Dervishi Signs One Year Contract

Morris Dalla Costa -
The London Free Press -

Gentjan Dervishi is going to give it another go for London City.

The 31-year-old is one of the more respected and well-known alumni for the Canadian Soccer League team but he is an alumnus no more.

"We signed him for a year and we still believe his is one of the best midfielders in Ontario," said London City general manager Ryan Gauss. "He helped us out last year late in the season and he still thinks he has a couple of good years left in him."

Dervishi has always been an inventive midfielder that not only creates but can take scoring chances. He left the game for a couple of years only returning because of coach Harry Gauss' illness.

Gauss died last year.

"With Dervishi back and with the other players we are signing, we're going to be a quick team,"

Ryan Gauss said.

He's concentrated on solidifying the midfield for now, signing David Ortega, Kuba Waszkowski and Jagger Hassan. At a recent open tryout, City also signed attacking midfielder Annasse Brouk, who played at the University of Quebec.

"He's 25 and has also played in Holland and Dubai," Gauss said.

"His cousin (Reda Agourram) played for Trois-Rivieres Attak and led the CSL in scoring."

The Attak is a farm club for the Montreal Impact and at 25, Gauss said Brouk was too old for the development team.

Dervishi did some coaching for London Croatia before returning for the final games last season.

"Part of it was that I really missed the game," he said of his return. "And last year ,when Harry was sick, I came back to play and he told me he really was happy that I came back. It was the last conversation I had with him."

Dervishi will be married this summer but expects to play the entire season. Even though he hadn't played for a while he felt last year's experience showed him he wasn't badly out of shape. He's started working out already.

"I'm excited. I figured how many more years do I have left to play? I may as well do it while I can. It was hard coaching last year. I would be sitting on the bench and my feet were itchy to kick the ball."