The offseason is in full swing for the Philadelphia Union as Roland Alberg has officially signed a two year deal with CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria but one of the more interesting times of the year is option time. While there isn't much transparency with MLS contracts, most have team options from year to year.
This year, the team has declined their options on Fabian Herbers, Ilsinho and Giliano Wijnaldum. Some of these decisions are more surprising than others. With Ilsinho, the team may bring him back for less money but to do that, they had to decline his option first. After Ilsinho netted six goals and assisted on five more, I would be surprised if he didn't return next season.
Giliano Wijnaldum was one of Earnie Stewart's missed this offseason. The 25-year-old left back was brought in to push Fabinho but that never ended up happening. Wijnaldum took time to settle in and never ended up being the player that he was expected to be. After whispers that he was struggling to fit into the team and the departure of his best friend Roland Alberg, it isn't that surprising to see Wijnaldum move on.
This is where we get to Fabian Herbers because it is a shocker to see his option not be picked up. Herbers has scored four goals and provided nine assists in his short Philadelphia Union career. While he missed most of last season due to injury, Herbers was expected to feature moving forward due to lack of wing depth for the Philadelphia Union. There isn't even much likelihood that the Union can get him back for a lower salary due to the fact that a Generation Adidas salary doesn't count against the salary cap. Herbers was making 150k under his current deal while the veteran minimum in MLS is about 70k.
The biggest question is why are the Union moving on from such a promising player and there are two theories that make sense. Either the injury is worse than we initially thought or he wasn't too pressed to return from his injury quickly to help the team. Either way, it's disappointing to see the team move on from a promising young player at this juncture.
From the club's press release:
The club picked up the options of goalkeepers Andre Blake, John McCarthy and Jake McGuire; defenders Jack Elliott, Raymon Gaddis and Keegan Rosenberry; and midfielders Warren Creavalle, Marcus Epps, Derrick Jones, Adam Najem and Fafa Picault.
The contracts of the following players were already guaranteed for the 2018 season: defenders Richie Marquez, Auston Trusty and Josh Yaro; midfielders Alejandro Bedoya, Anthony Fontana and Haris Medunjanin; and forwards CJ Sapong and Jay Simpson.
Simultaneously, the Union announced that they have declined the contract options of defenders Aaron Jones, Oguchi Onyewu, Ken Tribbett and Giliano Wijnaldum; midfielders Roland Alberg, Maurice Edu, Fabian Herbers and Ilsinho; and forward Charlie Davies. Additionally, defender Fabinho and midfielder Chris Pontius are both out of contract entering the offseason. Finally, the Union hold a contract option for the 2018 season on midfielder Eric Ayuk, who currently remains on loan with Swedish side Jönköpings Södra IF.
Aaron Jones will likely be signed directly to Bethlehem Steel and the club will likely bring Fabinho back because he is the only left back on the senior roster. With the contracts that have been declined, the Union have freed up almost three million dollars of cap space so it will be interesting to see how they use it moving into the offseason.
