Photo: Paul Rudderow
Philadelphia Union announced on Thursday that Charlie Davies has been re-signed “to a one-year contract.”
Union sporting director Earnie Stewart said in a statement, “We are thrilled to have Charlie back for the 2017 season. It will be great to have Charlie from the start with a full preseason around our club and we’re looking forward to what he can bring to our team for an entire season.”
Davies, 30, joined Philadelphia on August 4 from New England Revolution in exchange for General Allocation Money, Targeted Allocation Money, and the Union’s natural first round selection in the 2018 SuperDraft. Along with Davies, the Union also received New England’s natural third round selection in the 2018 draft.
After joining the Union, the forward made eight appearances for 81 minutes of play, recording one assist.
Meh.
meh ++
Good guy, good locker room chemistry, greater versatility for the scout team scrimmaging the A team. Competition for Herbers when Herbers is working as a 9 instead of on the flank. And he cost under $110 K last season, with probably not much of an increase in base salary this year, lots on incentives and bonuses for benchmarks. The delay is probably his agent seeing if he could do better elsewhere.
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That there is no mention of Leo Fernandes suggests the door to return is not yet locked but that he wants a fresh start somewhere else. NASL uncertainty has to be hurting his choices. Hope he has some luck.
I never saw anything from Leo that causes me to want him back.
Wow. This team looking a lot like last year’s team, without Barnetta and Nogueira. Underwhelming.
What else would it look like before the transfer window opens?
Settle down everyone. This is good depth. If he’s the #1 I’m furious but he won’t be. This is good. Give things a chance to develop
Solid.
Can we be disappointed if he’s the #2?
Its all about the money. The Union is sadly a bottom scraping bargain hunting franchise. Get used to it. Fourth place is the target for being legit.
Considering what Charlie went through last year of the field, I don’t think anyone should draw a single conclusion about how he fits on this team. His salary is reasonable, and he’s proven to be a good, albeit not great player throughout his career.
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This won’t move the needle much, but this is a solid signing for this team. At the worst, he’ll provide good depth. At best, he can emerge as an above-average striker.
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The window opens in a few days. We won’t be able to judge any moves by this team until then.
We can judge them by moves every other MLS team are making while they resign guy’s who didn’t play or shouldn’t play. So judge away.
To be ruthless in evaluating your needs when you are a low budget team is imperative. Whatever he went thru should be of no consideration. This is not a charity. You can spend your money more wisely by getting someone younger with no health issues. He is , Right now, Not a good player, and is a huge risk with very little upside. Only worth it at entry level minimum wage. Sorry. The team seems headed to too many risky players (Edu) , too much wishful thinking (Sapong). Lets get real for a change. The UNion right now is WAY behind the curve (see Atlanta)
This is the signing that if not made…when the first team striker is injured people would be clamoring over because the SD did not adequately address depth. I’m with Pragmatist.
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Beyond that we know NOTHING…secret continues to sit in the middle and know while we dance around the ring and suppose.
Bingo. He’s quality MLS depth on the bench leaving you precious cap space to work with. Herbers is the young guy who had 3G & 7A in his rookie campaign that needs more playing time. Now if the can get a DP striker, the front line has solid depth. In 2015 before he got sick, he played 33 games and scored 10 goals.
What I take away is that this is what Big Ern had in mind when he signed Charlie. The more he hits his mark – in a league he’s not used to – the better the decision to make him SD looks. And that’s before he has the chance to do what he should do best – find the best bargains in Europe in the transfer window.
If that doesn’t excite you, you’re likely to be frustrated with this club for a long time. And to the owners’ credit, they said as much when he was hired.
Finishing fourth would be an improvement.
Until a deeper pocket comes along, incremental progress is what we have to look forward to – which is hella better than the old boss.
Amen ! Thank god, Another fan that actually understands, what this club is all about! You’re right about the owners coming out and making it a declaration at Mr. Stewart’s 1st News Conference.
I’d be overjoyed finishing 4th. With Chicago making a concerted effort to improve (and having eaten Union for lunch in their last game last year) I’d be frankly surprised if we make playoffs. The overall plan is suspect here: the Union play a 1 striker formation with ZERO flexibility from the coach. We have Sapong and Herbers. Signing Davies for even one dollar makes NO sense unless the FO doesn’t really think they’re going to sign a DP striker. This team has so many holes it’s like a sieve. Holding your breath for January transfer window is nice, but this team’s approach has most often been free and out-of-contract transfers. Good luck filling need for 2 central midfielders (assuming Bedoya plays #8 or #10) and a striker on Union’s budget. If Jones had gotten some playing time with the 1st team last year you could maybe say he would fill the #6, but this will clearly be a learning year for him. And if the FO is counting on Edu I’d suggest that they’ve been wrong about that 2x and I don’t see Edu ever playing again, much less at a DP level. I hope I’m wrong.
I really don’t understand your point about money. They have two DP’s so they can only spend money on one more. After that it’s salary budget, GAM, homegrown and 1.2 million in TAM. They have to spend TAM or they lose it. So they roughly have two to maybe three million that comes from the league. That’s a lot to build a roster.