MONTREAL -- Bodø/Glimt got their man.
American defender Zarek Valentin will return to Norway after his vacation back home, as he has signed a new deal that will, according to an interview Bodø/Glimt head coach Jan Halvor Halvorsen gave local newspaper Avisa Nordland, keep him at the club until 2015.
“He's the kind of defender that fits our style really well,” Halvorsen, a former New York Red Bulls assistant coach, told the paper. “I want offensive side backs, and that’s what we have in Valentin. He’s also a great guy off the field. He’s settled well in Bodø, with the team and the city.”
Valentin had been with Bodø/Glimt since late March 2013, when the Impact sent him there for a one-year loan. Having secured promotion and won the second division championship, the Norwegian club was keen on bringing him back, as Impact sporting director Nick De Santis told MLSsoccer.com last week.
The release issued by the club states that “despite lenghty discussions with Valentin, both parties were unable to reach an agreement. However, the Impact will retain Valentin’s rights when he returns to Major League Soccer.”
As such, no transfer fee was involved, a club representative confirmed to MLSsoccer.com.
Valentin leaves MLS having played 40 games for Chivas USA, who selected him fourth overall in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft, and the Montreal Impact, who chose him in the 2011 MLS Expansion Draft.
