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Earlier this morning, Marc Connolly of ESPN tweeted out a vagueish rumor about the potential of a trade between the Philadelphia Union and D.C. United.
Philadelphia sends Jeff Parke to DC United for Ethan White and the No. 1 Allocation spot. Discuss...
— Marc Connolly (@mconnolly10) January 14, 2014
And, as you would expect, Twitter blew up, but there was still a chance that it was not true. However, Steve Goff confirmed the trade about a half hour later.
D.C. United trades 1st slot in allocation & Ethan White to PHL for 6th position in allocation & Jeff Parke. Philly angling for Maurice Edu
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) January 14, 2014
And, on the face of it, this trade makes very little sense. It does give an obvious partner to Bobby Boswell, but that creates an old and slow defensive line, one that players like Diego Fagundez will love. I wouldn't trade Ethan White for Jeff Parke as a straight up deal, given that Parke made over $200,000 last season, but the inclusion of the number one allocation spot makes this deal even more confusing.
You would have to think that there is more to this deal than meets the eye right now, another move that this deal will set up. But looking at it on its face, I cannot think of what Dave Kasper is doing in this move. I guess that he could be moving one of the young center backs on this team already so that he can take Christian Dean with the number one pick but not have to start him this year. But taking on another big contract while losing the top allocation pick is baffling.
I hope that there is another step to this deal, and that it will all make a little more sense once the next piece falls into place.