Revolution Add Slovenian Defender Delamea
- Updated: January 25, 2017
Photo Courtesy New England Revolution
The New England Revolution officially announced their first of two anticipated international by introducing defender Antonio Mlinar Delamea on Wednesday. Delamea joins the Revolution after previously playing at NK Olimpija Ljubljana, who sits in second place in the ten-team Prvaliga of Slovenia. The center back was acquired using Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) and will be added to the Revolution roster upon the receipt of his International Transfer Certificate and P-1 Visa. He joined the Revolution for preseason training on Wednesday.
Delamea, 25, has spent his entire senior career within the domestic leagues of Slovenia, playing for second-division side NK Interblock in 2010-2011 before being transferred to NK Olimpija Ljubljana before the 2011-2012 season. Delamea appeared in 105 matches for the squad where he’s spent most of his career, building a reputation as one of the best defenders in the league.
“We are very pleased to add to our defense with an experienced center back like Toni,” Revolution General Manager Michael Burns said in a club release. “We’re excited to have him here for the beginning of training camp and we look forward to getting him a full preseason of action on the field with his new teammates.”
During his time with Olimpija, Delamea has been on teams that have finished runner up in the Super Cup twice (2012-13, 2013-14), domestic league runner-up (2011-12, 2012-13), and domestic league champions once (2015-2016).
Delamea has been a regular for Olmpija since the 2012-2013 season, starting a total of 65 league matches from 2012-2015. His 2015-2016 season was cut short, due to a knee injury that limited him to two starts and four games overall. However, since returning from injury, Delamea has started in 19 matches with one substitute appearance out of 21 matches while captaining the team.
Delamea has also made his senior international debut for Slovenia, debuting as a second half substitute against Poland in November 2016 and making his first career start for Slovenia on January 10th against Saudi Arabia.
Delamea will become the first Slovenian to play in Major League Soccer and add a much needed improvement to the back line of the Revolution. Delamea is expected to be the first of two international signings the Revolution are expected to announce this week, with both signings expected to be centerbacks who were acquired using targeted allocation money.
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