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On Monday afternoon Sporting Kansas City announced they had mutually agreed to part ways with striker/winger/midfielder/left back Yohan Croizet. The move has been suspected for some time as Croizet hadn’t been dressing to play despite being healthy and it was unclear if he was even practicing with the team. The quote for coach and sporting director Peter Vermes didn’t add anything.
“We appreciate Yohan’s service to the club over the last two seasons and wish him the best of luck moving forward.”
The move ends a very up and down time for Croizet with KC. He was signed as a Designated Player before the 2018 season. Many at the time envisioned him as the replacement for Benny Feilhaber who had been traded to Los Angeles Football Club. Instead, Sporting KC signed Felipe Gutierrez on a free transfer shortly after adding Yohan.
That left Yohan without a natural position. He played all over the pitch in his time with KC. He started on the wing (starting the 2018 opener). Then he bounced around, playing for an injured Gutierrez in the midfield and even as an emergency left back in the playoffs against Real Salt Lake.
In 2019, still without a permanent spot he played winger, midfielder, left back and finally center forward. His play was nothing short of erratic going from being the best player on the field to the worst player, sometimes within minutes.
Just when it seemed he was finding a place in the team as a Swiss French army knife he was out of favor and completely AWOL. It got so bad that Jimmy Medranda started at center forward when Croizet was a healthy scratch from the Orlando City game.
The club reportedly paid $1.5 million for Croizet and he never quite lived up to expectations. He ends his time having made 52 appearances in league play (31 starts). He compiled 2,685 minutes and scored six goals and added five assists over his not-quite-two-seasons.
Some fans will miss him dearly. Some will praise the move to have him leave (look no further than the Twitter thread of this announcement). It seems the 2020 rebuild is already underway. If nothing, this opens up an international roster spot and Designated Player spot for 2020.