United Movin’ & Shakin’

It’s been long overdue, so with all the movement recently, I want to try and catch everybody up on DC United’s transfers so far this off-season.

Coming IN (for sure):

• Franco Neil – A small and quick striker playing for Argentinos Juniors is on loan. He’s really small (5’4″, 145lbs) and really quick. I don’t expect him to win many headers for us, but speed is something we are *severely* lacking and this kid has it in spades. He’s a tricky, skillful little player and the larger defenders will have a hard time with him in space. If they’re able to get their hands on him to push him around, he may have a hard time, so we’ll have to see how he adapts. Apparently, we’re only paying him $60k for the year since its a loan. Good pickup. Links: Washington Post, DCUnited.com
• Gonzalo Martínez – Colombian (yay!) central defender with a bit of pedigree. He’s 32 years old, which isn’t too shabby as central defenders tend to last a while longer than other field players, and kinda like goalies they get better with age and experience. Not the tallest at 5’10”, 165lbs. He’s played in Italy and Paraguay, then returned to Colombia to play with Millionarios on their run in Copa America. I think I *might* have seen him play, as I recall watching one of the Colombian teams play and thinking to myself, “Here is the type of player MLS should go after. Shouldn’t cost too much since its not a big Euro league, but level of play seems pretty good.” My dad seems to recall him from his younger days as a winger who used to come forward alot, but was a bit reckless. He said he calmed down and matured once he moved centrally. Don’t have any info on cost, but general BS speculation is about $150k/year. Good pickup. Links: Washington Post, DCUnited.com
• Zach Wells – Youth national team goalie with a good upside. He was part of the trade that sent Bobby Boswell (see below) to Houston. He’s young, but well regarded and seems ready to take on a starting role. He’ll have to hold off Carvallo if he does indeed come. Good pickup.

One foot in the door:

• MARCELO GALLARDO – Yes… *that* Gallardo, aka “El Muneco”. Awesome player, a true #10 in the typical latin style. Great free kicks, draws fouls, playmaker, you name it. The thought of him laying thru balls to Luciano Emelio makes me think he he might shatter the scoring record this year. I can’t speak positively enough about this if it goes through. If you don’t know him, he’s an Argentine national team player (maybe 40-50 caps), who played a few seasons at River Plate (with Juan Pablo Angel currently with NY Red Bulls) and then moved to Monaco in France and lit it up over there. He recently moved to Paris St. Germain where he didn’t see eye to eye with the coach so he’s moving on. Everyone in every paper in every coutnry is saying he’s coming here, but no official word from DC’s front office. He’ll be a Designated Player (DP) if he comes, but it would be well worth it. AWESOME pickup.
• Jose Carvallo – Peruvian goalie. Not sure about this one. He has a pretty good resume, but he’s short at about 5’10”, and I’m sure there will be comparisons to Nick Rimando. I think he’d come in as backup to Zah Wells, but I’m not sure if we’d go that far abroad to get a backup.
• Gonzalo Peralta – Gonzalo #2. Playing in the Argentine 2nd division. This guy is a bit of a question mark as we were after him, then we weren’t, then we were, then we signed Gonzalo #1, so we weren’t, then now we are. Likely backup who would compete for first team time.

One foot out the door:

• Christian Gomez – Early rumors of Gomez rejecting approximately $350k/yr because he wanted at least 2 years guaranteed (versus, only 1 the United was offering) apparently weren’t entirely accurate. It seems (according to Goff) that he wanted about $500k/yr guaranteed (total of $1million), and that was the major sticking point. At that kind of salary level, he’d be a Designated Player (DP), and United must have felt that if they were going to use up their DP slot they may as well get a lot more bang for the buck. Hence the Gallardo signing.

Already gone:

• Troy Perkins – In a great move for Troy, he’s been purchased by Valerenga of the Norwegian league. It looks like it’s apparently a deal worth $750k in transfer money and his salary will be $200 (double what he was making at United).
• Bobby Boswell – Central defender Bobby Boswell (of bobbyboswell.com fame) got traded to Houston for goalie Zach Wells. He had a great year two years ago, a not-so-good year last year and was relegated mostly to backup duties. He’s gotten a couple of caps with the national team and I think is a really bright up-and-comer who just had a bad year. I think the trade was a win-win for both sides.

Did I miss anybody?