There are a number of free agents still available. That being said, the team is set. Maybe we bring in a guy for depth at CM, but that would be it. Of course, Nancy has shown he is more than willing to play Matan there, and we do have Derrick Jones (for better or worse).
Free agent list : https://www.football365.com/news/fe...-footballers-out-of-contract-free-agents-2024 https://www.premierleague.com/news/4047111
Another head scratcher. Making league minimum, so just takes up a supplemental spot. Under contract through this season with a 2025 option year. Just a little roster insurance, I guess? Can’t make you feel great if you’re a Crew 2 keeper.
Cole Johnson was out of callups, but yes no promotion for him isn't great. Lapkes is just 17. In September and October we could find ourselves down to the third string keeper. Hagen and Guatemala play competitive games the next two windows, when we play Seattle and the Revs. Schulte could see a callup from Varas (or from Poch who could be announced tomorrow per rumors). FYI, Ralph with MR said Schulte isn't being sold.
You'd think the Slonina/Turner/Steffen situations would give him pause about jumping the pond too early.
Also Petrovic. Who might be the best among the four, but doesn’t seem to have a path to playing time now after taking the check from Chelsea. Hard life for keepers over there.
I don’t think a lot of those guys actually care about their careers, otherwise they would’ve gone somewhere they could play and make decent money, instead of a place where they just ride the pine or are part of a loan army but make a fortune. All these players made poor choices, it’s on themselves to make better choices.
Well if we want to win the shield we should not release him. Someone says Bush is healthy which would mean we need a cheap back up. But releasing your top 2 GK is weird.
Well as others have said, we got another GK. Vet Min GK Abraham Romero, from LAFC for $50k in Garberbucks. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/columbus-crew-acquire-abraham-romero-from-lafc He, like Bush and Hagen, is Senior Roster eligible. I am slotting him in Sands' spot on the Supplemental 21-24. Though, likely 2 of the GKs will get moved to Senior so we do not play a roster fine for having under 18 guys on Senior. Signed thru '24 with an option in '25. https://www.lafc.com/news/lafc-signs-midfielder-daniel-crisostomo-goalkeeper-abraham-romero I. Senior Roster (1-20). 16 of 20. Counts vs the salary budget of $5,470,000. Max salary budget charge is $683,750. Teams not required to fill spots 19 & 20. A minimum salary budget charge is imputed vs the club for unfilled spots below 18. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2024-mls-roster-rules-and-regulations Rank, Player, Pos, Age, DOB, HT, WT, Nat, Desig(s), Base $$, Guar $$ 1. Diego Rossi, WF, 25, 3/5/98, 5'7", 143, DP, GC, Uruguay, $2,675,000, $3,376,827. Thru '26, '27 O. 2. Cucho Hernandez, CF, 24, 4/20/99, 5'9', 161. Colombia, DP,#2, INT#1, $2,600,000, $2,886,000. Thru '25. O in '26. 3. Darlington Nagbe, CM, 33, 7/19/90, 5'9", 165, USA/Liberia, DP#3, $1.4 mil, $1.54 mil. Thru '25. O '26. 4. Steven Moreira, D, 29, 8/13/94, 5'10", 159, France/Cape Verde Islands, INT#2, $800k, $882k. Thru '25, O '26. 5. DeJuan Jones, FB/WB, 27, 6/24/97, 5'9", 165, USA, $786,996/$793,246. Thru 2027. 6. Dylan Chambost, MF, 26, 8/19/97, 5'10", 154, France, INT#3, $???. Thru '26, '27 O. 7. Yaw Yeboah, M, 26, 3/28/97, 5'9", 154, Ghana, INT#4, $600k, $663,750. Th '24, O '25. 8. Andres Herrera, FB/WB, 25, 11/03/98, 5'10", 165, INT#5, Argentina, $$???. 1 yr loan thru summer '25. Contract thru '26. 9. Yevhen Cheberko, CB, 25, 1/23/98, 6'0", 166, Ukraine, INT#6, $505k, $553,250. Thru '26 (June). O for remainder of '26. 10. Rudy Camacho, CB, 32, 3/5/91, 6'1", 174, France, INT#7, $475k, $551k. Thru '25. 11. Christian Ramirez, F, 32, 4/4/91, 6'2", 187, USA, $450k, $495,833. Thru '24, '25 O. 12. Alexandru Matan, M, 24, 8/29/99, 5'5", 135, Romania, U22, INT#8, $450k, $483,250. Thru '24. 13. Sean Zawadzki, M, 23, 4/21/00, 6'0", 160, USA, HG, $375k, $421,875. Thru '27. 14. Malte Amundsen, WB, 25, 2/11/98, 5'10", 179, Denmark, $360k, $398,700. Thru '24, O '25. Not INT. Green Card? 15. Mohamed Farsi, D/M, 23, 12/16/99, 5'10", Canada, INT#9, $350k, $380k, Thru '27, O '28. 16. Derrick Jones, DM/CB, HG, 26, 3/3/97, 6'4", 176, Ghana/USA, $325k, $347,969. Thru '25, '26 O. ------------------ 17. Open (Bush) 18. Open (Hagen) 19. Open 20. Open ----------------------- II. Supplemental Roster (21-30) (8 of 10) Does NOT count versus the salary budget of any team. All Generation Adidas players are Supplemental Players during the initial guaranteed term of their contract. A. Spots 21-24. (Supplemental). 3 of 4. All players in Slots 21-24 must make a base salary at least equal to the Senior Minimum Salary ($89,716 in 2024). These slots may be filled with: Senior Min players ($89,716) which may include: i) Gen Adidas, ii) designated Superdraft eligible players, or iii) Homegrown players who may or may not earn more than Sen Min due to the HG Subsidy. Players in slots 21-24 must make at least $89,716 Rank, Player, Pos, Age, DOB, HT, WT, Nat, Desig(s), Base $$/Guar $$ 21. Patrick Schulte, GK, 22, 3/13/01, 6'5", 200, USA, GA, $150k, $160,603. Thru '24 + O for '25. 22. Evan Bush, GK, 37, 3/6/86, 6'1", 187, USA, $89,716, $89,716. Thru '24. Sen El. 23. Nicholas Hagan, GK, 27, 8/2/96, 6'4", 176, Guatemala/USA. $89,716, $100,340. Thru '24, O thru '26. Senior Eligible. 24. Abraham Romero, GK, 26, 2/18/98, 6'2", 185, USA, $89,716/ditto. Thru '25, O '25. Bush, Hagen, & Romero are all Senior Min guys who could be Senior or Supplemental. But we have them Supplemental at the moment. Likely 2 move to Senior to be fully roster compliant/avoid the small fine. --------------------- B. Slots 25-30. (Reserve). 5 of 6. Must be paid a base salary of at least the Reserve Min salary ($71,401). Must be 24 years of age or younger during the league year (by year of birth). May be filled with Reserve Min players ($71,401) which may include GA's earning Reserve Min, HGs, or HG's earning more than Reserve Min via the HG subsidy. Cannot be filled with Sen Min Players (unless a HG earning more via HG subsidy). Rank, Player, Pos, Age,DOB, HT, WT, Nat, Desig(s), Base $$/Guar $$ 25. Jacen Russell-Rowe, CF, 21, 9/13/02, 6'0", 161, Canada, HG, $89,716, $97,105. Thru '24, O '25-'6. 26. Max Arfsten, F/W, 22, 4/19/01, 6'1", 172, USA, $71,401, $73,246. Thru '24. O '25/'26 27. Aziel Jackson, MF, 22, 10/25/01, 5'9", 154, USA, HG, $98,261/$102,243. Thru '24, O in '25. 28. Taha Habroune, M, 17, 2/5/06, 5'8", 168, USA, HG. $71,401, $83,401. Thru '27, O '28. ----------- 29. Cole Mrowka, MF, 17, 4/6/06, ??, ??, USA, HG. $71,401, $93,409. Thru '26. TO '27 & '28. ----------- 30. Open (Hughes loan) HG subsidy is $125,000 per year in aggregate. Plus $200k of GAM/TAM can be used to sign HGs to their 1st contract. ------------- III. International Players (9 of 10) Each team gets 8, we traded with Seattle for +2. Hernandez, Moreira, Matan, Farsi, Yeboah, Cheberko, Camacho, Chambost, Herrera. Again, the Amundsen mystery remains. But he firmly is NOT an INT. While on loan, Hinestroza does not count. But Herrera does. New verbiage for 2024, do NOT need a Green Card. "For a player to be considered a Domestic Player in the applicable season, residency must be established, or the player has to have appeared for an immigrant visa interview by the opening of the Secondary Transfer Window." https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-...new-sporting-initiatives-ahead-of-2024-season And we traded for +2 INT spots with Seattle. https://www.columbuscrew.com/news/c...onal-roster-slots-via-trade-with-seattle-soun ------------ IV. Green Card Holders/Counts as Domestic (3). Rossi (Green Card). JRR (International HG Rule). Hagan (USA parent/ passport). Amundsen does not count as an INT for reasons I do not understand. But he does not have a GC either as far as I know. I could be wrong about that. ------------ V. DP + U22 Initiative Slots (4 of 6) Team can choose 2 paths. One, 3 DPs + 3 U22s. Two, 2 DPs plus 4 U22s + $2 mil in GAM. Teams must decide by the close of the transfer window this year and start of the year going forward. DPs = 3 of 3 1. Rossi 2. Cucho 3. Nagbe U22s = 1 of 3 1. Matan 2. Open (Hinestroza, loaned out) 3. Open U22 players count $200k vs the budget if the are aged 22-25. $150k is 21 or younger. U22 players must be on their initial MLS contract unless they are HGs (2nd), and must sign it before turning 22. Can continue to occupy the slot until the year they turn 25. Salary cannot exceed Max Budget unless it is a HG/Superdraft on 2nd contract, who can earn Max Budget +$200k. Clubs may pay acquisition costs without limit (out of pocket, no GAM/TAM). Unless we buy Nagbe down, we are locked into 3+3 for this year. IF we did, we could add 1 DP + 1 U22 or 2 U22s + $1 mil in GAM (midseason implementation). https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-announces-significant-roster-rule-changes ----------------- VI. Loaned Out (2) 1. Marino Hinestroza, AM/W, 21, 7/8/02, 5'7", 132, Colombia, U22, INT#4, $500k, $574,750. Thru '26, O '27. Loan to Atletico National in Colombia. Option to buy. 2. Keegan Hughes, D, 23, 7/22/00, 6'3", 190, USA, HG, $89,716, $89,716. Thr '24, O in '25/'26. https://mlsmultiplex.com/posts/colu...-hinestroza-to-atletico-nacional-01j3622ev5jx ------------
Hagen will def go. If Poch wants Schulte in his first camp, it will be hard to tell Schulte and ask the Fed to not call him in.
Well, the window has closed. It's absolutely insane to me that the final answer to replacing Morris was add a Ligue 2 veteran and a young player who fell out of favor in St Louis after scoring 1 goal in 41 appearances. Then, rotate them in behind two guys who have primarily been substitutes to this point and who have little experience playing the #8. Assuming that the Crew qualifies for CCC again, I'm skeptical about making another deep run with this midfield. DeJuan Jones for Will Sands was an exceptional deal. Herrera is TBD but has some pedigree from playing at River Plate. JRR is still the sole option to spell Ramirez as a #9, and Issa's deadline day deal was trading for a GK who will likely not play this year, if ever. Really weird window for a team in win now mode. Overall, probably a B- that's helped dramatically by the Jones trade. If Herrera pans out, that could bump it up to a B. I'd be lying to say I'm not disappointed though.
People keep talking about Chambost like he’s a completely unknown bum, but they said on the broadcast a couple games ago Nancy wanted him when he was still in Montreal. Nancy knows Chambost, he’s kept track of him for years. He has 2 goals in 3 appearances so far, which is more than Matan in 3 years. How about we give him some time. And again, Chambost is an attacking player, not a CM.
The midfield can be upgraded again before the CCC starts again in the spring. As it stands, its my opinion that the roster is good enough to win Leagues Cup and MLS Cup.
You have Nagbe & Zawadzki at CM the only true back up is Der Jones who is a 6. Other than that we have a bunch of guys are very inexperienced young guys from Crew2 and the possibility of someone who is use to playing more of a attacking player role and inserting them to play the 8. Nancy has a plan for these young guys so I’m ok with it. The only thing that scares me is if Nagbe gets hurt and we start Jones. We saw what happened in Atlanta when Nagbe didn’t play which was the first instance I remember with no Morris or Nagbe. It was very very very ugly. I think we are also thin on CB experience with 4 guys for 3 spots but we don’t have any young guys as options we only have playing ppl out of position options. The first of which would be Zawadzki at CB and a inexperienced midfielder taking his spot. Perhaps we do add someone who is out of contract. If healthy we will continue to be one of the best if not the best team in MLS. We have attacking depth , at wingback , GK . We just need to stay healthy at CM & CB.
If Chambost develops into a starting quality player, it'll be a huge coup for Nancy. To the best of my knowledge, he was a free transfer. He turns 27 in a few days. It's damned hard to sign MLS starters out of Europe on free transfers. In Nancy we continue to trust. Even if the guy's resume doesn't scream "MLS starter."
I agree this roster is good enough for MLS. I think we do need a Morris replacement if we make it to CCC next year. Maybe that was the thinking. Despite the league efforts to add a DP or U22 signing this window I’ve seen very little evidence of it league wide. Almost like most clubs have just accepted coming in second best.
Or that there was a rule change midseason, and the second buyout rule change was canceled, and teams didn’t have enough time to adjust. Scouting and transfers in real life aren’t like in FIFA, it takes months, sometimes years to scout and sign a player. It doesn’t just happen overnight.
Crew chose the designated player model. It makes sense since the 1 million they would get for switching would go right towards buying down Nagbe's contract. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-clubs-declare-roster-construction-models-for-2024-season
Malte extended through '27. The Great Dane is here to stay 🇩🇰The Columbus Crew have signed defender Malte Amundsen to a multi-year contract extension through the 2027 season.https://t.co/MLeeMqdmvj— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) August 15, 2024