Pavel Bucha left Viktoria Plzeň after five and a half years and transferred to the American FC Cincinnati. The 25-year-old midfielder signed a two-year contract with the overseas Major League Soccer (MLS) team with an option for another year. Both clubs announced the transfer on their websites.
The former under-21 representative left Pilsen at the beginning of the winter training and headed to the USA for a medical check-up, but the transfer was administratively delayed until now due to visa processing. Buch’s contract in the west of Bohemia would expire after the season in June, Viktoria will receive almost 40 million crowns for the transfer, according to the media.
“I am glad that the transfer is finally confirmed. I have come across the fact that the overseas league is not perceived here or in Europe as a quality competition. That European players come here to finish their careers. But I completely I don’t see it that way. On the contrary, I think that very good players come here,” said Bucha in a recording for the media by the agency Sport Invest, which represents him.
“I personally started watching MLS recently since the arrival of Lionel Messi to Inter Miami. So I saw a few of their matches. I found out that the players here are great and it certainly has its quality. Soccer is gaining popularity here, it is coming to the fore. It is there is more and more interest in it, Cincinnati used to be regularly sold out in the last season. The fact that the World Cup will be held here in two years will also help,” he added.
Bucha came to Pilsen in the summer of 2018 from the parent club Slavia Prague, where he did not agree on a new contract. The people of Prague considered the player’s dismissal to be unjustified and appealed to the FAČR referees’ body. In the end, however, the clubs agreed on an amicable solution to the dispute.
Pavel Bucha is #AllForCincy pic.twitter.com/ImOcVX9waR
— FC Cincinnati (@fccincinnati) February 7, 2024
After a loan spell in Mladá Boleslav, Bucha won a place in Viktoria’s squad. With the West Bohemian team, he won the Czech title the year before and played in the Champions League group. He played 121 league games for Plzeň, scoring 22 goals. In the autumn part of this season’s top competition, the native of Mělnice jumped into 17 rounds, in which he scored five times.
In total, Bucha has 157 starts in the Czech league, during which he scored 29 goals and 24 assists. Bucha apparently chose to move abroad because the West Bohemians brought two more players to his position in the midfield in the winter.
“Farewelling Pilsen and my teammates was difficult for me, I couldn’t find the words. I will continue to keep my fingers crossed for the club and watch the results closely,” said Bucha. “I feel really good here in the USA so far. People here think positively, they are in a good mood every day. I am really looking forward to the start of the league,” said Bucha.
Last year, Cincinnati was the best team in the MLS regular season, losing in the semi-finals of the playoffs to eventual winners from Columbus. The new season of the overseas competition will start on February 21.
The Czech goalkeeper Tomáš Vaclík last worked in the MLS, but he recently left the New England Revolution club after less than half a year without catching a single competitive match. Before that, Zdeněk Ondrášek, Bořek Dočkal and Luboš Kubík played in the overseas competition.
2024-02-08 02:14:33
#Bucha #transferred #Pilsen #Cincinnati #signed #contract
