Transfers

Union confirm Valdes loaned to Nacional

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

The Philadelphia Union confirmed on Friday that Carlos Valdes has been loaned to Nacional in Uruguay.

The terms of the deal were not announced but reports from South America say it is a one-year loan deal with the option to buy, and that Nacional and/or Valdes can terminate the loan after six months.

“We wish Carlos the best of luck and look forward to him representing the club well during his time with Nacional,” said Union Technical Director Chris Albright. “The loan makes financial sense for both our club and Carlos, and gives us the ability to continue to shape our roster as we prepare for the season.”

Valdes arrived in Montevideo early Friday morning for a physical. After successfully completing the physical, Nacional confirmed the signing via Twitter.

In a conference call with reporters on Thursday, Union head coach Jim Curtin said “we do have things lined up for whatever scenario happens one way or the other with Carlos.” On Friday morning, Kevin Kinkead reported the Union had targeted 28-year-old Benfica center back Steven Vitoria.

Valdes joined the Union in January of 2011 on a one-year loan from Independiente Santa Fe. In August of 2011, the Union announced they had bought his rights. He was named to the MLS All-Star team for the game against Chelsea at PPL Park on July 25, 2012.

Looking to improve his prospects with the Colombian national team, Valdes was loaned back to Santa Fe for the 2013 season. In January of 2014, Valdes was again loaned, this time to San Lorenzo in Argentina.

Following the conclusion of the 2014 World Cup, Valdes returned to the Union last August, making eight appearances for the club in league play. In his time with the Union, Valdes made 73 appearances, scoring three goals over 6,509 minutes of play.

21 Comments

  1. J in Section 125 says:

    OK this piece of business has been put to rest and some money freed up. Now go get that striker and CDM. The season is quickly approaching and I want to see these signings that Coach C has been promising.

    • OneManWolfpack says:

      He and Albright have, again, written another check with all this “we have things lined up” talk. They better CASH this one

  2. If we get through 2015 with our sanity intact as a fan base because of the way this organization operates I’ll be truly surprised. This can not be allowed to continue past this season. The constant robbing Peter to pay Paul! No damn more! Bring in financially competitive ownership. This shit needs to stop. All of the theory about moneyball and all of the delays and all of the waiting due to a financially impotent ownership. I’ll say it again, this fan base that has waited so long deserves better that the crap being served up by the Union ownership and front office year after year. We love our team and want so much for them. We should all be excited and confident about going into a new season but that has be taken away from us. I for one pray for the day that the MLS franchise in Philadelphia and this magnificently loyal fan base is free from this feckless ownership and FO. It’s Feb 6/7, and nothing absolutely nothing is signed and delivered as promised. All we’ve gotten is more promises and promises of promises.

    • OneManWolfpack says:

      Walk it back a little bit. They upgraded the midfield last year, but then unfortunately decided to stock the cupboard with goalkeepers, which kind of took the shine off. If they sign the CB, and can add a striker – like they must – this team will be decent.
      .
      I agree that the poor-man bullshit is getting old and it’s ridiculous that we have the large market and history here in Philly… And the this is what we got… BUT it is what we got, for now. Let’s make the best of it and support them (in our own way of course)

  3. Vitoria is pretty much a done deal. He may even be in Jacksonville tomorrow. Paired with White that is a very physical center duo. With Edu at CDM, that is a very big physical center of the field on the defensive end. With MBolhi in goal, this team is much stronger in the defensive box. Perhaps we won’t get killed on set pieces this year.

    • Not only should we defend dead balls way better…let’s put some of our own in the back of the net

    • Bring me the Greek LB and let Gaddis and Williams have it out in a fight to the death for RB and I agree, the spine of this team is suddenly formidable- with a flange that could be equaly strong. Defense first it seems.
      .
      I like that Maidana’s stated gol this year is to score more. I like Wenger to grow in comfort and effectiveness. I like seba always- though his touch drives me insane but makes up for it in work rate and guile typically. I like Catic to help. I like Casey to help. I like Sapong to help. I still think we need 12-15 gols from somewhere though.

    • I share some others’ opinion that Edu is not disciplined enough to be the anchor in our midfield; he gets caught up field way too often. I’d rather see him paired with Vitoria on the back line.
      .
      Also, I’m wondering why before we lost Valdes, Curtin and every fan pretty much agreed that we needed one of a CB/CDM to replace Okugo. Now we’ve lost Valdes, and suddenly just replacing him is enough? I’m reminded of a recent post on this site (I forget by whom) basically afraid that we’re soon going to start suffering from some stockholm-syndrome-esque effects, and that just replacing what we’ve lost will feel like a victory…
      .
      Don’t get me wrong, Vitoria is a great get. But as far as I see it, in addition to Vitoria, we need a starting quality (true) left back, another CB/CDM, and a 10 – 15 goal striker (none of our current strikers fit this bill except maybe Catic in 3 years).

      • John O'Donnell says:

        Read between the lines when Curtin speaks of how Valdes is trying to make the most dollars he can til he can’t play the game anymore. He is a soldier of fortune right now playing for the highest bidder.

  4. The left back is a hard find. It’s a position where no one in MLS has depth, so teams are not willing to part with what they have. That’s probably why Fabhino may have in our eyes an overly inflated value to others.

    I think the team is set at CDM for now with Edu and Noguiera with Lahoud and. Carroll as depth. Not a bad group really.

    I expect we will not see a striker until the July transfer window.

  5. Old Soccer Coach says:

    parse Albright’s words carefully and add Curtin’s comments about Valdes’ concerns for his family and draw your own conclusions. Mine are that Valdes needs to maximize what his last big opportunity, and that the Union will get two younger players for his one salary. If a center back is one of them, great. If he can dominate, that puts Edu and Nogueira at the DCMs. I encourage you to remember how well they played together against Seattle in the Cup Final. A stronger left back would be good, as it would allow the CBs to be less worried about accidents on our left. We may find out a good deal tonight in the preseason game that is supposed to be streamed on the Union website.

    • The Black Hand says:

      We found out a good deal from tonight’s preseason game…and that is that we are embarrassingly poor. There should be a plethora of excuses to come…

  6. From the parts I watched, Union looked VERY disorganized.
    .
    It’s time to put away Twitter for a couple of months, fellas. Regroup, get focused, become a team again.

Leave a Reply to OneManWolfpack Cancel

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*