ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico United announced on Sunday the club had re-signed midfielder Chris Wehan ahead of the 2024 USL Championship season, keeping one of the key figures in club history in its ranks. The transaction is pending league and federation approval.

Wehan holds the New Mexico club record with 36 goals and 15 assists in 94 appearances for the club across the Championship’s regular season and playoffs. Joining the club prior to its inaugural season in 2019, he briefly competed in 2021 for Orange County SC before a mid-season transfer brought him back to Isotopes Park.

“What Chris means to this club and this community is beyond measure,” said United Sporting Director Itamar Keinan. “His intelligence, talent, and impact make him a massive piece of the history and the future of New Mexico United. We’re beyond excited to bring him back on a new contract, and to see him continue to create incredible moments in New Mexico.”

Voted the Championship’s Rookie of the Year in 2017 at Reno 1868 FC, Wehan has been a key figure in New Mexico’s success. In the abbreviated 2020 season he recorded seven goals and five assists to help push the side into the postseason where it advanced to the Western Conference Semifinals before being eliminated in a penalty shootout by rival El Paso Locomotive FC. This past season, he was limited to six appearances after sustaining a knee injury in June that ruled him out of the remainder of the campaign.

In addition to holding the scoring and assists lead in club history, Wehan also ranks sixth in appearances and fifth in minutes played for the club. In his career in the Championship, the 29-year-old has recorded 51 regular season goals and 32 regular season assists in 148 appearances.

Analysis

Chris Wehan’s re-signing ahead of the 2024 USL Championship season will keep one of the most popular – and inarguably the most productive – player in the club’s history in Black and Yellow and offers a level of continuity in what has already been an offseason with notable departures from the club. Wehan’s injury last June left New Mexico with a major what-if down the final stretch of the 2023 campaign as the side managed to reach the playoffs but only found its most consistent form in the final month of the season.

Wehan has the potential to change that as one of the most consistent midfielders in the final third in the Championship’s history. His 51 goals and 32 assists in the regular season make him one of six players to have recorded at least 50 goals and 30 assists while having the fewest appearances of all of them. Averaging a goal contribution every 146 minutes so far in his career, this should be a major plus for Head Coach Eric Quill’s squad.