D.C. United and Chris McCann have parted ways, as the sides have agreed to a mutual termination of the 32-year-old Irishman’s contract. During his time with United, McCann played in 6 MLS matches (4 starts) and also came off the bench to score a dramatic 118th minute equalizer in the Black-and-Red’s 2-1 triumph over the Philadelphia Union in the U.S. Open Cup’s fourth round.
McCann made his first appearance as a replacement for Joseph Mora after the Costa Rican had suffered a broken jaw at Orlando. Despite some experience playing left back in MLS, McCann struggled, falling out of favor once Ben Olsen opted for a back three in early April. McCann re-emerged as a regular in the gameday 18 at the start of May, either playing or making the bench in 11 straight games (including both Open Cup matches). However, McCann hasn’t dressed on gameday since being substituted at halftime during June 29’s 1-1 draw with Toronto FC.
McCann’s departure opens up a senior roster spot for United. According to the league site’s roster information, that leaves the club with four such open spots, though given the history of the league site’s information on this subject, it’s probably wise to take that with a grain of salt.
For the sake of hypotheticals, let’s say that United probably has at least four open senior roster spots. That’s a lot of room to make moves, and with Zoltan Stieber’s salary off the books, plus whatever cap space was left and whatever TAM/GAM/dTAM magic Dave Kasper can work in the next seven days, it is starting to look like United will have the ability to make a late splash in the transfer market.
That said, McCann’s departure does not free up much space budget-wise. As we learned when McCann signed, Kasper worked a deal where Atlanta United had to deal with the bulk of his whopping $588,000 salary. For the Black-and-Red, McCann was making just the senior roster minimum ($70,250).