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2024 USL Kickoff Preseason Preview: 11 Newcomers to Watch

By GILLIAN MAFFIT, Special to USLLeagueOne.com, 03/09/24, 5:30PM EST

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USL Championship legends, current UEFA internationals and more will make their League One debut in '24

Did we miss anyone? Let us know which newcomers are going to have the biggest impact on your favorite club at @USLLeagueOne.

ROMAIN MÉTANIRE, SPOKANE VELOCITY FC

Romain Métanire spent the majority of his career in France's Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 with FC Metz and Stade de Reims before spending nearly four seasons with Major League Soccer's Minnesota United FC, with which he was named an MLS All-Star in 2019. After seven seasons and a promotion to Ligue 1 with his hometown club, Métanire spent one season in the Belgian Pro League with KV Kortrijk in 2016, making 21 appearances for De Kerels across all competitions. In 2017, Métanire returned to France with Ligue 2 side Stade de Reims where he spent three seasons, made 63 appearances and helped the club earn promotion to Ligue 1 in 2018. Métanire signed with MLS side Minnesota United FC in 2019 and earned the distinction of being named an MLS All-Star in his first season in St. Paul, facing Atlético Madrid in the 2019 MLS All-Star Game in Orlando, Fla. Across all competitions, Métanire made 84 appearances between 2019 and 2022 for the Loons. Most recently, Métanire returned to Europe with second-division Challenger Pro League side RFC Seraing in Belgium. In Liège, the defender made 10 appearances before opting for a return to the United States with Spokane. Across his 15 seasons as a professional, Métanire has accumulated 356 appearances.

YANNICK YANKAM, LEXINGTON SC


Yannick Yankam | Image Credit: England Football

26-year-old midfielder Yannick Yankam is set to join the club after most recently playing for Birkirkara FC in the Maltese Premier League. Born in Qormi, Malta, the attacking midfielder started his career in his hometown, joining Qormi FC's U-19 team. In 2018 he was promoted to the main squad of Qormi FC. After one year with the first team he moved to Birkirkara, jumping up two levels on the Maltese pyramid to the top flight, and joined Birkirkara FC – four-time Maltese Premier League champions, six-time Maltese FA Trophy winners and seven-time Maltese Super Cup champions. Since his arrival, Birkirkara had not finished below fifth in the league – which has ranged from 12-16 teams every year – and finished as runners-up last season (2022-23) to nine-time champions Hamrun Spartans. Yankam has also been capped as a member of the Malta national team, making his debut and finding the net in a 2-1 defeat against North Macedonia in the UEFA European Championship qualifying rounds.

CAMERON LANCASTER, LEXINGTON SC

31-year-old forward Cameron Lancaster is set to join the club after most recently playing for Louisville City FC in the USL Championship. Lancaster started his youth career at Tottenham Hotspur FC's academy. He briefly played for a fellow English club Dagenham & Redbridge FC before returning to Spurs, where he made one Premier League appearance. After leaving Spurs he remained in England, signing with Stevenage FC and then St. Albans City FC. He scored two goals in 16 appearances in England but moved to the Bluegrass State to join Louisville City FC, where he had 36 goals in 79 appearances and, in 2017 and 2018, saw him help LouCity to win the USL Championship title in consecutive seasons. After, Lancaster signed with Nashville SC, taking the pitch for the club in the USL and scoring five goals in 18 appearances. He returned to Louisville in 2020, scoring an additional 10 goals in 16 appearances before resigning with the club full-time, adding 29 more goals to his total to become the all-time leading goal scorer for the club and third all-time in USL Championship regular season history. Along with being the all-time goals leader for LouCity, he won the USL Championship Golden Boot award in 2018, is a three-time Player of the Month and made the All-League First Team twice.

PC, UNION OMAHA


PC | Photo courtesy Darren Abate / San Antonio FC

PC captained his San Antonio FC side to the USL Championship Players' Shield, Copa Tejas and a USL Championship title in 2022. PC signed with San Antonio ahead of the 2020 season and went on to play over 6,000 minutes for the club. He regularly served as captain, leading by example mainly from defensive midfield. From 2017-19, PC played nearly 40 combined matches in Major League Soccer – first with Orlando City SC and then with Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

KIMARNI SMITH, SPOKANE VELOCITY FC

Smith, a former D.C. United forward, spent his youth soccer career with Basford United FC's academy program before signing a professional contract with Sheffield United FC in 2015. Smith made a pair of appearances for Northern Premier League side Gainsborough Trinity FC on loan from the Blades in 2017 before moving to the United States to play collegiately at Clemson University. In his four seasons with the Tigers, he appeared in 63 matches and recorded 26 goals and 11 assists. During the 2019 season, Smith received Second-Team All-America, First-Team All-South Region and First-Team All-ACC honors. In 2020, Smith was named the ACC Tournament MVP. In 2021, Smith was selected with the fourth overall pick in MLS SuperDraft 2021 by D.C. United. The forward made his professional debut with DCU in April in an MLS match against the New England Revolution. Between 2021 and 2022, Smith made 22 appearances for D.C. across all competitions and 29 appearances for the club's USL Championship affiliate, Loudoun United FC. In 2023, Smith split time between USL Championship club San Antonio FC, making 11 appearances with the club, and MLS NEXT Pro side Crown Legacy FC, making eight appearances for Charlotte FC's affiliate club.

Mohamed Seye, Greenville Triumph SC

Seye has had a love for the game ever since he picked up a ball at the of age seven in his home city of Valencia, Spain. In 2019, he moved to South Carolina, where he was committed to play for the Clemson Tigers. Since the start of his collegiate soccer career, Seye has tallied an impressive number of points, with 23 goals, 16 assists and just under 4,000 career minutes. Throughout his four years, the forward was recognized as ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week (2020), named to Top Drawer Soccer's Team of the Week (2020) and College Soccer News' Team of the Week (2020), and made All-ACC third team in 2022. Seye ranked second on the team in goals (4), assists (6), and points (14) during his senior season, scoring his first career hat trick during the 6-0 shutout victory over Presbyterian College in 2023. He was also a member of two ACC Championships and two NCAA national titles. Overall, Seve made 83 collegiate appearances, had 16 assists, 23 goals and played 3,990 minutes.

Mechack Jérôme, Union OMaha

The veteran defender joins from the USL Championship's Indy Eleven and brings his experience from years in NASL, USL, MLS and at the national team level with Haiti. Having made 80 appearances for his country, Jérôme currently ranks as the second-most capped Haitian player in history – his international career began in 2008. The defender has made his home at the USL Championship level since 2019, playing over 4,000 minutes for El Paso Locomotive FC and Indy Eleven, respectively. In three of the last four USL Championship seasons, Jérôme has been a mainstay of defenses that have finished with the fewest or second-fewest goals conceded in their respective conferences. Jérôme's professional career began in 2006 for Haitian club Baltimore SC. He moved to Mirandela in Portugal before returning to the United States, where he spent time in the Orlando City SC, D.C. United and CF Montréal Impact organizations. Jérôme appeared 10 times and scored once for Sporting Kansas City in its 2013 MLS-Cup-winning campaign. He also made 66 appearances in NASL with Jacksonville Armada FC from 2015-2017.

Andre Lewis, Spokane Velocity FC

Lewis began his career in his native Jamaica within the youth systems of Jamaica Premier League clubs Cavalier FC (2010-11) and Portmore United FC (2011-13). Lewis made his professional debut with PMU in the 2013 CFU Club Championship in two legs against TT Premier Football League's Morvant Caledonia United. Lewis was selected with the seventh pick of the 2013 MLS SuperDraft by Vancouver Whitecaps FC and made his debut in the United States with USL Championship clubs Charleston Battery (2014) and Whitecaps FC 2 (2015) on a pair of loans from the 'Caps. Lewis signed with USL Championship club Portland Timbers 2 in 2016 and made 68 appearances for T2 between 2016 and 2018. Lewis made one appearance with the Timbers' senior team, playing all 90 minutes of Portland's loss to Seattle Sounders FC in the Fourth Round of the 2017 U.S. Open Cup. Lewis returned to Portmore United in 2019 and made 25 appearances across all competitions for PMU, helping the club win the 2019 CFU Club Championship and the Jamaica Premier League in the 2018-19 season.

Sebastián Velásquez, Greenville Triumph SC

Sebastián Velásquez is one of Grenville's most accomplished players returning back to the Upstate to continue a professional career he began in 2012 after being selected in the MLS SuperDraft following two collegiate seasons at Spartanburg Methodist. Velásquez sat out his junior year after transferring to Eastside High School and left the program prior to his senior season to pursue professional opportunities after earning a trial with FC Barcelona. After multiple trials in Europe, he enrolled at Spartanburg Methodist College, spending two seasons with the Pioneers. In 55 games, he scored 55 goals and 33 assists, also being named a NJCAA Second Team All-American. The attacking midfielder turned professional after his sophomore year, being selected 36th overall in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft by Real Salt Lake. He earned over 50 appearances for the club before moving to New York City FC. Since his last MLS appearance in 2015, he has made over 100 appearances with five USL Championship teams and spent time with clubs in South Korea and Israel. He began his 2023 season in Memphis before being dealt to Indy Eleven, where he made 17 appearances, notching two goals and one assist in 942 minutes.

Real Gill, Northern COlorado Hailstorm FC

Gill, a 20-year-old Trinidad and Tobago international, comes to the Hailstorm from Club Sando in the TT Premier League, where he has been since May 2023. He made his professional debut with La Horquetta Rangers FC, also in Trinidad and Tobago, in 2022. He has scored four times in seven matches for Club Sando this season. He has made six appearances for the Trinidad and Tobago national team, scoring his only international goal in a 2-0 friendly win over Saint Martin in January 2023. "He's a dynamic winger, bags of speed, bags of energy," Hailstorm Head Coach Éamon Zayed said of Gill.

Josué Gómez, Union Omaha

The 29-year-old forward joins the club after nearly five years of excelling at the USL Championship level with El Paso Locomotive FC. Gómez leaves El Paso as the all-time appearance leader with a total of 139 appearances for the club. His 52 goal involvements (34 goals and 18 assists) helped Locomotive FC to two conference quarterfinals and two conference final appearances. Union Omaha Head Coach Dominic Casciato worked with Gómez during his time as an assistant coach at El Paso. They lifted the Copa Tejas trophy together in 2021 and finished the regular season undefeated at home. Gómez’s professional career outside of USL saw him represent El Paso sister club FC Juárez, which was promoted to the Mexican first division in 2019. He featured 53 times for Juárez between 2016 and 2019, scoring seven times in his league and cup appearances.


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