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Chris Durkin’s loan from D.C. United to Belgian club Sint-Truidense VV is apparently on the verge of becoming a permanent move. According to The Athletic’s Pablo Maurer, United and Sint-Truiden have agreed to a fee that would see the 20-year-old Virginia native transfer from MLS to the Belgian First Division A. Per Maurer’s report, United will receive $1.2 million, which excludes the initial $200,000 loan fee Sint-Truiden initially paid to bring the Black-and-Red homegrown midfielder in.
Chris Durkin’s transfer to Belgian side Sint-Truiden is a done deal - only detail that remains is a signature.
— Pablo Maurer (@MLSist) April 16, 2020
Terms: #DCU will make another $1.2mil - in addition to the 200k they received initially. $1.4mil total.
Durkin stands to make approx 400k Euro/yr base in Belgium.
The salary mentioned by Maurer represents a major raise for Durkin, whose 2019 guaranteed MLS salary was $104,375. Maurer also added that United, who initially included a $2,000,000 transfer clause in the initial loan contract, will receive 25% of whatever Sint-Truiden receives in a hypothetical future transfer to another club:
#DCU stand to make another 25%, I’m told, as a sell-on fee should Sint-Truiden choose to sell Durkin in the future.
— Pablo Maurer (@MLSist) April 16, 2020
After taking some time to adjust to a new league, Durkin appeared in each of Sint-Truiden’s final 13 league games, starting 10 times and scoring a goal. After signing a homegrown contract with United in mid-2016, Durkin ended up making 36 appearances in MLS, scoring once. As Durkin is an MLS homegrown player, United would receive 100% of the transfer fee, rather than MLS taking a portion of the fee.
With United adding Felipe Martins to a defensive midfield group that already included Russell Canouse and Junior Moreno, Durkin’s path to playing time in the District was going to be a tough one. In this instance, it appears all sides got something they wanted: Durkin is a regular for Sint-Truiden, who have apparently negotiated a lower transfer fee than was initially built into the deal. United, meanwhile, gets seven figures for a player that might not have been in the 18 for much of this season, while also retaining 25% of a U.S. youth national team standout’s future transfer fee.