Scouting Report on newly acquired D.C. United defender Kofi Opare

By now, you've heard about D.C. United's acquisition of central defender Kofi Opare from the LA Galaxy. To get a full handle on what the Black-and-Red are getting from the trade, I reached out to Josie Becker, managing editor of LAG Confidential, our sister site covering all things Galaxy. Here's what she had to say:

Kofi Opare is a player fans are going to love. In his brief time in LA he was great for giving of his time and he wrote a long thank you to the fans this morning.

On the field, he was only really around long enough to be the guy who did well enough when the other injury replacement had fallen out of favor. When A.J. DeLaGarza went down and Tommy Meyer was on the outs, Opare came in and performed well even scoring a goal. When Gonzalez was on World Cup duty and Leonardo was out of favor, Opare came in and did well with Meyer.

He's a strong tackler and he'll clear the ball out of play. In six MLS appearances this year he has fifty clearances, and he's also good for a handful of tackles. At over six feet, you can see how he has several things in common with Omar Gonzalez, but I wouldn't say he's a young Gonzalez. His ceiling is MLS regular, but that's not a bad ceiling to have as a defender.

And since Josie mentioned it, here's Opare's note to the Galaxy organization and fans:

To all those associated with the @LAGalaxy @LAGalaxyInsider @GalaxyPodcast @LAGalaxyII @ACBrigade pic.twitter.com/ciq2gQX7Lh

— Kofi Opare (@kofiopare6) July 29, 2014

Sounds like a good kid, who also happens to have ConcaChamps experience and will provide solid depth as we await Jeff Parke's return to full health. We can also hope for the outside chance that studying under Bobby Boswell will improve Opare's reading of the game and allow him to surpass that ceiling Josie mentioned.

What are your thoughts on the newest member of United's defensive corps?