New England Revolution sign goalkeeper Cropper

The New England Revolution announced Thursday the club has signed goalkeeper Cody Cropper as a free agent after the United States' under-23 shot-stopper saw his contract expire at MK Dons at the end of the 2015-16 Championship season.

Cropper, 23, first moved to England with Southampton out of the Ipswich Town academy. The Atlanta native made nine appearances with MK Dons last season, but did not have the one-year option on his contract activated by the club and was thus released.

In the end, the Dons' loss was New England's gain.

"Cody is a player whose development we’ve been tracking the past few years," Revolution general manager Michael Burns said in a club statement. "He's a promising young goalkeeper and we’re excited to bring him to New England."

The 6-foot-4 net minder has 28 international caps at the youth level, and most recently participated in 2016 Olympic qualifiers with the U.S. U-23 team in a match against Colombia on March 25, 2016.

He is the third goalkeeper on the Revolution roster, and will compete for a starting role alongside Brad Knighton and Bobby Shuttleworth for Jay Heaps' side.

The Revolution hope he can make an immediate impact, as the club has conceded a league-high 44 goals against in 24 matches, and the team boasts the worst goal differential (-15) thus far this season.