Detroit City FC loses Deklan Wynne to Ben Pirmann's Charleston Battery

Detroit City FC had a productive offseason bringing back impact players from last season, but came up short in their courtship of wing-back Deklan Wynne.

Wynne, who was voted USL Championship's midseason defender of the year, has completed a deal with Charleston Battery, Wynne's new club announced Tuesday.

In November, Charleston — which finished 25th in the league table last season, a measly 25 points in 34 games — also appointed former Detroit City FC head coach and 2022 USL Championship Coach of the Year Ben Pirmann as the club's new head coach, poaching the gaffer from Memphis 901.

"What attracted me to signing for the Battery was, of course, the history of the club and successes had in the past, along with the way coach Pirmann wants to play an attacking brand of soccer," Wynne told USLChampionship.com.

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After bouncing between MLS and USL Championship sides, Wynne, 27, signed a one-year deal with DCFC last offseason. In his one and only season with Le Rouge, Wynne finished in the 87th percentile of goals-above-replacement, per USL Tactics, with a 66% tackle win rate. He had three goals and finished second on the team in assists (eight), trailing only attacking forward Antoine Hoppenot (11).

With Wynne's departure, DCFC now has a massive hole to fill opposite of Rhys Williams in the preferred 3-4-1-2 formation of head coach Trevor James.

DCFC announced Monday the re-signing of goalkeeper Nate Steinwascher, who was reported by The Detroit News to have agreed to terms on a new deal in December.

nbianchi@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @nolanbianchi