Randall Leal Contract

NASHVILLE (September 6, 2019) – Nashville Soccer Club announced today that it has signed Costa Rican international Randall Leal to a contract with Major League Soccer, subject to receipt of his International Transfer Certificate (ITC) and P-1 visa. The 22-year-old attacking midfielder will remain with his current club, Deportivo Saprisa, until January 2020. Nashville SC will decide whether to sign Leal as a designated player or use targeted allocation funds prior to the 2020 MLS roster compliance date. Piñeiro, 21, is officially listed as a player of the U22 initiative. U22 players (“Young Money Signings”, as Sam Stejskal invented) must be 22 years of age or younger at the start of their first season and can complete this designation until the age of 25 (provided they have their first or second contract and the contract was signed at the age of 22). This category of team does not only apply to transfers from outside the league. Local players and SuperDraft picks are also eligible. How do U-22 slots work? Are they just a “cheaper” version of DP slots or are they more focused on domestic players or SuperDraft? As announced yesterday, as official today: Nashville SC will include Costa Rican international Randall Leal in the MLS first team in January. Transaction: Nashville SC signs Randall Leal from Deportivo Saprissa. Leal, who will occupy a place in the international team, will remain with Saprissa until January 2020.

Nashville SC will decide whether to sign Leal as a designated player or use targeted allocation funds prior to the 2020 MLS roster compliance date. The other important change is that Hany Mukhtar no longer occupies a place in the international team. Nashville confirmed earlier in the offseason that several players would receive green cards, and Mukhtar appears to be the first. Jhonder Cádiz, Randall Leal and Rodrigo Piñeiro are the only players currently occupying an international spot (Miguel Nazarit is technically an international player, but since he is on loan, he does not use any of Nashville`s spots in 2021). There`s no lead role, so enjoy a few GIFs of various solo videos: Leal also has 12 caps with the Costa Rican national team. He was not called up to the 2018 World Cup, but has played virtually every other game for Los Ticos since 2018, including a goal against Panama in the long-range hexagon. The purchase of Leal means Nashville now has three spots open for youngsters, giving them a lot more flexibility in the transfer market. Leal is currently in his second season with Saprissa in Costa Rica`s Primera División, having left Belgium after three years at a Star Crossed club (relegation to the second division, promotion to the first division, but excluded from promotion due to match-fixing scandals, you know, that kind of cross star). Saprissa has played eight regular-season games and four games in the Concacaf League (the new Champions League qualification mechanism for teams other than the United States, Mexico and Canada) so far this season. Page: OSDB – Randall Leal – Nashville SC – Contracts About Nashville SC Nashville SC is Nashville`s professional soccer club and is in its second season in the USL Championship. The club will move to Major League Soccer in 2020. For more information, visit NashvilleSC.com and follow the club on @NashvilleSC on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Spotify.

In the Mexico game, he played center (alongside Cincinnati`s Allan Cruz) in a 4-4-2 – a slightly more defensive position than one would expect given his abilities, although that speaks for some versatility. He also missed, uh, a penalty in the penalty shootout against Mexico, and Costa Rica lost that penalty shootout 5-4, so it`s not much fun. Major League Soccer`s compliance deadline was this weekend, and Nashville SC made a significant change to its roster designations. Randall Leal no longer holds a designated player spot and new recruit Rodrigo Piñeiro is signed as a U22 initiative. The 22-year-old Costa Rican international joins Nashville SC for the 2020 Major League Soccer season In the second leg, Saprissa was eliminated by the Tigers. When El Morado was leading 4-1, he entered the match in the 60th minute. He didn`t really turn things around, but he finished the game with a solid pass rating of 14/7 (and with his team pushing for a comeback, it`s unlikely to be safe and conservative passes. In January 2020, Leal will join recently announced designated player Hany Mukhtar, along with Panamanian leader Aníbal Godoy, Ghanaian international David Accam, US international Derrick Jones, England forward Cameron Lancaster and Mexican international striker Daniel Ríos. An energetic and persistent playmaker, Leal made his professional debut with Costa Rica`s first division club, Belén F.C., in October 2013 at the age of 16 and scored his first goal a few months later, in January 2014. He was involved in a total of four goals in 23 games (1 goal, 2 assists) before moving to Belgium in 2015, where he played 19 games for KV Mechelen. “Randall is an exciting young attacking midfielder with a lot of potential,” said Nashville SC general manager Mike Jacobs. “He has the ability to influence games in a variety of ways and has proven that caliber on the national and international stage.” The versatile midfielder, who currently plays as a left winger for Saprisa, has enjoyed success both on both flanks and in the central game.

In 38 appearances in all competitions for the club since joining in August 2018, Leal has contributed six goals and six assists. His last, this rocket in the top right corner in the 80th minute, gave Saprissa a 2-1 win over arch-rivals LD Alajuelense on August 11. In this year`s Gold Cup, he played three of Costa Rica`s four matches (he was not used in the group match against Bermuda). He played a total of 22 minutes – the last 12 of Nicaragua`s game and every minute of the competitions in Haiti and Mexico – completed 61.5% of his passes, recorded a total of five shots (two on target) and received a yellow card. In addition, and most importantly, the inclusion of Piñeiro in a U-22 niche opens up two additional slots for the U-22 initiative for Nashville. If they had kept Leal in a “real” DP niche, their U-22 (“young money”) limit would have been one, and Piñeiro would have occupied that position. Out of a possible 1,080 minutes, Leal played 854. He was something of a super-sub in his first year with the club – he still had plenty of minutes but no tee minutes – which is an encouraging step forward. He has so far two goals and a yellow card in the Apertura (the Costa Rican league is structured like the Mexican league: they have two seasons a year, with the autumn season called “Apertura” (opening) and the spring season “Clausura” (graduation), and the pair combined into a full season in the traditional sense of the term as we imagine it). It should be noted that he ticks some boxes that have proven important for the technical staff of Nashville SC (in addition to talent, of course) in building this first MLS team: As acquired: Signed by Nashville SC by Deportivo Saprissa on September 06, 2019. As mentioned above, this is a guy who likes to hit from great distance.

He can shoot goals, whether it`s ultimately hitters or those who sneak around the goalie and hit the net on the rebound. Saprissa qualified for the Concacaf Champions League last year, where they faced Mexican powerhouse Tigres UANL in the round of 16. In the first leg of the home match, he came on in the 67th minute, when his team was leading 1-0. He replaced a striker, but given the state of the game, that probably meant a change to a 4-5-1, not that he was playing at the top. He finished 3/3 passes without shots. Internationally, Leal has become one of the best young players in CONCACAF. Since making his national team debut with Costa Rica on September 7, 2018, nearly a year ago, the fast and skillful dribbler has earned 11 caps, helping Costa Rica reach the quarterfinals of the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Leal and Costa Rica will be back in action tonight when they face Uruguay in a friendly at 9pm CST at Costa Rica`s National Stadium. He has a bit of point-blank technical skill on the ball (although these are not his main skills) and a desire to get his team`s goal by any means necessary: the cross for Saprissa is impressive, and he steals the ball from a teammate to score the goal in the next.

(For what it`s worth, I can`t explain this clip: according to the official results list, he didn`t play against Bermuda in the Gold Cup, which is the only time Costa Rice has played in Bermuda in the last 10 years. The Ticos also won 2-1, with the second goal scored in the 54th minute. Yes. I don`t know). At only 5-6, he`s a small guy, so you won`t be looking for a big aerial threat, but a little guy who stretches the field by enforcing the opponent`s long shot, can bring free kicks from virtually anywhere on the field and can create a small offense is a good addition to an MLS team. “I`m very excited and honored to join Nashville SC and look forward to getting there and working hard for the club,” Leal said.