By Field Level Media<\/p>\n
Sep 30 (Field Level Media) \u2013 After six years in Europe, U.S. men\u2019s national team defender Mark McKenzie is returning to the Philadelphia Union.<\/p>\n
McKenzie, 27, was acquired from French Ligue 1 side Toulouse FC for a \u200breported $2.5 million transfer fee.<\/p>\n
The deal announced Wednesday takes effect on Jan. 1, \u200cwith McKenzie filling a designated player role and under contract through the 2029-30 season with an option for 2030-31.<\/p>\n
An MLS Best XI selection and runner-up for MLS Defender of the Year in 2020, McKenzie helped the Union win the Supporters\u2019 Shield that season. He recorded two goals and three assists in \u200c48 MLS \u200bmatches (46 starts) with Philadelphia from 2018-20.<\/p>\n
\u201cBringing Mark back to \u2060Philadelphia is a significant moment \u2060for our club and reflects the values and ambition of this city and our organization,\u201d said Union sporting director Jon Scheer. \u201cMark came through our Academy, established himself with the First Team, and over the last several years has had success at the \u200bhighest levels for both club and country, most recently representing the United States at the World Cup this past summer.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 Adding a player of Mark\u2019s quality in the \u2060prime of his career, along with his leadership \u2060and commitment to continued growth and elevating those around him, will \u200bstrengthen our club\u2019s foundation moving forward as we pursue our goals of winning and reaching new \u200bheights. We\u2019re excited about what we can achieve together.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKenzie departed Philadelphia for \u200cGenk in January 2021 and played in the Belgian First Division until signing with Toulouse in August 2024. He helped Genk win the Belgian Cup in 2020-21.<\/p>\n
\u201cPhiladelphia has always been home to me. This club, this community, and these fans have played such an \u2060important role in shaping who I am, both as a player and as a person,\u201d McKenzie said. \u201cWhen I left, I did so with the goal of challenging myself at the highest \u2060levels in Europe and representing \u200cmy country, but no matter where my career has taken \u2060me, I\u2019ve always carried Philadelphia and the Union with me.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo now \u200bhave \u200cthe opportunity to come home, wear this badge again, and help \u200bbuild on \u2060the success of this club is incredibly meaningful. I\u2019m grateful for everything this journey has given me, and I couldn\u2019t be more excited for this next chapter, to reconnect with the city, my teammates, and our supporters, and to get to work in January.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has earned 30 caps with the USMNT, helping the team win Concacaf Nations League championships in 2019-20 \u200band 2023-24.<\/p>\n
(\u2013Field Level Media)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Field Level Media Sep 30 (Field Level Media) \u2013 After six years in Europe, U.S. men\u2019s national…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-296975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}