Penilla, Luis Caicedo not planning on changing anything in their second season at The Fort

FOXBOROUGH — Throughout the second half of the season last year, there was a ripple of wonder flowing through The Fort and through the hashtag on Twitter: when will the Revolution front office trigger the buy clauses in the loan deals for midfielders Cristian Penilla and Luis Caicedo?

After all, Penilla’s work on the left flank led to a club-high 12 goals and 8 assists, while Caicedo’s work rate in the defensive midfield opened eyes and stole breath. Would they be back in 2019, or would they go back to their parent clubs, Pachuca and Cortulua, respectively?

The Revs front office pulled the string and bought their contracts early in the offseason; re-signing the Latin American duo was the first moves they made, even before picking up or declining contract options for other players.

And according to the two of them, both are happy to be back.

“I was very happy with it, very content,” Caicedo told BostonSportsJournal.com about the rapid pick-up of his contract through an interpreter before training at Gillette Stadium on Friday afternoon. “I think mainly because it showed that I did a very good job, and I was happy to come back.”

“In general, it was very good,” Penilla said. “It makes me feel very happy, especially to be back with the club now. Obviously I feel that God’s blessed me to be here, and that I spoke with (his agent) and all the technical staff, and I’m happy to be back here.”

Penilla — the Ecuadorian Delorean, dubbed so by NBC Sports Boston play-by-play man Brad Feldman — added that he believes that he signed for two years; Caicedo, who speaks a few words in English, was unwilling to divulge for how long he is signed through.

Both noted that the styles they brought to Route 1 — Penilla in January of last year; Caicedo was signed by the club in the middle of March and made his debut at the tail end of the New York City FC fixture — will continue in 2019. Caicedo’s tracking back came with tremendous bursts of speed to slow an opponent down, while Penilla utilized a neat first touch to not only get the ball on his right foot, but also to make opposing right backs look rather silly while trying to slow him down en route to goal.

Caicedo believes that the Revolution’s opponents will need to compensate and adjust to him, seeing as he was an unknown entity in 2018.

“The truth is, yes, I do feel that way,” he said. “(Revs manager Brad Friedel) and the other members of the technical staff prepared me with the other teams’ strategies, and I just try to do what the coaches tell me.

“I just want to mark strongly, and I just want to use all the things I know are my strengths: my intelligence on the field, my physical strengths, things along those lines.”

“In general,” Penilla said, “I don’t want to change anything, because I think it’s my style and my general personality. All I can think about right now is wanting to make the playoffs with my teammates.”