COLUMBUS \u2013\u202fThe Columbus Crew have acquired Brais M\u00e9ndez as a Designated Player from La Liga\u2019s Real Sociedad. The Spanish midfielder \u2013 who will occupy an international roster slot pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate and P-1 Visa \u2013 will be added to the Crew roster when the MLS secondary transfer window opens on July 13. His contract runs through the 2028-29 season with a Club option for the 2029-30 campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are excited to add Brais to our team and welcome him to Columbus. His high-level technical skillset and understanding of the game, displayed in one of the best leagues in the world, will have a positive impact on our roster,\u201d said Crew General Manager\u00a0Issa Tall. \u201cThe addition of Brais gives our team another talented player for the short- and long-term, and we look forward to his arrival as we look to push during the second part of our season.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
M\u00e9ndez\u00a0joins the Black & Gold after\u00a0nearly a\u00a0decade in Spain\u2019s\u00a0top flight, where he recorded 33 goals and 24 assists in 166 matches for Real Sociedad.\u00a0M\u00e9ndez\u00a0helped the side qualify for the UEFA Champions League following the 2022-23 season. He appeared in seven matches and scored three goals in Champions League play, including the opening goal of a 1-1 draw with Inter Milan during his tournament debut on Sept. 20, 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, M\u00e9ndez helped lead Real Sociedad to a Copa Del Rey title, capped with a win over Atletico Madrid in penalties (2-2, 4-3) on April 19.<\/p>\n
A Celta Vigo youth product,\u00a0M\u00e9ndez\u00a0made his professional debut on Sept. 21, 2017, earning the start in a 1-1 draw against Getafe.\u00a0He scored his first senior goal\u00a0in\u00a0March 31, 2018, notching the equalizer in the 92nd minute to help his side earn a point against Athletic Bilbao. He featured in 166 matches, amassing 22 goals and 18 assists before heading to Real Sociedad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After representing Spain at various youth levels, M\u00e9ndez posted the game-winning goal in his senior international debut during a 1-0 friendly victory over Bosnia on Nov. 18, 2018. M\u00e9ndez has four senior caps for the Spanish national team.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
TRANSACTION:\u202fColumbus Crew\u00a0acquire\u00a0Brais M\u00e9ndez\u00a0as a Designated Player on July 2, 2026.\u00a0M\u00e9ndez\u2019s contract runs through\u00a0the 2028-2029 season with a Club option for the 2029-30 campaign.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Name:\u202fBrais M\u00e9ndez Portela\u00a0<\/p>\n
Height:\u202f6\u20192\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Born:\u202fJan. 7, 1997, in\u202fMos, Spain\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Acquired:\u00a0Via transfer from Real Sociedad on July 2, 2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
Previous\u202fExperience:\u00a0Celta Vigo (2017-22), Real Sociedad (2022-26)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBUS \u2013\u202fThe Columbus Crew have acquired Brais M\u00e9ndez as a Designated Player from La Liga\u2019s Real Sociedad. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":739447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[153470,829,3,1026,403,99],"class_list":["post-739446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-homepage-news","tag-latest-news","tag-news","tag-press-releases","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}