Lights FC picks up former No. 1 pick Omar Salgado on loan
The Lights FC has added a second No. 1 pick from the Major League Soccer SuperDraft to its roster.
The Lights acquired forward Omar Salgado on loan from the United Soccer League expansion team El Paso USL on Wednesday, so the El Paso native can stay sharp before his hometown club debuts in 2019. Salgado, 24, will begin training full-time this week in Las Vegas and will be eligible to play when the international transfer window opens July 10.
“Omar is a very talented player, both in the pitch and outside the pitch. … He knows how to take advantage of his physicality and is versatile — he can play two or three positions,” Lights technical director Jose Luis Sanchez Sola said in a statement. “I’m sure fans will enjoy watching him in the pitch. He is not a common player.”
Salgado was selected first in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft by Vancouver Whitecaps FC, seven years after Lights midfielder Freddy Adu was picked No. 1 by D.C. United. The 6-foot-4 striker only had one goal in 26 appearances for the Whitecaps, but during a brief loan to the USL’s Charleston Battery in 2014 he scored twice in five games.
Salgado also has experience with both the United States and Mexico’s youth national teams.
He is the seventh player the Lights have signed in the last three-plus weeks, and the second forward after Daniel Guzman Jr. He already has experience with his new teammates, as he trained with the club leading up to its June 2 home game against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC.
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Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.
