LAS VEGAS – Las Vegas Lights FC announced on Wednesday the club had signed forward Manuel Arteaga to a multi-year contract through the 2027 USL Championship season. The transaction is pending league and federation approval.

Arteaga joins the Lights from the Tampa Bay Rowdies, where he recorded 28 goals across 63 regular season appearances over the past two campaigns. The veteran striker also powered Phoenix Rising FC to a USL Championship title in 2023 with 15 goals and six assists in 33 regular season appearances.

"We are thrilled to have Manuel join the Lights," said Lights Sporting Director Gianleonardo Neglia. “He’s a proven striker who has consistently competed for the Golden Boot over his five seasons in this league. His experience and competitive fire make him a tremendous asset for our attack. The possibility of pairing him up with Johnny Rodriguez puts us in an incredible position to boast two proven goalscorers on our front line alongside a young talent like Nighte Pickering.”

A product of the Club Union Atletico Maracaibo and Zulia FC youth setups, Arteaga made his professional debut in his native Venezuela with the latter’s Primera Division Venezolana side at only 16 years of age. He would go on to take part in 80 matches for Los Negriazules, tallying 33 goals across all competitions. His stay in the Maracaibo side featured two loan moves, one to Italian Serie A club Parma’s youth teams and one to local rivals Deportivo Anzoátegui.

In 2016, after scoring 17 goals for Zulia and becoming the Venezuelan Torneo de Adecuacion’s top goalscorer, Arteaga signed for Italian Serie A club Palermo. He spent the 2016/17 season on loan with Croatian Football League side Hajduk Split and Bolivia’s The Strongest and moved on to Belgian club RFC Seraing the following year.

In 2017, Arteaga returned to Venezuela with Deportivo La Guaira, where he would score 14 goals in 30 matches. Following a brief return to European soccer with Portuguese side Arouca, he played for Venezuela-based club Zamora FC, tallying 12 goals in 30 matches across all competitions.

Arteaga arrived in the USL Championship with Indy Eleven in 2021 and recorded 15 goals and five assists in 53 appearances for the side before joining Phoenix Rising, where he teamed with Danny Trejo to lead the side to the USL Championship title.