Midfielder Dante Polvara completes two-and-a-half-year deal

Aberdeen Football Club has agreed a deal for Dante Polvara, a highly regarded New York City FC elite academy graduate, on a two-and-a-half-year contract, subject to securing a visa.

The 21-year-old, who is an imposing midfielder, chose to attend top-ranked Georgetown University where he has continued to develop in the college system with form that saw him recognised by United Soccer Coaches as they selected him in the All-America first team.

Following a strong season for Georgetown, where he was coached by Brian Wiese, assistant to Bobby Clark for many years, Dante last night won the 2021 Men’s MAC Hermann Trophy, the most prestigious individual honour a NCAA Division 1 soccer player can achieve.

Manager Stephen Glass is pleased to see another exciting prospect commit their future to Aberdeen.

He said: “Dante is a fantastic emerging talent.

“He chose to go through the college pathway after emerging from the New York City academy alongside Gio Reyna of Borussia Dortmund and Joe Scally of Borussia Monchengladbach.

“He is coming to us at a good age and whilst he could have opted to take the next step in his career in the MLS, we’re delighted he has decided to come to Pittodrie and we look forward to working with Dante to continue his development.

“As a Club we’ve been clear in our ambition to be the best developer of talent and we’re committed to creating a pathway for promising young players to our first team.

“We look forward to seeing Dante progress over the next couple of years”.

Dante is looking forward to kicking off this exciting new chapter in his career.

He said: “When I heard about the interest from Aberdeen I talked with Coach Wiese at Georgetown about the opportunity, but also spoke at length to Aberdeen manager, Stephen Glass, and Christian Ramirez, who also recently moved from the States to Scotland, and it was clear the Club has a rich footballing history.

“I had a number of other options, both in the MLS and Europe, but I felt that Aberdeen was the right Club for me to learn and develop as a player. It has a clear strategy of investing in young players and providing a visible pathway to enable them to fulfil their potential.

“I can’t wait to get started and meet my new teammates and the Red Army.”