On Wednesday afternoon, the second domino fell in the Quakes plan to shuffle the roster and gear up for a playoff run. After trading away forward Adam Jahn to Columbus for Targeted Allocation Money, San Jose swapped midfielders with Orlando City SC, sending Designated Player Matias Perez Garcia and an international roster slot in exchange for Darwin Ceren and salary budget space to sign a season-ending injury replacement.
So what do we know about Ceren? His film shows an aggressive, ball-winning mindset with good vision and ability to get his team on the attack quickly. Despite being a primarily defensive midfielder, he scored as many goals as Perez Garcia since the start of last season (two) and has tallied more assists in 2016 (two).
The consensus from central Florida is that Ceren was among the most well-liked players on his former squad, alongside Kaka and Brek Shea, for his work ethic and team-first attitude.
From the outside looking in, another central midfielder does not appear to be the Quakes biggest need at the moment with Anibal Godoy, Fatai Alashe, Marc Pelosi, Simon Dawkins, Tommy Thompson and Matheus Silva all capable of playing the position. However, Pelosi’s recovery from knee surgery has taken longer than initially projected, Silva remains on loan with Arizona United, Dawkins has flourished on the left wing and Thompson is at his best when given the freedom to move up the field. Ceren can start or come off the bench to replace Godoy/Alashe, but the bottom line is he gives head coach Dominic Kinnear more flexibility.
“This keeps everyone in their positions, where before we were moving some players around – Simon Dawkins in particular,” said Kinnear. “It strengthens that position, it creates good competition and, like I said, I think we have got three good players in there and it’s going to help us.”
The Earthquakes also have several compacted stretches later this season, including three games in nine days in late August and three games in eight days in late September. Assuming all three central midfielders are healthy, both of those weeks provide excellent opportunities to spread around minutes and keep players fresh.
Ceren also has an international pedigree, wearing the captain’s armband for El Salvador, and we’ve seen how well that worked out for acquisitions like Godoy and Alberto Quintero.
Looking deeper than just the on-field production, the trade allows San Jose to get younger (Perez Garcia 31; Ceren 26) and clear a DP spot next season. Also, Ceren signed a four-year contract this past January, paving the way for the Quakes to maintain his rights into the foreseeable future.
The Ceren trade does not mark the end of the Quakes efforts to improve, as Kinnear pointed out the team’s aspirations to add a goal-scoring forward to the roster. Stay tuned for any developments.
