Mattocks signs MLS deal

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Former Bridgeport High Manning Cup star Darren Mattocks has signed a three-year contract with the United States' Major League Soccer (MLS) for next season.

Mattocks, who represented Akron University in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division One Championships this season, has been tipped by many pundits in the United States as the number-one prospect for the draft.

"It would be a great achievement for me if I am selected as the number-one pick in the draft because it will mean that all my hard at Akron University would have paid off," said Mattocks, who was voted the Freshman Player of the Year in 2010.

Mattocks was the second leading scorer in the Division One championship this season with 21 goals in 21 games, and in the process led Akron to the quarter-finals of the NCAA competition.

Fellow Jamaican Ashton Bennett of Coastal Carolina was the top scorer in the Division One Championship, with 23 goals.

Mattocks, who has attracted a lot of interest from a number of overseas clubs, told The Gleaner in an interview on Thursday that he decided to sign with the MLS because they presented the best offer.

"The MLS is giving me the best benefit financially in terms of my contract because it is a pretty good figure," said Mattocks, who refused to disclose the monetary terms of his contract.

"The MLS is growing in America and also worldwide and they are also going to secure my education while I am playing in the league," he said. "This is a big plus for me because in 15 years' time when I retire from football I am going to need something to fall back on and so this is pretty good," Mattocks reasoned.

Brazilian top club Botafogo, along with BrŸndby of Denmark, a team which played in the UEFA Champions League two seasons ago, as well as two clubs in Norway, had expressed an interest in acquiring the striker.

easy to connect with boyz

The 21-year-old Mattocks, who was called up for the first time to the senior Reggae Boyz team for a four-day training camp earlier this month, said: "The next thing is that the Jamaica team has a lot of their training camps in America, and so this would make it quite easy for me to travel, rather than playing in Europe were it would take a much longer time to go back and forth."

He also stated that one of his main goals in the MLS next season is to break fellow countryman Damani Ralph's rookie-year goalscoring record.

"My expectation is to break the MLS rookie scoring record of 11 goals, and I believe that once I get a lot of playing time, then this shouldn't be a problem for me," Mattocks said.

The 2012 MLS SuperDraft will be held on January 12. The expansion franchise Montreal Impact has the number-one pick in the draft.