Photo by Kyle Grantham/Philly Soccer Page
What’s happening
According to MLS Insider Tom Bogert, the Union’s all-time leading goalscorer, Daniel Gazdag, is headed to the Columbus Crew on a cash deal. The attacking midfielder has two goals and two assists for Philadelphia this year in six matches. He’s scored 72 goals and added 24 assists in all competitions for the Union since joining the team in 2021.
The Hungarian excelled at the top of the diamond midfield under Jim Curtin, but under Bradley Carnell’s new formation and tactics, his playing style had not “clicked” like it used to.
After Jack McGlynn was sent to Houston in February, Gazdag will be the second Union player to transfer within the league on a cash trade this season. The fee has yet to be announced.
The move will open up a Designated Player roster spot for Philadelphia, but transfer has not yet been confirmed by either club.
In true Union fashion, the club may not have to open its wallet to find an immediate replacement for the midfielder.
How the Union can fill his shoes
Part of the front office’s argument for letting go of Jim Curtin in the winter was his lack of willingness to give minutes to a number of homegrowns on the roster. By letting go of a player who can be more productive elsewhere, the Union has opened a starting position to test the waters with some of its academy products.
One name that immediately comes to mind (even though some may be against the idea) is Cavan Sullivan. The teenager entered the field against Orlando last weekend for the first time in his career without the Union already winning by multiple goals.
The youngster has plenty of eyes on him, and playing him only when the club has a massively cushioned lead will not aid his development or help him learn how to fight for, and hold onto, a lead at a first-division level.
It’s time for the Union to give Sullivan a chance, and if it ends up being too soon, Union II will always have minutes available for him.
Other options
Three other names on the Union roster come to mind to fill the attacking midfield gap – The first, and most likely option outside of the younger Sullivan on the first-team roster, is Indiana Vassilev.
Vassilev already has a rapport with head coach Bradley Carnell from their time in St. Louis, and could easily adjust to the position if the younger academy products don’t work out. He has already proven himself eager to earn this role since joining the club shortly before the start of the season.
David Vazquez also has a case, at least in a rotational role. Vazquez was the first of this new generation of academy players to pen a first-team deal on April 29th of last year, but has not made his debut for the first team despite being selected to the gameday roster six times. Vazquez had 3 goals and 4 assists in MLS NEXT Pro last season with Union II and also led the US Men’s Under-20 squad in their second-place finish in the Concacaf U-20 Championship last year where he earned the golden boot. He has the attacking ability and awareness to work through opponent’s lines and could easily integrate into the first team’s plans.
C.J. Olney Jr. could be one other option for the Union internally. Olney penned his first-team deal in August of last year and had 7 goals and 10 assists for Union II. He can work on both sides of the ball and could compliment Quinn Sullivan in the attacking midfield. Olney and Vazquez could be tested during the Union’s round of 32 match in the U.S. Open Cup, and with strong performances, both could make a case for themselves for minutes in league play.
An outside replacement
The MLS Primary transfer window closes on Wednesday, April 23, leaving exactly two weeks for the Union to make a move to fully replace Gazdag. Given the additional news today that Ian Glavinovich’s suffered a torn meniscus in Saturday’s draw, the club’s center-back situation may be more of an immediate concern than replacing their star midfielder. Unless there is already a replacement plan in the works, it makes more sense to bring in a depth piece for the backline given the club’s shorthanded position in the center, even when Wagner and Glavinovich are healthy.
This season was always bound to be filled with growing pains for Philadelphia, and this is just another bump in the road.
Although I’m surprised, I can’t say I’m shocked. Expensive midfielder getting on close to 30, if the offer was good, Tanner was always going to take it.
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I can’t say I’m on board with Cavan Sullivan as a regular starter in that space. He’s still much too young and small. More minutes, sure, but not a like for like starting role. I wonder if Carnell is happy with Harriel out there for now. Maybe get Rafanello in. Who knows?
This is a good move for the U. As you stated, Gaz doesn’t fit this system at all and getting value and opening up a dp slot is great, especially if he was looking for a raise.
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I think Uhre could also play that position. The combination of his speed and Kai’s passing might be very interesting.
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I don’t see them signing a dp this season and I’m ok with that. Play the kids and see what happens. This season is house money.
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I hear there’s a new show on apple tv. It’s called “The Sullivans”
Look, I don’t have a lot of time for the take that Gazdag wasn’t gelling in this system. He has two goals and two assists already! Plus he’s a pressing machine. Maybe this works out, but trading away literally the best and most consistent scorer in club history is a huge risk on Tanner’s part.
Agree with this, moneyball is just seling your best.
It’s a ballsy move for sure. Need to know: How much money they got, What they’re gonna do with it, and Who fills that big hole in midfield.
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Regarding whether or not Gazdag fit the system, it seems that Carnell has asked him to be more of a provider than the goalscorer that he was under Curtin.
While he WILL press, score, and retain possession, he WON’T get you a ton of assists.
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Was that enough of a reason to trade him? Once the answers to the above questions are known, we can begin to draw conclusions.
Funny …if we see Cavan getting more of the minutes, the Cavan Sullivan Conundrum article and my erudite read / comments on the situation will have played out exactly. No applause needed. No applesauce needed.
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If the kid “is the best 2009 in the WORLD,” not my words, Manchester City’s words… then that 2009 needs to be playing more.
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Once he gets his angles right he’ll be fine as evidenced in this most recent game when he was the most dangerous thinking player on the field for the stint he was on it.
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Let’s wait and see. I’m intrigued.
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I’m taking a wait and see approach, too. If it turns out to be the fulfillment of your well-timed post, well… applesauce and golf claps incoming.
In the meantime… Daniel, thank you for all you’ve given on and off the pitch. All the best to you going forward.
It must be Cavan as time is running out. He needs to play and make mistakes to develop. Indy should get plenty of time still but the kid is the future.
I agree that he has to get more meaningful minutes this year as the season goes on. Wondering if Manchester City and Philadelphia have collaborated at all or agreed in principle to a general roadmap.
Even tho DG has the most goals he’s very inconsistent, not a true 10 and most of his goals came from the spot. He also doesn’t demand the ball and control the game he was just a glorified forward imo
Some scattered thoughts:
Really hoping Gazdag’s replacement isn’t on the current roster. I think people are underestimating just how many minutes he eats every season – the guy plays full 90s and never gets hurt.
Re: Cavan, I absolutely agree that he should see more time. But there was space to do that without jettisoning one of the few proven goalscorers we’ve ever had. The biggest obstacle to Cavan’s minutes has been Vassilev, not Gazdag.
Indy seems like a good utility guy. He’s pugnacious and I’m glad he’s here. But I think we’re in trouble if he’s an every game starter. No interest in seeing more Rafanello. I welcome more minutes for Olney and Vazquez, but it feels like the kind of move we’d make if we don’t plan on contending in the East this season, which is disappointing.
Wishing the best for Dani and his family.
It’s a continuation of the Union just cashing in on prize assets – Carranza, Martinez, Lowe, McGlynn and now Gazdag. The impact last season was that Union were unable to compete at any level, and Curtin paid the price. But the real issue is the ownership of the club and a clear lack of ambition or willingness to invest to compete. They started well this season, but I fear this sale starts the slump we saw last season.
If you consider this cashing in, you have no clue. They got nxt to nothing for Carranza and Martinez. If everything pans out for McGlynn, the Union will get at least 1 million less than his market value. We paid nearly 4 times the market value for Damiani but gave Jack away
+1
“But the real issue is the ownership of the club and a clear lack of ambition or willingness to invest to compete”….
Dude…it’s just bidness….this is WHAT they do and HOW they do it.
I’m a bit disappointed to see us jettison a beloved player who has made major contributions. Good luck DG!
Our owners are NOT going to change who they are after all these years. They are simply NOT trying to buy a championship. If it happens, all the better. We almost caught lightning in a bottle a few years back, but that was more luck than intention.
Yes…everyone wants to win. And win it all. But Look how long it took the Eagles -remember: This is Philly. LOL. God bless you all.
Carrnaza’s deal was running down. They would have got nothing for him. Ditto Martinez. Lowe? C’mon. I wish he was here, but they didn’t want to pay 3 CBs starting salaries. They didn’t sell him to make money, they sold because he wouldn’t sign a longer, back-up pay deal.
They sold these players instead of getting nothing for them. Nothing. Same would have happened with Gazdag.
Now if you want to complain about why these players don’t want to stay, you may have another valid point. May. (Carranza wanted to play in Europe, that’s why he left. Martinez wanted to play in SA.)
So no, it’s not the Union cashing in on assets. If anything, they didn’t get enough value for Carranza, et. al
About 42% of DG’s Union goals (in all competitions, excluding shoot outs) have come from the spot. Yes, that’s the real number.
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He does not collect many assists. He is not an intuitive “presser” although he works hard at it.
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The team has guys who can score. It also has loads of insanely talented young players who need to play.
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It does come down to what the final transfer number is. If they got less than 3mil it’s probably not the best deal. But if they did, it’s good business.
We the fans always get the short end of the BS stick from ownership, how does this swap of Gazdaz who makes over a million is replaced with a youngster that makes 100k. help the Unipn on the pitch, except they will pay themselves a bigger dividend thid year. Baby sitting is part of coaching disguised as player development
Once again Union show they could care less about winning. Want to know why you can’t sellout the stadium anymore because you refuse to put a team on the field that has any chance of winning a title. Haven’t brought in a significant player since before we went to the final over 3 years ago. So will send one of our best players away and will get to watch some academy kid struggle to adjust and if he does they will sell him. I have been a season ticket holder since they started and I have had about enough of this crap. You watch every other team making moves to improve the play on the field while we get to watch a team just try and make money selling players.
I’m all with you. The owner lost money in the market and needs cash to make it up. Gazdag, at 29 has at least 5 good years in him
Another championship banner to hang at the Soob: the Philadelphia Union have sold a key player for cash.
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The Philadelphia Union are helping a small-market team like Columbus reload for another run at a trophy. It’s actually maddening to see Columbus compete every year to win silverware, while we have to wait for the perfect time to maybe be in the conversation.
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Tanner has his five-year cycles, and I guess this is part of the year 1 rebuild. Ideally, they got a healthy amount of money for him but it’s still disappointing as a fan because it feels like we’re moving further away form competing. I understand MLS is a selling league and I acknowledge the Union’s place within the league. Still.. what a bummer.
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How much longer is Kai Wagner on this team? He’s 28 which would put him on the wrong side of 30 by the time this club enters the backend of Tanner’s five-year cycle. The organization values money over competing. I don’t see him sticking around for much longer.
Meanwhile…. KDB to Miami?
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None of Union’s moves will matter if and when that falls out.
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Closer and closer to pre salary cap NFL football.
wow. hadn’t even considered his post-City move to MLS.
Wild.
and the rich get richer????
“Unsentimental, traveling around,
Sure of myself, sure of it now…”
– Vampire Weekend
The worst part of the deal is we lose talent and give it to someone in our own conference. At least move him somewhere out west where he is not actively helping another team beat us out of a playoff spot or send him to another league. Anywhere but a conference rival but when you don’t care about winning and just want to play an academy team to save money on salaries you don’t worry about that kind of stuff.
By report Columbus is willing to give him a multi-yer deal for the $3 million a year he wants.
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The Union have taken two players they were not willing to pay and found them places that were.
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Long-term that makes the Union attractive to to other players coming in. They are a steeping stone club, not a final destination one.
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Westfield may well mean that Wagner can be acquired this summer. That will be bring in more money. I hope they spend it on more scouts, in new owerseas markets.
I understand the business reason to sell an older player you do not want to pay earlier rather than later. What I don’t understand is how this helps Union win now or in the future. This money will not be spent on a replacement of Gazdag’s caliber. It will just go toward The Facility or into the owner’s pocket.
Please someone explain it to me. I just don’t get how a team is ever going to win a championship when every year other teams sign big names and all we do is trade and let go our best players for cash. Why do we need all this cash when we never sign anyone that needs it? How can I take the league seriously when all the best players get sent off? Someone help it make sense to me, a nfl football fan firstly.
How can anyone take the league seriously when a bunch of 35+ year old players who have retired from the top European leagues are able to dominate MLS?
Those 35 year olds were dominating Ligue 1 not that long ago. Plus 30+ year olds dominate the Turkish Super League year in and year and out. Liverpool is an aging team that is dominating the EPL this season. Age is but a number, class is permanent. Lebron and Steph are still dominating the NBA at 40 and 37 respectively.
MLS is not comparable to the NFL.
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The NFL generates billions in TV revenue. THat’s with a B. The NFL is comparable to the UEFA Champions League.
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MLS is a source of youngsters for the best club teams in the big six and lower who hope someday to play in he Champions League.
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You are trying to compare the LA Dodgers to the Reading Phillies.
Well done.
I see comments above to the effect of “this is rebuilding year, so whatever results we get are a bonus”. But that has to be seriously re-thought after kicking off the season near the top of the table. I hope Tanner is not considering this a rebuilding year after the start we’ve had.
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Having said that… we only have Cavan for 3 years. If he’s truly cut out to be as good as advertised, we need to develop him and use him while we got him. This is an important issue for the club’s reputation too: if we let Cavan sit on the bench too long, then the next Cavan will decide that he doesn’t want to sign a contract with the Union. And that’s the opposite of what we want.
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Now having said THAT… I presume we are now going to see Vassilev start, and Cavan come on the in 65th minute. The latter I am good with; we need to see what the kid can do in the big league. I have concerns about the former. Vassilev is a pretty good player, but he seems to be more of a box-to-box guy than a true attacker, and I have not seen evidence that he’s gonna get our forwards the ball. There is a case to be made that Gazdag doesn’t quite fit what Carnell wants, as he’s having the attacking mids play out wider, and that’s not Gazdag’s jam, and he didn’t look completely comfortable doing it. But I don’t think Vassilev is the answer. So maybe we’re banking on Cavan developing into the answer? I hope that happens quickly, because it will be very frustrating to flush this season when we’ve started so well.
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The wild card is this: I suspect it will help Cavan’s development A LOT to be on the pitch with his brother…
Along those same developmental lines, I wonder if instead you start Cavan next to Quinn each game while Quinn is still fresh, rather than bringing him on at 65 min when Quinn’s gassed.
Tell Cavan, “give us your best half kid – Vassilev comes on with fresh legs for second half.”
I would be OK with trying that to see how it goes. (But we should not be tossing the season out over it.)
In re brothers:
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Yes it might help.
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But also please also remember Jacob and Esau, to say nothing of Cain and Abel.
LOL, Tim, Jacob and Esau were not trying to develop chemistry on the pitch. I mean, who’s better to take advantage of what you can do than the guy who’s been kicking the ball around with you since you were wearing footie pajamas?
Guy gave us everything he had. The club had a fair amount of success with him as a centerpiece. He’ll be missed, but it certainly fits the business model for better or worse.
DeBruyne?
Why not sell uhre as well, he makes more then Gazdaz and does not play full games. This team has no nucleus to built a winner, Curtin was good for the union another money saving by ownership.
Midfielders are easier to find, and less expensive than strikers are. It’s as simple as that. Plus I wouldn’t be shocked if Uhre is moved this summer or offseason.
Thank you for the memories Daniel.
(Sighs)
Well it sucks to see him go. I’ll wait to see who steps up or in from elsewhere. I hope we don’t go into a tailspin. But I doubt it.
Why am I getting 403 forbidden most times??Is this thing on??