The Columbus Crew soccer club has signed Federico Higuain to a new designated player contract.
While terms were not disclosed, the team calls it the largest contract in Crew history. And head coach Gregg Berhalter says the signing will have a big impact.
"It's a multi-year deal, so he'll be around for quite a while. We expect him to be one of the guys, one of the core guys, that leads this team to success. You know, it's going to be a lot of hard work, and we need some more pieces, but he's certainly a key component of that."
The 30-year old Argentine was named the teams Most Valuable Player in each of his two full seasons with the Black and Gold and led the team in both goals and assists. Higuain drew several controversial penalty calls last season, but in a teleconference Monday Berhalter says that doesn't make him a liability.
" He's not a dirty player; he's an emotional player, and sometimes the emotions get the best of him. But we don't see that as a strong negative, we can use that as a positive: how into games he is, and how emotional gets he about the results of games. But we can work on that a little bit."
Higuain was acquired by the Crew in July 2012. He ranks fifth in Major League Soccer in goals.
