Our non-resident French-Kiwi footballer (Raimbault) does love a goal contribution. The 25yo attacking midfielder began the season with a flurry of assists and lately he’s been doing it himself with three goals in his last six appearances in MLS Next Pro. All combined that’s 4 goals and 5 assists in 22 matches for Carolina Core – one of the few teams in Next Pro that doesn’t have an MLS affiliate but the scouts should be watching nonetheless.
It’ll be educational to see what happens with this guy because MLS Next Pro hasn’t done a whole lot for the careers of other NZers who’ve passed through. Jay Herdman was awesome for Vancouver Whitecaps 2 but only ended up signing in the Canadian league, where he had a bright championship-winning start but has mostly been stuck on the bench for the past year and a half. Ronan Wynne played a year for Atlanta United 2 after being drafted and then the released him and it took a season of Oceania Pro League to get his career going again, since earning himself an A-League contract with Auckland FC. Troy Putt does seem to have put himself around the wider Minnesota United first team squad so there’s potential there. But, again, Raimbault’s team doesn’t have an MLS affiliate. Uncharted territory.
