Philadel­phia Union sign Daniel Gazdag from Honved

TRANSFER TRACKER STATUS: Sign­ing

The Philadel­phia Union have signed attack­ing mid­field­er Daniel Gazdag from Hun­gar­i­an side Honved, the club announced Tues­day. Gazdag has signed a two year con­tract with options for fur­ther seasons.

MLSsoc​cer​.com first report­ed the deal was done on Monday.

Gazdag, 25, was among the best play­ers in Hun­gary’s top divi­sion, where he had 13 goals and six assists in 30 appear­ances this year. He was the dri­ving force behind the club avoid­ing rel­e­ga­tion. He has 31 goals and 32 assists in 212 appear­ances with Honved, his boy­hood club. Gazdag also has six caps with the nation­al team.

“We are excit­ed to wel­come Daniel to the Philadel­phia Union,” sport­ing direc­tor Ernst Tan­ner said in a club state­ment. “He is a ver­sa­tile play­er who can play mul­ti­ple posi­tions in the mid­field as well as at strik­er and has the abil­i­ty to make an imme­di­ate impact. His aggres­sive style of play has made him a top fin­ish­er in the Hun­gar­i­an league and a good fit for our system.”

The No. 10 will bol­ster Jim Curt­in’s attack­ing options after Bren­den Aaron­son’s depar­ture this win­ter. Antho­ny Fontana and Jamiro Mon­teiro have dep­u­tized the posi­tion so far this sea­son, though as Tan­ner notes, Gazdag can play across mul­ti­ple positions.

There is no firm expec­ta­tion on when Gazdag will be able to debut for Philly, giv­en delays in the visa process and trav­el dur­ing the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. He is also expect­ed to be on Hun­gary’s ros­ter at this sum­mer’s UEFA Euro­pean Cham­pi­onship, when they play Group F games against France, Ger­many and Por­tu­gal start­ing June 15. The Union have four more games before Gazdag would like­ly depart for inter­na­tion­al duty.

The Union have advanced to the semi­fi­nals of the Con­ca­caf Cham­pi­ons League while pick­ing up four points over their first four MLS games. The reign­ing Sup­port­ers’ Shield win­ners are expect­ed to be near the top of the East­ern Con­fer­ence yet again in 2021.

Source: mls​.com