Sporting Kansas City's newest midfielder, Peterson Joseph Copyright Sporting Kansas City

On September 1, 2011 Sporting Kansas City announced the signing of  Haitian midfielder Peterson Joseph.  To be honest, I didn't know much of anything about Joseph until I heard about the signing announcement earlier today, so I thought I'd do a little research on Sporting Kansas City's newest member, and what it could possibly mean for Sporting Kansas City's midfield. 

Joseph is 21 years old, born on April 24, 1990. He's listed as being 5'9", and 132 pounds. 

Before joining Sporting Kansas City, Joseph previously played for Sporting Club Braga, a club that plays in the Portugeuse Primeira Liga.  The Primeira Liga is also home to some very well known soccer clubs such as Porto FC, and Benfica.  Braga is typically considered to be one of the better teams in Primeira Liga, trailing only the aforementioned Porto FC, Benfica, and Sporting Club of Portugal. For the 2010-11 campaign Joseph was loaned to FC Vizela, an affiliate team of Braga. Prior to his time playing for Braga, Joseph played in the Haitian League for Aigle Noir FC.  Peterson has made 6 appearances for the Haitian National team. 

After the jump I'll take a look at Joseph more in depth, and what he might bring to Sporting Kansas City

One of the first things I noticed after watching some videos on Joseph is that goal scoring is not his forte. In fact, Joseph scored only 1 goal in his time at Braga. Joseph appears to be more of a set up man, and a hustle player. He became known as the "Haitian Xavi" for his adept passing abilities. As anyone with soccer knowledge knows, Joseph is no where near the player that the real Xavi (widely considered to be the best passer in the game) is, but they both have a knack for being able to find the open man. Joseph appears to have very good vision, and an understanding of where his teammates are on the pitch at all times. Peterson should be yet another player for SKC that can link the midfield to our forwards. 

However, Peterson's greatest asset appears to be his tenacity. The guy is completely relentless, both when he plays defense, and when his team is on the attack. In fact, most of the highlights I found on Joseph are hustle plays where he illustrates his willingness to continually fight for possession, and to never give up on a play. It's a great quality to have in a player, and one that I'm sure will serve Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes well as the end of the season draws closer.

From the looks of it I'd have to imagine that Joseph is a signing that was meant merely to give the squad depth as Sporting KC makes their final push to secure a playoff bid. With how well most of SKC's midfield has been playing this year, I don't see a spot where Joseph would be able to actually take a starting slot away.  Graham Zusi, and Roger Espinoza are entrenched in the starting line up, and I'm sure that  Jeferson will have a starting spot as well given his designated player price tag, and his ability to create. Add in captain Davy Arnaud, and Craig Rocastle once they are fit enough to play, and it's a very crowded midfield already even before adding Peterson Joseph into the mix. 

Still, Joseph gives Vermes yet another option going forward. A fully healthy SKC squad might give Vermes the potential problem of who to start/sub from match to match, but I'm sure it's a problem Peter Vermes won't mind having.