Cody Cropper joins New England Revolution in MLS

The New England Revolution announced the signing of former U.S. youth international Cody Cropper in a press release.

“Cody is a player whose development we’ve been tracking the past few years,” said New England Revolution General Manager Michael Burns. “He’s a promising young goalkeeper and we’re excited to bring him to New England.”

The 23-year old goalkeeper was previously on the books at Southampton and Milton Keynes Dons. He was released by the Dons after making nine league appearances last season.

Cropper played with the United States U-20 and U-23 national teams and has been called up to (but did not play with) the senior national team.

As revealed by Ives Galarcep on Twitter, Cropper was set to join Jacksonville Armada of the NASL, but the move went south when the club fired head coach and technical director Tony Meola.

Meola out in Jacksonville, move comes just as the Armada were going to sign GK Cody Cropper. That deal is dead now. https://t.co/b7qdb2oLEp

— Ives Galarcep (@SoccerByIves) August 7, 2016

New England currently has two other goalkeeper on its roster, starter Bobby Shuttleworth and backup Brad Knighton. Their defense is, to put it nicely, a disaster, so it's possible that Cropper could be an upgrade. He's still looking to jump start his career and could find more consistent playing time with the Revolution.

Cropper is the latest young American goalkeeper to move to MLS, joining Zack Steffen (Columbus Crew) and Tyler Miller (Seattle Sounders).