New Revs Midfielder Sebastian Lletget Eager To Help Bring Some Championship Silverware To New England
FOXBORO (CBS) -- Sebastian Lletget is changing coasts this offseason, bringing his talents from Los Angeles to New England. The new Revolution midfielder, acquired last week in a trade with the Galaxy, is eager to get his first taste of the East Coast after spending the last seven seasons with Los Angeles.
And it truly will be his first taste of New England, since he's never actually been to Boston. Maybe the winter wasn't the best time to make that first trip, but Lletget has a new season with a new club to prepare for.
It will be quite the change for the 29-year-old, but at least coming to New England will reunite him with one pretty important figure from his professional past: Revs head coach and sporting director Bruce Arena.
It was Arena who signed Lletget to his first pro deal back in 2015, and both sides are obviously eager to get back to working together. Lletget knows full well what the 2021 MLS Coach of the Year (for a record fourth time) wants from his players, which will help him get acclimated to his new club.
"This will be a huge change for me, but thankfully I'm going to a place where I have the experience with what [Arena] brings to the table and how he likes to manage. How he manages groups and how he manages individuals," Lletget told WBZ-TV's Levan Reid in an exclusive 1-on-1 for Sunday night's Sports Final. "As opposed to going to a club or city where you literally have no idea, which I am. I have actually never been to Boston, which is funny. But I do know how Bruce likes to work so that will be a little more familiar for me."
Lletget enjoyed success on the pitch with the Galaxy, scoring 25 goals while dishing out seven assists over 164 appearances in both the regular season and MLS Cup playoffs. But an MLS Cup crown eluded him, much like it has New England during the club's existence. He's hoping that by bringing his versatile attack to New England and pairing it with talented players such as Carles Gil, Gustavo Bou and Adam Buksa, it will lead to some great things for Revolution soccer in the coming years. He's very eager to try to be a piece of the puzzle that finally brings some championship silverware to New England.
"If you've been paying attention to sports, it's a huge sports town -- Title Town. It's a place that is used to winning and that is a challenge that I want to take on," he said. "I want to bring silverware to this team. With my help and alongside all the other great players on the team, and this fanbase, I think it's possible. That is my goal for next year.
But Lletget made it clear that talent alone cannot bring the Revs to the promised land. And from what he has seen from afar, the Revs have that special something that it takes to win an MLS Cup.
"I see a team that works for each other, most importantly. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't work hard and work for each other, you aren't going to get to where you want to be," he said. "It's very transparent how the team works for each other, and that starts from the top. That is Bruce's big thing.
"You can talk tactics and a lot of things like that. But at the end of the day, to win trophies, you have to put it all on the line and you have to have a brotherhood," Lletget added. "From what I've heard and from what I saw on TV last year, the New England Revolution have that, and it's something I'm very excited about."
