After six years away in England, former U.S. youth global goalkeeper Cody Cropper has returned to the States to continue his club career.
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Cropper, 23, spent the last four years in England in the Premier League and the Championship, most recently with MK Dons.
The 23-year old goalkeeper was previously on the books at Southampton and Milton Keynes Dons.
Cropper left stadiummk in July after the League One club decided against renewing his one-year-deal and later signed Wigan Athletic stopper Alex Nicholls.
“Cody is a player whose development we’ve been tracking the past few years”, said New England Revolution General Manager Michael Burns. Cropper has also played in the 2011 and 2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championships, the 2013 Federation Internationale de Football Association U-20 World Cup, and the 2015 Toulon Tournament.
A Minnesota native, Cropper represented the USA a total of 28 times on several youth levels, starting for the Americans at the 2013 Under-20 World Cup and appearing for the U-23s in the first leg of the 2016 Olympic qualifying playoff against Colombia in March.
Cropper has been mentioned as a potential target of both MLS’s 2017 expansion teams, Atlanta and Minnesota, where he lived. “At this point, though, time will tell what ends up happening”.
Cropper has earned 28 caps representing the U.S.at the youth level.
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New England now has two other goalkeeper on its roster, starter Bobby Shuttleworth and backup Brad Knighton. The team’s 44 goals conceded is the worst mark in MLS and Shuttleworth’s save percentage of 56.3% is the lowest of any MLS keeper with at least 20 saves and the only such keeper to be below 60%.
