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Posted by
Steve Bottjer,
February 22, 2013 |
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Email Steve Bottjer
Twitter @BottjerRNO |
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In a move that had been rumoured for several weeks, the San Jose Earthquakes announced today that the club has signed Canadian International Nana Attakora pending receipt of his P-1 visa. Per league and team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.
The 23 year old central defender played six matches for San Jose in 2011 after joining the club as part of a four-player trade with Toronto FC, the same move that brought Alan Gordon to San Jose along with Jacob Peterson in exchange for Ryan Johnson, allocation money and an international player slot.
Following the 2012 MLS season, Attakora went to Europe and signed with Finnish side FC Haka and made eight appearances in the Veikkausliiga. With Haka now relegated to the second division, rumours started to surface in January that the athletic defender was looking to return to Major League Soccer, with San Jose still holding his rights in the North American top flight.
“We’re happy to have Nana back to add some depth to our center backs. We never wanted to see him go, but he looked sharp during his stint in Europe and we look forward to having him in an Earthquakes jersey once again,” Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop told sjearthquakes.com on Friday.
Attakora has represented Canada at U-16, U-17, U-19, U-20, U-23 level and Senior Men’s National Team. In December 2009, Nana won the Canadian U-20 Players of the Year award for the second consecutive year. The Toronto native joined Toronto FC in 2007 and made 56 career appearances before departing for San Jose.
The Earthquakes have currently have nine defenders under contract with the signing. That list includes right backs Steven Beitashour, Dan Gargan and Peter McGlynn, center backs Victor Bernardez, Ty Harden, Jason Hernandez and Attakora, and left backs Justin Morrow and Ramiro Corrales.
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