Another USMNT regular has made the move from MLS to England and the EFL Championship, as 25-year-old winger Paul Arriola has completed a loan transfer from D.C. United to Swansea City.
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Swansea currently sits second in the Championship with 20 games left to play — four points behind leaders Norwich City and two clear of third-place Brentford, who knocked the Swans out of the promotion playoffs last season — as they make a strong push for promotion back to the Premier League. Fresh off scoring two goals (and assisting another) in the USMNT’s 7-0 drubbing of Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday, Arriola will join USMNT winger/forward Jordan Morris in south Wales after Morris completed his loan move (with an option to buy) 10 days ago.
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Unlike Morris’s agreement, Swansea will not have an option to make Arriola’s move permanent, per D.C. United, though the sides are open to future negotiations on that front.
Paul Arriola has completed his loan from DC United to Swansea City, I'm told.
— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) February 1, 2021
The paperwork was filed and everything received ahead of the 6pm ET transfer deadline, per source. Loan with no purchase option but clubs will revisit potential permanent deal during the loan.
D.C. United will reportedly have a recall option in the loan deal which would allow them to recall Arriola before the start of the 2021 MLS season, which is currently scheduled for April 3 (pending a resolution to the league’s labor dispute), though they are not expected to exercise such an option thus allowing Arriola to finish the current season at Swansea.
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Arriola missed almost the entirety of the 2020 MLS season after tearing his ACL during preseason. After making a full recovery, Arriola returned for D.C. United’s season finale and came off the bench for a 21-minute stint.
Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien are the primary investors in both D.C. United and Swansea City.
For transfer deadline day on Feb. 1, you can watch Sky Sports News free on Peacock from 8 a.m. ET, plus we will also have a special transfer Deadline Day show on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com from 4-6:30 p.m. ET.
