In Chest's post early yesterday, we identified three specific needs for DC United: a forward to pair with Chris Pontius, a center back to pair with Dejan Jakovic, and a central midfielder that is a more proven attacker than Danny Szetela.

DC United's acquisition of Danny Allsopp was a nice step forward in addressing one of those needs.  The guy might not be the sexy addition some were hoping for, and he doesn't quite have the name recognition either, but he will certainly help fill the void that was left by the departure of Luciano Emilio.  Everywhere that Allsopp has gone, he's had a scoring touch.  Allsopp's success is intercontinental, from Europe (Notts, Hull) to Australia (Melbourne) to Asia (Al-Rayyan).

In an interview on an Australian radio show today, Dave Kasper said that "We're bringing Danny in to be a regular starter. We believe he will be on the field quite a bit".  Sounds like we should expect to see a heavy rotation of Allsopp, Moreno, and Pontius on the front line this year.

But we're all left asking what's next.  Danny Allsopp is not the type of player who can create chances on his own.  He needs service.  And creativity.  With Christian Gomez slowing down and unlikely to return in 2010, look for the team to try to find a new #10.  I also doubt that we are done looking at forwards.

Soccer Insider has the DC front office on scouting missions in Brazil and Costa Rica.  Let's see if any new names surface before training camp starts next week.