Red Bulls: Swedish defender Markus Holgersson move confirmed

Added by Jake Landau on January 4, 2012.

The 26 year old, 6’3” Defender, Markus Holgersson, has now been confirmed by head coach Hans Backe to make the move to New York from Swedish League Champions Helsignborg. “It’s a good acquisition for us,” Hans Backe told Expressen. “I’ve had good scores on Mark and we need a strong physical back to our team. I talked to our general manager a while ago and he said then that Mark had accepted. It remains a visa and little else.”

With an Estonian (Joel Lindpere), a Dane (Brian Nielson) a Finn (Teemu Tainio), and a Norwegian (Jan Gunnar Solli), Holgersson looks to join the abundance of promising talent that has been brought in from Scandinavia since Hans Backe and Erik Soler have taken over.With a disappointing season in 2011 and an off-season marked more by denying departures than finding incoming players, Holgersson is the first transfer window signing this off-season.

The New York Red Bulls have also added homegrown player Connor Lade from Saint Johns University. General Manager Erik Soler has said the team is also close to signing two young Americans with international experience. In a few weeks we could see a flurry of moves from New York that will set the roster for training camp and opening day. It remains to be seen whether the team will use its last designated player spot before the winter transfer window and if last years DP goalie Frank Rost will come back to the team for another year.