Paul Walters’ year abroad aimed to help him become a better goalkeeper and a more capable option for FC Cincinnati in the long term. The path to that point is more nuanced, but the broader goal was fairly simple.
FC Cincinnati leadership, with a large contribution in vision and guidance from Director of Goalkeeping Paul Rogers, wanted to send the young Cincinnati native – a Lakota West High School grad – to an experience where he would have to A.) compete for first team minutes and win a starting spot, B.) learn from new coaches and players, and broaden his soccer education, and C.) get out of his comfort zone and grow as a person.
The general feeling from Walters and the club's leaders is that it was a success on all accounts, and the season-long loan spell the 22-year-old had with Ireland’s Bohemians FC was a resounding positive for both the player and the club.
“It was unreal, off and on the field. Just everything about it was almost perfect,” Walters said Wednesday after training with FC Cincinnati.
A week after returning to Cincy at the end of his loan, Walters has now rejoined FC Cincinnati training and will be with the team through the end of the season. After a full season in Ireland with Bohs in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the season has ended, so Walters returned home.
“It was a very good loan spell for him and earned a starting role and had a lot of highs, a couple tough moments that I'm interested to hear about. But I think that's probably as successful of a loan spell that we've had for any player in my time here,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said last week when Walters first returned. “To go get games, mature and so that's a huge positive, and that was the goal all along. So, credit to him for earning that starting role over an experienced keeper, and then keeping it. And so, there were meaningful games. Their team was close to the top of the table, had a nice run in the cup, so, very pleased for Paul.”
Walters joined the Dublin-based club in January and won the starting spot in June, never looking back. He went on to make 24 starts for the side, including six in European competition. He earned four clean sheets on the path to helping his side finish second in the league, which also earned them qualification for the Europa Conference League Qualifiers next season.
“Obviously, I didn't start playing until the beginning of June, so I just had to kind of wait my turn, but once I did go in, it was just kind of like what we said when I went. The whole goal was to go over there, get senior minutes, get that experience, that uncomfortable experience,” Walters added. “And at first, it wasn't comfortable, I won't lie, but as I settled in and got close with the group. I got pretty comfortable, and it was amazing. Yeah, just and then off the field, like those some of those guys are like probably will be some of my closest friends for life. So yeah, it just went really well all around.”
“It was a great experience that, for him and for us, was exactly what we were looking for,” FC Cincinnati GM Chris Albright said of Walters. “Now we'll get to see him in training with our group and just kind of reevaluate where he is going in the next year.”
Walter's fondness for his time at Boh’s was reciprocated by his new Irish fans, as both the supporters and the club were sad to see him go at the end of his loan. But his return to Cincy marks an important chapter in his career now.
The goalkeeper position is unique because there’s only one on the field, and there’s no realistic way to split time between keepers. Walters' long-term goal is always to be the starting keeper for FC Cincinnati, so coming home means challenging for a starting spot in the future.
Which is why you go on loan in the first place, to be clear. The goal was to give him experience as “the guy” and face the expectations and pressures of that role in a real way. Walters welcomed that challenge and went overseas to face it. He lived in a house with a group of guys he had never met, walked into a camp where he knew no one, and made an impression, eventually earning a starting spot. Now he comes home looking to push for his place in the FC Cincinnati lineup next season, using the experience he gained.
“I kind of have those experiences now. I know what it takes, in a sense, to win now. How to win and how important it is,” Walters explained. “So, really, I'm just gonna come in here and kind of just fight for that spot every day.
“I hope I did enough to have the guys up there (in the coaches offices) start having some conversations,” Walters continued. “I can't control what they do or say, but all I can control is what I do every day. So hopefully it was turning heads in a positive way.”
