Louisville City’s 2024 roster is beginning to fill out as the club has announced yet another new addition to the mix. The club announced today that they have completed a paid transfer with Monterey Bay FC to acquire versatile defender Sam Gleadle (Twitter/Insta). The 27-year-old English-born player brings with him a good bit of experience with six years in the league. While his positional history is all over the pitch, he is expected to be the successor to Manny Perez’s role on the right flank.
“We are excited to welcome Sam and his family to Louisville," said Coach Danny Cruz. "He’s a guy that is a danger from the sideline with the engine and pace that we want to get up and down the field no matter the system. He is a versatile player that we have seen play many different positions throughout his career. A big thing that stood out in looking through his footage since he has been in the league was his ability to get forward even when playing in deeper positions. We are excited to get to work and happy that we could get this deal done."
“My agent and I were reaching out to some teams I was interested in and, of course, I think every player should be interested in Louisville City,” Gleadle said. “I wanted to take a step in a good direction for my career. With how big this club is, I think I’m doing that. Hopefully, I can show myself well and help bring a championship to Louisville.”
Gleadle’s playing experience began at the youth level for Real Salt Lake before a collegiate career with the New Mexico Lobos, which was preceded by joining Albuquerque Sol in USL League 2 for the 2017 season. In 2018, he was included on Reno 1868’s roster, making his debut in the league the following season. Gleadle was one of a handful of players who were signed to Minnesota United in late 2020 ahead of their upcoming playoff run. He went on to sign with San Antonio for 2021 before being included on Monterey Bay’s roster for their inaugural season. He scored the club’s 2nd goal in Monterey’s shocking upset of Louisville City. Yes, that one.
As previously mentioned, Gleadle is a bit of a Swiss army knife. He’s had a history of playing in several different roles, mostly midfield-oriented. The club has made it a point to list him as a defender. Although there will certainly be positional competition, the leading thought is that we will see him at right back. His skill set has led Coach Cruz to see him as a RB within his system and Gleadle putting pen to paper indicates that he is aligned. Players are more flexible and dynamic in the ability to play a variety of roles than we often give them credit for (myself certainly included) so I am particularly intrigued by how he fairs adjusting back to being largely an outside back opposed to the midfield roles he was usually found last season. The possibility of leveraging him in other roles as needed is also interesting. Never hurts to have a guy who can be competently plugged and played in a number of different spots!
Parting Thoughts
2024 Signings:
Want to do a little more reading on LouCity? I suggest the following:
Be sure to check out the Vamos Morados Podcast featuring me, Benton, and Zach Allen-Kelly. It’s available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Audible, and Spotify. Everything you need to listen can be found on the Podcast page. Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode!
If you don’t follow the site on Facebook, do yourself the favor and follow there so you don’t miss any of the action! I'm also on Twitter dispensing #LouCity and #RacingLou info and thoughts as well as Instagram!