LAS VEGAS – Las Vegas Lights FC announced on Tuesday night the club had signed Argentine attacking midfielder Emmanuel Ledesma for the 2023 USL Championship season. Ledesma will be available for selection in Lights FC’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup contest on Wednesday night against the LA Force.

The 34-year-old joins Las Vegas having most recently competed for AC Barnechea in Chile, with his most recent action in the Championship coming in the 2021 season when he made a pair of late-season appearances for Indy Eleven.

Ledesma is best-known in the Championship for his outstanding 2018 campaign, which saw him claim the league’s Most Valuable Player award after recording 16 goals and 16 assists in 33 appearances across the regular season and playoffs. Ledesma led Cincinnati to the best record in the Championship that season, and remained with the club as it made the move to Major League Soccer the following year. He recorded six goals and five assists in 26 appearances in the 2019 season before departing the club.

Prior to arriving in Cincinnati, Ledesma had competed for the New York Cosmos and numerous clubs in Europe, including current Premier League clubs Brentford FC and Brighton and Hove Albion. He joins former Mexico international Erick “Cubo” Torres in Las Vegas as the duo aim to bring attacking success to Lights FC, which has drawn each of its first three games of the 2023 season.