So an interesting tweet popped up earlier (before twitter died for an hour):

#NASL club confirmed today that a recent signing will be announced in coming days. 3x League Golden Boot Winner w/100+ Career Goals. — StoneSportsMgmt (@StoneSportsMgmt) January 5, 2015

Now, that’s super vague, and there’s no guarantee that that tweet is alluding to an Armada player. But why not do some digging? Searching through the agency’s website yielded nothing, and Google failed to reveal anything of value. So I just started searching through twitter, and found this gem:

Alhassane #Keita und der @FCSG_1879 haben sich einvernehmlich getrennt. #Keita wechselt per Januar 2015 in die USA zu Jacksonville Armada FC — FC St.Gallen (@FCSG_1879) December 31, 2014

Translating that into English, it says: “Alhassane #Keita and @ FCSG_1879 have parted amicably. #Keita Changes by January 2015 the United States to Jacksonville Armada FC”

This is big.

Alhassane Keita (while he doesn’t seem to be the player mentioned in Stone Sports’ tweet) is a proven goal-scorer who has seen success in several leagues throughout Europe. He led FC Zurich to the Swiss Super League title in 2005-06 and won the league’s Golden Boot award in the same season.

He then found success in Spain’s La Liga, featuring for Mallorca and was rumored to have been on the watchlist for several EPL teams (though nothing came of that).

The thrity-one year old has earned twelve international caps for Guinea, scoring one goal for his country.

He will be an excellent addition to the Armada’s forward line that already features Jemal Johnson on the wing and Jaime Castrillon in an advanced midfield role. Keita slots nicely into the central striker spot, and we should see quite a bit of fun link-up play between the three.

As usual, here’s a YouTube video of some highlights. This is from his time at Mallorca, so you get to hear lots of great goal celebrations.

If you want to see more, just search “Alhassane Keita Otchico” and enjoy.