Youngster stays in USL Championship.
LAFC announced on Tuesday they have loaned defender Mohamed Traore to USL Championship side Phoenix Rising FC. The loan will run through the 2023 season, although LAFC reserve the right to recall the player.
Traore, 20, joined LAFC during the 2020 season out of Florida’s vaunted Montverde Academy. To date, he’s made one competitive appearance for LAFC, a start in 2020, and spent the last two seasons on loan at LAFC’s reserve team at the time, Las Vegas Lights FC, where he became a regular on the backline. He’s made 52 appearances to date in the USL Championship, scoring two goals in that span.
“My focus this season is to improve,” said Traore in Phoenix’s release on the move. “This team is made up of talented young players that I look forward to growing and having a great season. My expectation is that this season ends with a trophy. For my part, I can help the team play out of the back. I am good at being vocal and organizing. I am a hard worker. My passing is my strong suit.”
Phoenix is in a rebuilding year after a surprising stumble from title contention in 2022, but they are among the bigger spenders in their league and chances are pretty good they’ll be in the running come season’s end once again. And LAFC has sent players to Phoenix Rising on loan in the past, including Tristan Blackmon and Alejandro Guido, so the teams have a long-standing relationship at this point.
Best of luck to Mohamed in Arizona.
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