Secondary Transfer Window Primer: Arena wants to sign two, and here are two areas that need improvement

With Major League Soccer’s Secondary Transfer Window opening today and running until Wednesday, August 7, there is only a limited amount of time for the Revolution and their fellows to make moves in order to strengthen themselves for the stretch run.

A couple of months ago, some might have questioned whether or not The Boys In Blue would have made any moves over the course of the upcoming four weeks; after all, the season was in tatters, and it would have been too late — much too late — to make any moves resembling a seismic shift for the remainder of 2019.

But with the sacking of Brad Friedel and the run of form the Revs have been on under Bruce Arena — and with the club making a run at the playoffs following seven straight matches without a loss — it may make some sense to strengthen two areas of the pitch moving forward. And Arena has stated that he would like to bring in two players during this window.

Which two areas, though? Here’s how we see it, in the areas of importance:

Striker/center-forward

It has been a constant refrain for years now: the Revolution have plenty of attacking, goal-scoring talent, so why do they have trouble scoring goals?

Entering this week, New England has only scored 22 goals in the league this season, and 25 goals in both competitions. At this point last season, the Revs were 32/34; in 2017, 28/33; in 2016, 26/30; in 2015, 23/23. So there has been a dip.

And the strikers the Revs have right now are slowly starting to get the job done. Teal Bunbury is just getting into form, with five goals in his last six games in both competitions; he’s at three in the league. Juan Fernando Caicedo scored his fourth on Thursday; he should have a bunch more. Cristian Penilla, who is more of a winger, has three goals, and Juan Agudelo, who has transitioned into more of a midfielder’s role than a goal-scoring forward, has also scored three goals.

Yet there are still others who have yet to dent twine; Diego Fagundez is at zero goals, so is Tajon Buchanan, while Justin Rennicks has scored one, in the Open Cup. Five of their goals are from defensive-minded players, with Brandon Bye scoring two.

What to do about it? Sign a proven goal-scoring machine who can find the net with more regularity than New England has done so now — and by all accounts, the Revs are trying to do just that entering this past weekend, with Argentine forward Gustavo Bou reportedly en route.

Defending/center back depth

Long has defending depth been an issue, and the hope here is that Arena has noticed it. With Michael Mancienne — the centerpiece of the last summer transfer window — having been unable to play since May 4, and that was after being out the previous game with an injury, the center back pairing since then has been mainly Andrew Farrell and Jalil Anibaba, with a little Antonio Delamea sprinkled in the last couple of weeks.

The Revs look solid right now at outside back. Edgar Castillo is having himself some better performances after slogging through the first three months of the season, which has prevented DeJuan Jones from supplanting him. Luis Caicedo is also an option at left back in a pinch.

At right back, Brandon Bye has done fairly well in Farrell’s stead, given the latter’s shift to center half. We figure Jones could also slide in here.

So that’s eight defensive options, with one on the shelf over the last two months. And if Mancienne isn’t going to be ready to play any time soon, New England should make finding defensive depth a priority during this window.

And if last week’s rumors can be believed, it is looking into securing the signature of former Arsenal and Barcelona man Thomas Vermaelen, who has battled injuries and has an advanced age — 33 — and only played 12 games last season.

Vermaelen is out of contract with the Catalan side, so Arena would be able to get him on a free transfer should both sides agree on compensation. And while he has been oft-injured, he can — when healthy — provide leadership and experience to the back line, having played first-division football for his entire career, from the Dutch Eredivisie with Ajax to the Premier League with Arsenal to La Liga with Barcelona and the Serie A with Roma.

Could the Revs make other moves? I wouldn’t rule it out, as anything is possible. But if Arena hits on his two targets — rumored targets, we should say — we would have to think that business is concluded.