The San Jose Earthquakes have signed Swedish-Eritrean Striker, Henok Goitom. Goitom scored 18 goals in the Swedish Allsvenskan in 2015 for AIK. Most recently he spent a small 6-month spell at Getafe. The Earthquakes have had major struggles scoring goals this year, and a target man with decent finishing ability would be a good addition as they look to make the postseason for just the third time since their “MLS Return.” First to report was Robert Jonas of Center Line Soccer:
REPORT: #Quakes74 make contract offer to 31-year-old former @aikfotboll forward @HenokGoitom. #MLS https://t.co/tNTCnY1hEZ
— Center Line Soccer (@CtrLineSoccer) August 8, 2016
San Jose Earthquakes sign Striker Henok Goitom
Goitom lit up the Swedish Allsvenskan in 2015, playing for AIK. AIK is an abbreveation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (Thank God for the abbreveation), a club from Solna which is a municipality of Stockholm. His career started in Italy and Spain, playing for Udinese, Murcia, Valladolid, and Almeria. Goitom, born in Solna, enjoyed three years with his hometown club. In 93 appearances for AIK from 2012-2015, Goitom scored 39 goals. After the season, Goitom was out of contract. According to Swedish tabloid, Aftonbladet, the contract offers when they came back to the table were well under the offers that had been given to him in the spring. He went on a small six month contract with Getafe this year, and only made two appearances. According to the same article before, the contract is for six months, and has the option to extend afterwords. The club has not confirmed.
This marks the third foray into the transfer market this window by the ‘Quakes. Previously they traded Adam Jahn to Columbus Crew SC for Targeted Allocation Money, and sent DP Midfielder, Matias Perez Garcia to Orlando City SC in exchange for Darwin Ceren. Goitom will join a ‘Quakes striker core that has scored a combined thirteen goals this season, with Chris Wondolowski accounting for nine of them. The Earthquakes are six points out of a playoff spot with only 12 games left. Goitom will need to make an immediate impact if they are going to make a run at a playoff spot. Check out the video below to see what the Earthquakes might be getting.
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