The 2022 USL Championship Young Player of the Year has a new home for the new year.

Michee Ngalina was unveiled as a new signing by Turkish club Göztepe S.K. on Monday, joining the club on a two-and-a-half-year contract after starring for Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC during the past campaign.

The 22-year-old makes the move to Turkey’s second tier after recording 14 goals and nine assists across the regular season and playoffs for the Switchbacks in 2022. Ngalina led the club to the Western Conference Final of the USL Championship Playoffs for the first time in its history and led the league with 86 successful dribbles while also posting 43 chances created and 24 tackles won.

Ngalina arrived in the USL Championship in 2018 with the Philadelphia Union II, and made 104 appearances across the regular season and playoffs overall in the league over four seasons. He notched 35 goals and 21 assists in 8,537 minutes of action while recording 122 chances created and 223 completed dribbles.

In 2019 he was signed by Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union, and after moving to Colorado Springs for the 2021 season he also spent time on loan with Los Angeles FC. He now joined a Göztepe S.K. side aiming to make a push for promotion to Turkey’s top flight in the second half of its season.

One of the country’s historic clubs – which reached the Semifinal of the UEFA Fairs Cup, the precursor to the current UEFA Europa League, in 1969 – Göztepe S.K. is currently in 11th place in the TFF 1.League, six points out of the promotion playoff positions.