Official: Philadelphia Union announce Andrew Wooten signing

The Philadelphia Union have a new striker for the second half push with the announcement Thursday that they’ve signed of forward Andrew Wooten (pronounced VOO-ten) to the first team roster.

The 29-year-old German-American will be officially added to the roster once the secondary transfer window opens on July 9. He was acquired using targeted allocation money, or TAM.

The Union’s signing of Wooten fills a need for the Union. Cory Burke is currently in Jamaica dealing with visa issues and the club traded forward David Accam after dealing CJ Sapong right before the start of the season.

Wooten is comparable in size to Burke at 6’1” and 187 pounds. He joins the Union after a strong season in the 2 Bundesliga, where he scored 17 goals in 31 appearances for German side Sandhausen; 13 of those goals came in the second 18 games of the season. Wooten was tied for fourth in scoring in all 2 Bundesliga.

Wooten was born and raised in Germany, however he maintains U.S. citizenship through his father, who was in the U.S. military. Wooten began his professional career with fourth division team Wormatia Worms in 2008, and has played at four other clubs since then, not counting the Union.

Philadelphia Union

Sporting Director Ernst Tanner says that the Union were lucky to obtain Wooten, a highly sought after target.

“He is a strong forward who had interest from many teams around the world, so to have him choose Philadelphia as the next stop in his career is a tremendous compliment,” Tanner said in a news release.

Tanner hopes to see Wooten playing with the Union as soon as possible.

“We are all looking forward to integrating Andrew as quickly as possible and having him ready to play as soon as he is eligible following the opening of the transfer window,” he said.

What do you think of the signing? Do you think Wooten is the missing ingredient the Union need for the postseason push?