D.C. United Trade Rumors: Who Could We Give Up?
by Martin Shatzer on Dec 11, 2025 8:11 PM EST
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PrintThe offseason is still young, and D.C. United has already made two major moves. The team has acquired Dax McCarty via trade, and Joseph Ngwenya via the first round of the MLS Re-Entry Draft. The second RED is this coming week, but we also have this new and incredibly broad report from the Soccer Insider Steven Goff.
The good news is that this is a clear sign that United is not content with its current roster. They know that they're not yet good enough. They know that more needs to be done for them to compete in 2011.
But there's a big problem. We don't have much left to trade away.
What does United have of value? Andy Najar, Bill Hamid, Santino Quaranta, Chris Pontius, Dejan Jakovic, Julius James. Oh yeah, and the third overall pick in the Superdraft.
The team would be crazy to trade away a high draft pick two years in a row. (Okay, I'm not entirely positive that Kasper wouldn't consider this, but I'm trying to convince myself that its true.) Najar and Hamid are too valuable for their homegrown roster status, and Quaranta is the team captain, so I think those three are safe.
Who then?
I actually think Jakovic might be a possibility. He has decent trade value due to his youth and potential, and starpower quality in Canada in particular. United doesn't seem to be too high on Jakovic following his disappointing 2010 campaign. But I have no doubt that if we trade Jakovic away, he'll turn into an MLS Best XI type player. Bobby Boswell and Greg Janicki each went on to have great seasons as center backs in their first years after leaving D.C. If we trade Jakovic, I'm 100% certain that he'll do the same.
In the end, as absurd as it seems given our 2010 results, I don't want to see United make any blockbuster trades this year. The goal should be to build around the youth on the roster. Utilize the strong midfield. Add attackers. Shore up the defense.
The foundation of this roster shouldn't be questioned. Minor trades for role players are fine. But please please please don't sacrifice more of our youth.
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Tradeable players
Why Would Santino be safe? He only became captain (by default) after Moreno’s inability to start and Perkins’ subpar performances. He had a horrible year, production-wise, and he’s first on my list of players to go. After that, Simms and Burch are both possibilities given trades and acquisitions over the last few months (Zayner, McCarty, Shanosky), and both have value given their positions.
by jason1551 on Dec 11, 2025 11:30 PM EST reply actions
"Captain by default" doesn't exist
Especially here, where there is (for better or worse) an obsession with tradition, the armband isn’t just given out at random, or to the guy that won the poker game on the last road trip. It’s notable that, despite all the terrible things that happened to us down the stretch, the team stuck together on and off the field. A lot of that has to do with Olsen, certainly, but at least some of it has to do with leadership within the squad. If Olsen and Moreno think Quaranta deserves to be captain, I’m willing to trust them based on their record of being leaders.
Quaranta’s production was low, of course, and he’ll have to improve upon it. However, I think looking at his play on numbers only ignores the good things he did manage to do (like, for example, being the main supply line for Najar). The big issue for him is simply not trying to crush everything. I think he, like most of the team, got very tense as our offensive woes continued, and every chance turned into a higher pressure situation than it was. A relaxed Quaranta should do much better in 2011.
As for who we could trade, I am inclined to agree with the idea that it could be Simms. It’s not that I have a problem with Simms, but Payne did indicate that defensive midfield was an issue. Plus, Simms and McCarty both like to be very mobile rather than stationary, and usually you see teams partner a dynamic, all-action type with a more cerebral player. McCarty’s old midfield partner, for example, was Daniel Hernandez, who played an anchor role and didn’t have to barrel around the field.
I don’t think Burch is going anywhere. Too many people that make decisions at DCU are fond of him, for reasons I’ve never figured out. He must be an amazing locker room presence, because his value on the field is not high.
One final thought: Maybe we do already have enough youth. Our oldest player is Boskovic, who is only 30, and we only have a total of 4 players older than 27. Our average age is 24.45 (until Sunday, when it’ll go up to 24.55 because of Shanosky and Zayner’s birthdays). This has to be one of the youngest teams in MLS. That’s a good thing for the future, but is it good for right now?
by ChestRockwell on Dec 12, 2025 5:53 AM EST up reply actions
Enough youth?
I’ve adopted a “build around the youth” philosophy for this team because its the only way I see United having the possibility of winning an MLS Cup within the next few years.
We’re not going to make a big DP signing that will put us over the top. Ownership just doesn’t have the bank account for it. And we’re probably not going to be the ones to find that next David Ferreira or Fredy Montero either, because Kasper’s recent track record of scouting and acquiring international players is among the worst in the league.
Youth is about the only thing United has going for it.
Managing Editor for BlackAndRedUnited.com. Weekend Writer for SBNation DC.
by Martin Shatzer on Dec 12, 2025 8:14 AM EST up reply actions
Simms
Clyde Simms could very well be on the trading block. If you think about, you may be able to time the start of United’s decline to the day that Simms passed Brian Carroll on the depth chart. He and Moreno have been the only constants.
The reason I didn’t include Simms in my story though is that I don’t think he has a very high trade value. He’s probably below the middle of the pack of CDMs in this league, and its not usually a position that teams place a strong emphasis on (although you’re right that Hernandez’s influence in Dallas was hugely vital).
Managing Editor for BlackAndRedUnited.com. Weekend Writer for SBNation DC.
by Martin Shatzer on Dec 12, 2025 8:18 AM EST up reply actions
McCarty has probably made Simms expendable
“Simms and McCarty both like to be very mobile rather than stationary, and usually you see teams partner a dynamic, all-action type with a more cerebral player.”
This. We had this going in early 2009, before Benny went down for the count, when Soehn played Olsen and Simms together. Clyde got to play a roaming, aggressive tackling game, and had a safety outlet for possession passes; Benny was able to conserve his energy and command the midfield. This kind of setup works much better for Simms, IMO, than when he plays as a strict DMid - witness his difficulties coordinating with Gallardo.
But, Martin is also correct, I think, that Simms won’t command a lot of value in trade. He is what he is… solid, useful, generally healthy, limited ceiling. He’s more valuable to DCU than anyone else.
by Stunned Duck on Dec 13, 2025 12:20 PM EST up reply actions
I don't think I agree with this
McCarty is much more of a box-to-box guy than Simms. If we’re playing Boskovic in the middle of the park, he’s got to have somebody who does sit back more than a box-to-box guy might to clean up for him - Simms might not be the classic Makelele, but he’s certainly more defense-first than either McCarty or Boskovic.
McCarty played alongside Feriera more than behind him last year in Dallas’ 4-1-4-1, right? I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 5-man midfield with all three of Boskovic, McCarty, and Simms centrally. McCarty can shuffle between the two midfield “lines” depending on who’s got possession and who we’re playing against, and Boskovic will be freed of those pesky “defensive duties” (If at that point he still fails to produce, then we’ve got another situation on our hands).
by The AMT on Dec 14, 2025 6:43 AM EST up reply actions
Dallas called their formation a 4141, but in practice it looked to me like a 4231. Hernandez played underneath McCarty, whose dynamic style meant that he would appear both near Hernandez and also underneath Ferreira.
McCarty does tend to go closer to the opposing goal than Simms does, but that doesn’t mean that Simms is anything near a static player. Stunned Duck summed up the Olsen-Simms partnership quite well; one was more stationary, and one was more mobile. Dallas implemented this in the opposite way: Hernandez, the more defensive player, was less active, while McCarty was the all-action guy.
McCarty and Simms could end up being a great combo underneath Boskovic. With the amount of ground they both cover, it could be that teams get suffocated centrally. However, that will take a very high level of understanding between those two. If they can’t strike the right balance of when to push forward, when to drop off, and when to cover for our wide players, it will be chaotic. The key is to turn their desire to charge about the field into controlled chaos.
by ChestRockwell on Dec 14, 2025 8:21 AM EST up reply actions
I think that’s a good assessment.
I think where I differ with Stunned Duck is the characterization of the Simms-Gallardo relationship and how Simms is best used. Simms had played a much deeper role behind Gomez previously, but Gallardo was somewhat deeper-lying - or at least, gathered the ball farther away from goal - than Gomito, creating a totally new dynamic for Simms to deal with. I actually think Simms does better with defense-first orders than with instructions to get forward regularly - one reason the Clydewinder used to be so deadly was because Simms would come forward so rarely and wouldn’t be marked on the lay-off to set him up.
The 5-man midfield talk might be moot, though, if United can’t find a striker who can actually play alone up top.
by The AMT on Dec 14, 2025 9:30 AM EST up reply actions
I guess we’ll potentially find out tomorrow.
by The AMT on Dec 14, 2025 11:18 AM EST up reply actions
AMT, I don’t think we’re really in disagreement. I wasn’t intending to characterize Simms as being better in a more box-to-box role per se, so much as I was trying to communicate the idea (which I think we are all subscribing to here) that Simms is better off in a defined role than when he has to improvise in concert with another midfield partner. Simms’ partership with Olsen, for the short time it lasted, wasn’’t a role where he had a lot of discretion to get forward - Gomez was playmaking in the last days of the 3-5-2 at that time. It was a dual d-mid structure where Simms didn’t have to improvise, he could just seek out and destroy, knowing Benny would be handling the spacing and vision issues. With Gallardo on the field, Simms had to think, to observe Gallardo and react, and it took a while for him to even begin to coordinate with Gallardo effectively. So I’m wary of Clyde trying to get in synch with McCarty when, as Chest notes, such arrangements can cause the midfield to fall apart completely if the controlling midfielders don’t cover properly for each other.
by Stunned Duck on Dec 14, 2025 11:04 AM EST up reply actions
One positive
Simms and McCarty aren’t having to figure each other out mid-season or anything like that. A full preseason should hopefully be enough to get them, if not in perfect harmony, at least on the same page.
by ChestRockwell on Dec 14, 2025 11:54 AM EST up reply actions
Following up, you may be right to suggest that we could have a 4-5-1/4-3-3 with Simms at the base and Boskovic/McCarty paired in front of him. This would be fine for Clyde, but I haven’t seen McCarty enough to know if it would work for Dax.
by Stunned Duck on Dec 14, 2025 11:10 AM EST up reply actions
I don't think Tino would be safe
Except that I’m not sure he’d be real valuable to other teams.
'Gentlemen' he said,
'I don't need your organization,
I've shined your shoes,
moved your mountains and marked your cards,
but Eden is burning.
Either get ready for elimination,
or else your heart must have the courage,
for the changing of the guards.'
by Sgc on Dec 12, 2025 10:37 AM EST reply actions
Trade
We can probably re-pick up Jordan Graye for a bag of balls…
by Irrlicht on Dec 13, 2025 8:06 PM EST reply actions
A 2014 4th rounder?
That has any kind of currency?
by Brendanukkah on Dec 13, 2025 10:00 PM EST up reply actions
John Spencer’s psychic told him that’s when the MLS Messiah would be drafted, fwiw.
by The AMT on Dec 14, 2025 6:38 AM EST up reply actions
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