Loudoun United signs Shinya Kadono

Days after Loudoun United announced their first two signings in player history, today they added a third by acquiring forward Shinya Kadono for 2019. Kadono was taken with the last pick in the third round of the 2019 MLS SuperDraft by D.C. United and saw minutes with the first team, even scoring a goal in D.C.’s first preseason game against Bethlehem Steel FC in the Black-and-Red’s 1-0 win.

The 22-year-old Kadono would presumably compete with, or maybe even have the inside track over trialist Kyle Murphy as the starting forward for Loudoun. Kadono gets Loudoun closer to filling out their roster, as USL teams must carry a minimum of 12 (fellow new players Calle Brown and Omar Campos count to this number) players, even if they happen to be an MLS satellite club.

Also, some interesting names floating around Loudoun’s preseason camp arose:

Translated from that list:

• DCU Academy alumni Elian Nalerio, Jack Villatoro, Nelson Martinez and Sandor Bustamante
• Current (Jorge Calix) and former (Suli Dainkeh) University of Maryland students and Academy alums
• Loudoun Soccer-connected players (Collin Verfurth a forward who played at Virginia Tech)
• An Academy alum with international experience (Christian Rodriguez)
• Pros with some USL experience (Alex Kao, Steven Echevarria)

The team takes the field under Richie Williams three weeks from tomorrow, so things appear to be slowly coming together.