When the New York Red Bulls acquired Dwayne De Rosario back in April, he was seen as the missing piece to a championship puzzle. Less than three months later, the Red Bulls havedecided the piece didn’t fit. On Monday, they traded him to D.C. United for young central midfielder Dax McCarty.
On balance, the trade looks lopsided, what with De Rosarioconsidered one of the league’s best attacking players, and a multiple MLS Cup winner while McCarty is a young midfielder who has struggled for playing time on a middle-of-the-pack D.C. Unitedside.
But Ives Galarcep explains that a closer look reveals that the trade should help give the Red Bulls the flexibility, both with cap space and aninternational player slot freed up by the departure of De Rosario, to address other issues on the team.
The Red Bulls’ most pressing need is in goal, where goalkeepers BounaCoundoul and Greg Sutton have both struggled considerably. With a designated player slot available, the Red Bulls could be tempted to find an impact goalkeeper. Perhaps aplayer like U.S. national team goalkeeper and free agent Marcus Hahnemann.
Why is DeRosario so easily shown the door? Is there a problem in the locker room? The only reason I could see for unloading him so quickly is attitude and work rate, because his talent is obvious.