“He is a strong, dedicated player, but he needs to be molded. He needs someone by his side that pushes him to be proactive and helps him push harder.”
The New England Revolution acquired Columbian midfielder Dylan Borrero from Atletico Mineiro (Brazil) on April 22 and fans are anxiously awaiting his arrival to the club.
Mineiro is coming off an amazing season in Brazil. “Galo” won the Brasileiro Série A, Campeonato Mineiro and Copa do Brasil titles in 2021. Mineiro has won the Minas Gerais state league the last three seasons including the most recent iteration in 2022.
Borrero made 10 appearances in the 2022 Campeonato Mineiro, logging one goal and two assists. 2021 was the midfielders first full season with Atletico Mineiro. In total, he has scored five goals and three assists for “Galo”
But a lot is unknown about the young midfielder. So The Bent Musket reached out to Radio Galo News (@galo_radio on Twitter) to learn about the Revs’ first acquisition under MLS’ U-22 Initiative.
“He was never a starter in our team, partially due to the fact that Atletico has one of the best squads in Brazil and in South America as a whole,” Pedro from Radio Galo News said. “But Dylan has always been a hard working guy, he started playing as a CDM and recently in 2021-2022 he started playing on the wings.”
Borrero is expected to replace Tajon Buchanan who has left quite a large hole in New England. Bruce Arena hasn’t been shy about making the comparison either.
Talking about new signing Dylan Borrero on @ZoandBertrand, Bruce Arena has made a *lot* of comparisons to Tajon Buchanan, all the way down to the fact that he said the two look a bit alike. Not beating around the bush. Borrero is a Tajon Buchanan replacement.#NERevs
— Jeff Lemieux (@jeff_lemieux) April 22, 2022
“He is a strong, dedicated player, but he needs to be molded,” Pedro said. “He needs someone by his side that pushes him to be proactive and helps him push harder. He has talent, but he always tries to show a lot more than is needed and sometimes that messes up his abilities and precision. He sometimes does things he still can’t do and that’s why he needs to be molded.”
Having coaches such as Bruce Arena can help turn Borrero from a quality player into a great player. In the midfield, Maciel, Wilfrid Kaptoum, and Sebastian Lletget will be able to welcome him to the team and help him improve as a player as well. Along with starting to learn English, Borrero can speak Portuguese and Spanish.
But Revolution fans will know that making the transition to MLS from South America or Europe can be tough. New England has seen players such as Arnór Traustason, Christian Mafla or Kaptoum struggling to adjust to the style of play.
Pedro expects that it will take a while for Borrero to adjust to playing in MLS.
“Well, at first, I believe Dylan will face a lot of difficulties,” Pedro said. “Even though he is a place who shows grit, he is a light player, he is skinny. He will feel the difference in the pressure and the physical differences of the players in the MLS and in the way the game is played there. And so, he will feel cornered at first and won’t stick out very much.”
Pedro reiterated that it is important that he has someone who can teach him and mold him as a player.
“But, given time he will stick out from the rest and I’m sure of that,” Pedro said.
Radio Galo News added that MLS is a more organized league with fewer fixtures compared to Brazil’s Serie A.
“But you can be sure that with time Dylan will adapt to the soccer in MLS and will have the strength to compete against his opponents,” Pedro said. “But he will need the experience, which is not something he has today.”