Emiliano Dudar, Maicon Santos have their options declined

D.C. United announced the list of players whose options were declined, which means that Emiliano Dudar, Maicon Santos, Mike Chabala, and Stephen King are all currently eligible for the Re-Entry Draft, which begins this Friday with stage 1. The team also reached new terms with Robbie Russell, who was thought the be on the road to the Re-Entry Draft; as Steve Goff just announced on twitter, Robbie Russell intends for 2013 to be his last season before retiring. The rest of the players eligible can be found on the MLS website.

Just because the player is on the initial list for this draft does not mean that they will be on the final list come December 7th, and the team is currently in the process of negotiation with Maicon Santos and Emiliano Dudar on a possible return for next year. Dudar, if he does not have any offerings overseas, seems like a decent candidate to come back. His base salary for this year was $225k and reducing that by $75k or $100k would be a significant saving. While I think that Ethan White can come in and perform while as the third center back, Dudar would be an even better option there. However, if he is determined to be a starter somewhere he may not agree to that deal.

Santos seems even less likely to resign. He made $106k in base salary last season and I think someone will take him on again at that salary if United will not. The team is also looking at a number of different forwards, including their as of yet unknown targets on their Argentina trip as well as Yann Ekra, a former Hull City reserve player who is currently with the Harrisburg City Islanders of USL Pro. But if the team is determined to get rid of Hamdi Salihi, against the wishes of basically every fan, they are going to need some forwards besides Lionard Pajoy.

Stephen King may get a non-roster invite to next year's training camp, with his position last year having been taken over by LEWIS NEAL. If King does end up leaving, Neal might have taken The Standard's spot in more ways than one. Mike Chabala seemed like a good idea at the time, but the emergence of Andy Najar and Chris Korb rendered him anonymous. I don't really have a problem with any of these decisions, especially if they can get Dudar back at a lower price point. But it would be more than reasonable if all four of them left as well. What do you all think?