:48:48 EDT