D.C. United acquires David Ousted’s rights from Vancouver Whitecaps

Following a Christmas Eve article from MLS which attached him to a deal, Patrick Johnson from the Vancouver Province now reports that D.C. United have acquired the rights to David Ousted from the Vancouver Whitecaps. Johnson’s article does not mention with what D.C. parted, though presumably the assets to Vancouver would be modest for an out of favor keeper.

Ousted will turn 33 years old when the 2018 season starts, and from 2014 to 2016 only missed 1 start with the Whitecaps. The ‘Caps signed Stefan Marinovic last summer and acquired former LA Galaxy keeper Brian Rowe early in the offseason, making Ousted’s talents no longer necessary. Ousted was at one point headed to LA via a December trade, which was nixed by the League office as his $600,000 option would have to be paid down by Targeted Allocation Money (TAM), which the League does not allow. Ousted was due to be part of the Re-entry Draft but withdrew. United would have to sign Ousted to a new deal that would in all likelihood be for less than the option.

The Danish-born Ousted will challenge and quite possibly supplant Steve Clark, who played in the Danish League, as United’s starting goalkeeper heading into the 2018 season; it will be the first season in seven years that does not see Bill Hamid as starter. Hamid recently joined FC Midtjylland in Denmark on a full-time basis after seeing out his contract with the Black-and-Red.

To our knowledge, Ousted has not acquired a green card and thus would add to the necessary spots the Black-and-Red need after already signing Costa Rica midfielder Ulises Segura in December and Venezuela midfielder Junior Moreno earlier in the week to deals. Were he to sign, Ousted would be the 16th senior roster/salary budget player to join the squad (teams are required to carry 18 or suffer a budget charge) and the 21st roster player overall.