Oakland Roots announced they have signed former Loudoun United forward Florian Valot.
Valot, 32, comes to Oakland after being Ryan Martin’s most active player last season, totaling 2,851 minutes in 32 starts across all competitions.
FotMob lists him as a player with experience across multiple positions, including striker, attacking midfield, central midfield, and left midfield. Transfermark also has him as a right winger, attacking midfielder, and left winger.
He theoretically slots into the backup striker role vacated by EJ Johnson, giving Roots a veteran mind behind Peter Wilson and competition at the attacking midfield role with Faysal Bettache. Should Martin run a 4-3-2-1 or 4-4-2, he could also provide additional depth on both left and right sides.
So what are Roots getting in Valot?
Valot comes to The Town after being one of the most consistent players in the league last season, ranking No. 7 in FotMob’s average rating list with a score of 7.35. In the attacking midfield category, Valot’s eight assists ranked him in the top 1.8 percent of players.
Moreover, he’s a clear distributor, with 37.89 successful passes per game, ranking in the top 16 percent of attacking midfielders. He averaged two successful longballs per match at a success rate of 63.9 percent, finishing in the top 17 and 15 percent of the league. Although Panos Armenakas 2.25 successful long balls per game last season, he did so at a 51 percent average. Bettache, meanwhile, had 2.43 at a 56.5 percent clip.
Something Roots have struggled to execute in recent years is pressing from the front, despite its ambition to do so. Valot brings someone who has success in the front-footed mold that Martin is installing, winning possession in the final third 0.84 per match, which is in the top 16 percent of players. Bettache averaged 0.65 per match, while Armenaks was at 0.60.
He also has the capability of landing a shot to the top bin, which was something Roots were missing last season.
Valot is a native of France, playing in Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco’s youth academies. He started his career at Monaco II from 2010 to 2013 before making his way to the States.
He attended Rider University in New Jersey in 2014-2015, joining New York Red Bulls II in 2016. From there, he was promoted to the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer in 2018, making 42 appearances and 33 starts for 2,869 total minutes until departing in 2021.
FC Cincinnati signed him to a contract in 2021. He made his way to the USL Championship with Miami FC in 2022, playing there until landing with Loudoun United in 2024.
For his USL career, Valot has 169 appearances and 151 starts for 13,465 minutes, 24 goals, and 37 assists.