4 Lights FC transfers become eligible to play
After a long wait, one a little longer than expected, four Lights FC newcomers will be able to see the field Saturday.
The Lights said forwards Omar Salgado and Daniel Guzman Jr., defender Rodrigo Inigo and newcomer Joseph Patrick Perez will be eligible to play at Rio Grande Valley FC after their transfer paperwork cleared. Perez, a 21-year-old defender, officially joined the team on loan from Liga MX club Puebla FC on Thursday after training in Las Vegas for the last two-plus weeks.
“You’ll see my sweat on my jersey. I play my heart out, and I will do that for Las Vegas Lights FC,” Perez said in a statement. “This is an outstanding team, and the unity within this group is incredible.”
The Lights initially hoped that Salgado, Guzman Jr., Inigo and Perez could play for the team Wednesday at OKC Energy FC but USL rules kept that from happening. The club is optimistic the quartet will compete for major minutes in the season’s second half and add depth to a roster thinned by injuries.
While Salgado, Guzman Jr. and Inigo are all veteran players, Perez becomes the youngest defender on the team. The Anaheim, California, native signed with Puebla after graduating high school and has played with the club’s U-20 team the last three years.
“He is a player from my hometown team, and I have been tracking the U-20 and second division clubs of Puebla FC for two years, which is how I know Joseph,” technical director Jose Luis Sanchez Sola said in a statement. “He is very strong, can create excellent headers and the thing I like the most is that he is a hard worker who never stops fighting.”
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Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.