After poisoning the well with their contract offer, Orlando City SC is poised to get their man in Antonio Nocerino. Steve Goff of the Washington Post is reporting that Nocerino, having heard of the better contract offer from Orlando City, now wants to go where he can get paid the most (and who can really blame him). D.C. United was unwilling to up their offer, so they are now in negotiations with Orlando to work out some sort of trade for D.C. United's discovery claim.
This kind of situation is what the discovery claim process is supposed to prevent, so it is likely that United's recompense will be something substantial; possibly a combination of draft picks and allocation money. United has apparently already fielded multiple offers from Orlando, and negotiations are on-going.
Overall, however, the fact that this deal fell through could be a blessing in disguise for United. The team already has players both young and old that are competing for spots in central midfield, including Markus Halsti, Marcelo Sarvas, Julian Buescher, Collin Martin, Jared Jeffrey, and Paul Clowes (Update: And Nick DeLeon!). Add in Luciano Acosta to that mix and you're putting a lot of resources into your central midfield when not all of those players can play at the same time.
What do you think of a potential trade of discovery rights?