Nashville SC announced Tuesday afternoon the signing of free agent midfielder Sean Davis. Davis, 28, has spent his entire seven year MLS career with New York Red Bulls. Davis joins on a guaranteed three year contract with an additional option for 2025.
From the press release:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Jan. 4, 2022) – Nashville Soccer Club announced today it has acquired seven-year Major League Soccer veteran Sean Davis via free agency. Davis joins Nashville SC on a three-year guaranteed deal with an option for 2025.
“Sean is a tremendous leader who contributes so much on and off the field. He has the ability to impact games on both sides of the ball, and we are so excited to add him to our group.” -Nashville SC General Manager Mike Jacobs.
Davis joins Nashville SC with 182 MLS appearances between regular season and Audi MLS Cup Playoff competition. Davis led the Red Bulls to the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs in seven consecutive seasons and two Supporters’ Shields, first during his rookie season in 2015 and second in 2018 when he registered a career-high eight assists.
Signed as a Red Bulls’ Homegrown Player on Dec. 11, 2014, Davis became the first of its kind to wear the captain’s armband full-time. He is also a club leader in games played (172), games started (141) and minutes played (12,616) as a Homegrown player. His regular season games played and minutes are the third and fifth all-time best, respectively, in club history.
In 2021, Davis was a true maestro in the midfield, setting career-highs in games played (34), game-winning assists (4), total passes (1,519), key passes (42) and accurate long balls (84). Davis also led all MLS players in total distance covered (249 miles), and distance covered per game (7.1 miles) for players with at least 900 minutes played, in possession won and recoveries with 329 in each category, and is one of just three outfield MLS players to have played every regular season minute (3,060).
Davis was widely viewed as one of the best players available in MLS free agency, and fills a major need on Nashville’s roster. Anibal Godoy (31) and Dax McCarty (34) are still among the league’s best midfielders, but are both on the wrong side of 30. Davis will compete for starting minutes and provide much-needed depth, in addition to Brian Anunga.
The signing is another significant addition in free agency for Nashville, who also added striker C.J. Sapong through free agency last season. We’ll have more reaction to this signing in the coming days.
