Charlotte Independence Acquires Young Player of the Year Alfredo Midence
The club also signs midfielder Christopher Jaime to boost attack
Charlotte Independence further boosted its roster today with the loan acquisition of midfielder Alfredo Midence.
The 22 year old signed with USL Championship side Lexington SC in the off season, making just one appearance, in the US Open Cup first round matchup against Southern Indiana. Midence put on a man-of-the-match worthy performance, assisting on Cory Burke’s opening goal, then adding one of his own early in the second half.
Midence won the league honor while playing with Central Valley Fuego in 2024 on his first professional contract. There, he made 21 appearances and put up four goals and nine assists across regular season and Jägermeister Cup play. Midence was also the 2024 USL League One regular season assists leader. His 133 minutes per assist in 2024 is the most in a single regular season in league history among players who played at least 25% of their team’s minutes.
Charlotte will now have two of the three Young Player of the Year nominees from last season on roster, with midfielder Luis Álvarez also in the running.
“Adding the ‘USL Young Player of the Year’ is a huge coup for our franchise, said Charlotte Head Coach Mike Jeffries, “Alfredo’s playmaking quality will bring creativity to our game in the final third as he not only has the ability to find the killer pass to unlock defenses, but he can create and finish on his own.”
Midence is a native of Honduras and moved Maryland when he was 15 years old. He spent time with the D.C. United Academy and then with amateur sides Club Atletico Los Toros of the APL and Club Deportivo Laurel of the UPSL before joining Central Valley Fuego FC.
It’s Lexington’s seventh loan out of the season, having already dealt Nico Brown (Forward Madison), Ates Diouf (Detroit City), Malik Henry-Scott (Huntsville City), Kimball Jackson (Chattanooga Red Wolves), Azaad Liadi (Portland Hearts of Pine and Josh Ramsey (Union Omaha).
Per the roster report released by the team this morning ahead of tomorrow’s match, Charlotte also signed free agent midfielder Christopher Jaime. The 21 year old spent the last two seasons with LAFC 2 in MLS NextPro, and had five goals and five assists over 47 league appearances for LAFC 2. He was also called up to the first team for four matches in 2023, starting in two of those matches, both in the Open Cup.
Jaime is a former LAFC and Las Vegas Lights academy product, turning professional with Las Vegas in 2022.
Jeffries emphasized Charlotte’s aims at moving to “a younger roster” in the signing of Jaime, along with Midence and previous signee Rafael Jauregui, and the return of Álvarez. All are 22 years old or younger, and all but Midence have multiple years’ professional experience already. This is Midence’s second year as a professional.
On Jaime, Jeffries shared: “Though only 20 years old, Jaime plays with the maturity of a seasoned professional – finding the right pass, closing plays defensively, and winning duels.”
“In addition, he is capable of playing box to box and shows composure and the ability to create in front of goal. As we move to a younger roster, Jaime has the profile of a player we believe can continue to develop and has higher levels to attain.”
While Charlotte did not provide an injury report for this Friday’s match against Chattanooga Red Wolves, forward Jon Bakero exited the first match of the season with an apparent injury and did not appear in the Open Cup match last week against Long Island Rough Riders. With Bakero’s potential absence, and Midence and Jaime known to have already joined the squad, there is a strong chance they will be rostered on Friday.
Charlotte emerged victorious in a wild, added extra time affair at Long Island, and will face off with MLS NextPro side Carolina Core on Tuesday. However, Midence is not eligible to appear in Open Cup matches for Charlotte, having already appeared for Lexington.