phoenix – Phoenix Rising FC announced on Friday that they have acquired midfielder Panos Almenakas on a transfer from the club’s USL championship club, Loudon United FC. Almenacus will be selected for Rising FC’s game against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC at Highmark Stadium this Saturday night.
“Panos is a great addition,” said Rising FC head coach Juan Guerra. “He’s a player we’ve spent a lot of time watching in the off-season and we’re excited to finally bring him to the club. His technical ability and workload and tactical understanding. Combining will give you even more options in the future.
“He comes in very hungry and ready to make an impact.
Almenakas has made 12 USL Championship appearances for Loudon this season, scoring one goal and assisting and creating 20 chances. The 24-year-old has a passing accuracy of 80.8 percent and ranks jointly 11th in the league with 20 successful dribbles.
“I’m very excited to be joining a big club like Phoenix and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season,” said Armenacus. “The first step is to take it game by game, integrate it into the system as soon as possible, and help the team win and move in a positive direction.”
“He’s very technical. I was brought here to do as much damage as possible to the team offensively. I know Phoenix is a possession-based team. By driving on and creating as many chances as possible, you can help with goals and assists and hurt other teams.”
Prior to joining Loudoun United, Amernakas played for Vensissel in the Danish first division. In 2015, while playing for Italian club Udinese, The Guardian named him one of the 50 best young players in the world. Two years later, at the age of 19, he became the youngest Australian at the time to sign a professional contract with a club in one of Europe’s top five leagues, beginning his senior career at Seam club.
Armenakas also played for the youth national teams of Greece (U17) and Australia (U17 and U23).
