New England Revolution: Adam Buksa bolsters attack

The New England Revolution have added Polish international striker Adam Buksa as their third Designated Player. He bolsters an attack that is ready to lead a playoff push.

Adam Buksa has joined the New England Revolution as a Designated Player. The 23-year-old player comes to Major League Soccer via Polish top-flight team, Pogon Szczecin.

Buksa has scored seven goals and recorded four assists in 18 appearances this season in the Ekstraklasa. He appeared well on his way to surpassing his goal total last season of 11 goals in 22 appearances.

There is no doubt Buksa is a talented goalscorer based on the statistics he has put up during his career in Poland.

At just 23, Buksa is one of the young players looking to break into Poland’s national team. Just last year, he made his first two appearances for the senior national team after a host of appearances for the youth teams. He is proven, and improving.

And he will now join a Revolution team that have recently put their money towards attacking players. Carles Gil and Gustavo Bou are already in New England as offensive-minded DPs. They were integral to the run into the playoffs during the second half of the season and are set to again pose an elite threat in ML S once more. With Buksa now in line, too, that threat will only increase.

Bruce Arena now has another proven goalscorer on his roster to utilize. Buksa should be a key component in the Revolution’s attempt to get back to the postseason in 2020.

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In terms of goalscoring, a double-digit record during last season should be a welcome sign that he has the consistency to be a regular contributor.

As the truly elite teams in MLS have proven in recent seasons, getting the most out of the three DP slots is critical. And given that impactful attacking players are more difficult to find, it makes sense to use these higher-paid roster designations to find the highest-performing attacking individuals. It was Seattle, Atlanta, Toronto, both LA sides and now the New England Revolution have done. Time will tell if Buksa can match the performances of other DP attackers, but history might be on his side.

Buksa will hope to become the next big-time striker to arrive from Poland’s top flight. Nemanja Nikolic took Major League Soccer by storm in 2016 when he arrived from Legia Warsaw. He certainly has the ability to follow in the footsteps of the former Golden Boot winner, but whether he can produce like the Chicago Fire center-forward remains to be seen.

Of all the big-time signings of the offseason, this is one that might fly under the radar — everything New England do tends to suffer a quietening effect. But Buksa might just have a very successful career in MLS ahead of him, and if he does, the New England Revolution are in a position to make another postseason run.