It probably wasn't the signing that many Sporting Kansas City fans were wanting or expecting, but Sporting KC did make a move ahead of today's roster freeze. Sporting KC announced today that the team had signed 22 year old midfielder, Benji Joya.
Joya is beginning his second stint in MLS, having spent the 2014 season on loan with the Chicago Fire. Joya played in 12 games for the Fire that season, scoring one goal. The Fire though didn't make the loan deal permanent and Joya returned to Santos Laguna, who signed him when he was 18. Joya could never establish himself fully with Santos, only appearing a handful of times for them. Most recently he had been playing on loan with Club Necaxa in the Mexican second division, but again didn't make a whole lot of appearances for them.
Joya is also a US youth international, having captained the US U20 team in World Cup qualifying and was a part of the US team that went to the World Cup in Turkey. He has also appeared for the US U23 team as well.
On the surface his is a signing that likely won't pay off much this year, it's a typical late season Peter Vermes signing where he'll take a chance and kick the tires on a young player to see if they fit in and what type of role they can play in the team. It's been the same for guys like Peterson Joseph, Jordi Quintilla, Brendan Ruiz, and Jimmy Medranda, to varying degrees of success. With how some of Sporting's reserve midfielders have played at times in the CCL and with the Swope Park Rangers, taking a chance on another midfielder isn't a horrible decision.
Thursday, September 15, 2016
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BJ is a helluva player and has a lot of his career ahead of him, which I hope is with us. His time in Mexico can be written off as a learning experience. Im not really bothered by his lack of games down there. The loan to Chicago was a bad situation to begin with because that team was hot garbage and BJ couldn't get comfortable knowing he was only going to be there temporarily as the season went on. Necaxa had a solidified lineup they played with all season, which saw them beat Juarez in the final. BJ was never getting in there. Now, he's in the best run, most stable franchise in the league. He has a chance to get games with both SKC and SPR for the foreseeable future. At 22, he's got time. What he needs from us is support and stability. He will come great some day.
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