Continuing on in our mid-season review of DC United's roster decisions in the offseason, we move on
to the departures. For this entry, our definition of "departure" will be any player who
was on the club roster last season, but who is no longer under contract with the team, for reasons
other than a trade with another MLS club.
Hey, remember that time earlier this month when I told you that United's senior roster appears set.
And that the final senior roster slot would go to Jamil Walker. And that Guy Kpene would remain on
the developmental roster. Yeah about that... Um...
At least it appears that way as far as I see. Goff told us this morning that David Blumer and Josh
Gardner would not be offered contracts by the club. So if you look back at this post, you'd realize
that there are only 18 players left who I've considered as being in competition for the 18 senior
roster spots.
Gasp! And here we were thinking that MLS only made rule changes in order to benefit the Galaxy!
Maybe this was announced earlier and I missed it, but a change to the MLS roster rules has come up
today only because of Goff's latest post announcing the signing of Justin Moose to a Developmental
contract, and the news that Kpene and Dyachenko are still eligible for Developmental contracts.
The front office has had a pretty busy week down in Argentina. Goff reports, and it appears to be
confirmed by Pasion Paternal, that Argentine forward Franco Niell will be joining DC United on a
one-year loan for $60,000, with an option to buy for $900,000, pending a medical exam on January
24th.
$60,000 to loan this guy sounds like a great deal.
First of all, here's a link to what the Fullback wants for Christmas. That's required reading
for all DCU fans this offseason.
Secondly, with all the recent roster moves, and with the rule changes for 2008, I think it's time
that we reset and take a look at where we currently stand.
The rule changes seem to be pretty minor in relation to DCU, and probably most other teams in the
league.
