New York Red Bulls II strengthens roster, signs Bonomo, defenders Andrew Lombard and David Abidor

On March 21^st, New York Red Bulls II signed David Abidor and Andrew Lombard to USL contracts. The team also re-signed striker and attempted centerback convert, Stefano Bonomo, to a USL contract.

Abidor, 24, joins NYRBII after playing 2016 with the Tulsa Roughnecks. There he played in 29 games, scoring one goal over the course of the season. Prior to returning to the U.S. and the USL, Abidor played with Dulkurd FF in Sweden after he graduated from Creighton in 2014. Abidor, a preseason trialist with the team, looks to be a centerback replacement for the team after Zach Carroll and Konrad Plewa departed at the end of last year while Aaron Long has since joined the first team.

Andrew Lombard, 19, is the team’s second ever signing of an academy player as a college underclassman (Danny Bedoya was the first in 2014). He is ninth academy player to sign for NYRBII and the second youngest to do so, after Tyler Adams. The Montclair native is an undersized centerback, standing only 5’9”, however, he is known to deploy at rightback as well due to his stellar speed.

Though not part of the team that took play in World Cup Qualifying earlier this year, Lombard was one of the few college players to be a regular on the U.S. U20 National Team this past cycle. Since graduating from the Red Bulls Academy two years ago, he has played at Northeastern University and Ohio State, starting 13 games each of those two seasons. Lombard has been in the academy system since the U13 level, being part of first place teams at both the U16 and U18 level.

Bonomo, 24, returns to New York being the baby bulls first ever player to play in three different USL seasons. This will be his second complete one. Over his year and half with NYRBII, Bonomo played in 31 league games, scoring eight goals. The former Cal striker flirted with a move to centerback at one point last year, but nothing seemed to come of it. Bonomo does have a disciplinary history as well, after he was suspended for four games last year for punching another player. He was also at the center of the fracas involving Karl Ouimette during the Pittsburgh Riverhounds game last year.

These three signings bring Red Bulls II’s roster up to nine, with Vincent Bezecourt, Florian Valot, Junior Flemmings, Ethan Kutler, David Najem, and Tim Schmoll already under contract. Zeiko Lewis has also been loaned down to NYRBII for the entire year from the first team.

Numerous other signings are rumored to be in the works or already be completed, including, but not limited to, Evan Louro, Rafi Diaz, Douglas Martinez, and Jordan Scarlett. Academy players like Omir Fernandez and Kevin O’Toole will also contribute to the team this year, gaining meaningful professional experience while also helping to make up the numbers.

The whereabouts and status of onetime rumored potential signings, Noah Powder and Marcello Borges, are currently unknown.