It's the offseason for the Philadelphia Union following another disappointing season. Stop me if you've heard this before but it's time for the club to clean house for new additions. They've wasted no time as MLS playoffs got underway on Wednesday night (without the Union of course) and one of the bigger decisions is what to do with the number 10 position. During the season, it was occupied by Alejandro Bedoya, Roland Alberg and Ilsinho and there is no way that all three will return next season.
Between the three, about two million dollars in cap space is taken up which is a huge number for guys with mostly hollow stats. Alberg had seven assists, Ilsinho had six goals and five assists and Bedoya had two goals and four assists (albeit he was moved to a deeper position during the season).
While Alberg's numbers look good, especially since he played the fewest minutes of the three, he brought the least to the table. Alberg is a mercurial player who is lazy in the press and really doesn't work in the Philadelphia Union system. While the man known as Goland can score a wonder goal or two, he is just as adept at blasting it into the river end or letting other midfielders blow by him. All while being on a bloated salary of $394,250 per year.
So when something like this drops from across the pond, it doesn't come as much of a surprise:
Dutch midfielder (ex ADO Den Haag and Philadelphia Union) Roland Alberg will play for CSKA-Sofia from January.
— Teodor Borisov (@teoborisov) October 25, 2017
This is not the first time that Alberg has been linked to CSKA-S0fia in the Bulgarian first division as they were one of two teams rumored to have bid for him last month. The question now is will Alberg be leaving on a free transfer or not. It is assumed that the Union have a team option on Alberg for next season and if they decided not to exercise it, he could freely move overseas without the team receiving compensation.
This rumor has not only been confirmed by Crossing Broad writer Kevin Kinkead he has also added a tidbit of his own.
I've been told Roland is gone but Ilsinho might be back on a lesser deal. https://t.co/dFZPmhvCn3
— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) October 26, 2017
If you told me earlier in the season that Ilsinho would be with this team next year, I would have likely scoffed at you but he has turned it on in a big way to close the season. At this point, the Brazillian is what he is but he can be a useful asset for the Philadelphia Union going forward especially if he is coming off the bench to terrorize back lines.
Ilsinho has shown that he will put in the effort required by Jim Curtin even if the game is meaningless and players like that must be retained to instill a system. My only issue with Ilsinho is his 520k salary but if he is brought back at less than TAM level he could be useful.
Overall, it's good that the Union are making their cuts early in this offseason so that there is room to make additions as soon as the January Transfer Window opens. This story will be updated with more details as they become avalible.
