DaMarcus Beasley has returned to Major League Soccer, joining the Houston Dynamo as a designated player on a two-and-a-half-year deal.
Beasley, who played every minute of the United States' World Cup this summer at left-back, had spent the past three years with Puebla in Mexico. He last played in MLS for the Chicago Fire in 2004 before European stints with PSV, Rangers and Hannover.
Really excited to say that Im officially apart of the @HoustonDynamo family! Can't wait to get started n meet everyone! #foreverorange
- DaMarcus Beasley (@DaMarcusBeasley) July 23, 2014
- DaMarcus Beasley (@DaMarcusBeasley) July 23, 2014
Since Beasley, 32, was coming from outside MLS, he was subject to the league's allocation list. The Dynamo were 14th on the list, and so traded midfielder Warren Creavalle to Toronto FC for the rights to sign Beasley.
"When it became known around the first week of July that DaMarcus Beasley was looking to come back to MLS, we threw our hat in the ring and expressed interest with the league and with his agent Richard Motzkin," Dynamo president Chris Canetti told MLSsoccer.com. "We played a pretty vital role in eventually getting the contract signed with the league over the course of the weeks. We were part of the driving force behind that.
"Given that we had expended energy time and effort into making the signing happen, we wanted to make sure that the process could see its way through and that he ended up with us."
Beasley joins Boniek Garcia and young DP Alexander Lopez as Houston's designated players.