D.C. building around Benteke, Nighswonger to Arsenal, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
Happy Tuesday, everyone!
‘A sustainable model’ – Why D.C. United is building around Christian Benteke with shrewd signings instead of splashy moves (Goal.com)
Tom Hindle talked to Ally Mackey and Troy Lesesne about their roster re-build and the decision to focus on depth and build around Christian Benteke. It gave me at least some confidence that they’re approaching things in a thoughtful way.
Major League Soccer to move production studio to WWE Headquarters (Variety)
It sounds like this may get them access to some better production equipment and facilities.
A brief history of domestic transfers from the USL Championship (USL Championship)
After the transfer of Elijah Wynder set a transfer fee record for USL Championship, the league looks back at their history of being a springboard for players to MLS.
All for XI’s 2025 Power Rankings (All for XI)
This is the first (too early) NWSL power ranking I’ve seen this year, and they are high on the Spirit.
Arsenal and Gotham FC agree to $100,000 transfer of USWNT defender Jenna Nighswonger (The Athletic)
Including this largely to say: WoSo fans, calm down! Three out of hundreds of NWSL players moving to the WSL is not a sign the league is failing.
Today’s training check-in is from DC Power FC!
That’s all I’ve got today. Have a good week!
Just to add to the pile, there’s this story from Pro Soccer Wire that informs us of an opaque issue that Mallory Swanson is going through… or rather doesn’t. She’s missing early machinations for her club team in NWSL for personal reasons, and the club is voicing support.
https://prosoccerwire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nwsl/2025/01/27/swanson-takes-leave-stars-personal-reasons/77969636007/
Yeah, I probably should have included this, but I didn’t want to speculate on what’s going on and wasn’t sure how to approach it.
Also aware that my women’s soccer bias can lead me to sharing more about non-local women than men!
Yeah, fair enough, I’m not really desirous to probe further or engage in conjectures about it, either, just a story to watch, potentially. If she returns and whatever it was gets resolved without further issue, definitely the best case scenario
Yep. I remember when Santino Quaranta was missing camp and the rumor spread that it was drug related. When actuality, he was attending the birth of his first child.
Good morning Annie! And you say “bias”–nah. Just make sure big stuff about DCU gets covered. And if you also want to also add a story about the hamstring injury to the reserve left back for the women’s team for UCLA, well hey–you’re just bringing the news to all of us poor souls. Seriously, if DCU gets covered, I don’t mind if the next 5 stories are about women’s soccer.
First, I think what’s interesting is how many “big” players have left Gotham. And remember the CBA says they have to approve a move (trade or sale). For a semi-finalist, you’ve got a lot of unhappy campers. It will be interesting to see if the full story ever comes out, explaining why so many good players want to jump ship.
Second, building around Benteke makes sense. It might have meant trying to reacquire a great server of crossed balls from the flank (cough, cough) Julian Gressel (cough, cough). But otherwise, yeah, I see it. It puts a premium on Benteke avoiding cards for dissent (maybe he shouldn’t be the captain since they’re the ones who have authority to “chat” with the referees) and also staying healthy. He’ll have cold spells at times too. But if Benteke has shown anything in 2 years it’s: (a) he scores goals (b) he’s incredible in the air (and not just in front of goal) and (c) he sucks up a lot of attention defensively with means any attacks who know how to run in to space can do very well playing with him (I’m looking at you Teddy KDP!).
It is a little odd that they didn’t really seek out some good crossers this season. Gressel might not really have been the fit (although I think he’s still available!), and Herrera and Stroud did a good job feeding Benteke from the right side (a combined 18 assists last year). Peglow, Schnegg, and Leal are the replacements on the left side and center of the park. I think their ability to play in from out wide is okay, though nothing special. It seems more likely to try and build up on the ground, trying to free up Benteke a little bit more. Leal has a pretty decent long range strike. So does Servania. And Benteke’s foot skills are a little underappreciated, so having Kijima slip passes through can work too.
I think we’ll miss the service from Santos and Klich. Getting another 23 goals from Benteke seems unlikely, but if we can get three or four guys hitting five goals or more, that will mitigate that a bit.
Re: Gotham, i don’t know if people saw Lynn Williams’s (now Bieyendolo) comments upon leaving the team: https://prosoccerwire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nwsl/2024/12/22/williams-gotham-fc-strife-after-seattle-trade/77149647007/
Definitely sounds like a culture problem! I wonder if we’ll ever learn more
I’m sure we’ll hear little snippets here and there, enough to get a vague (but clearer) picture. Assembling a superteam of talented players does come with the risk of excessive friction due to personalities/confidence/the coach being unable to put their foot down.
The Goal.com article talks about how Lesesne, Mackay, and the rest of the front office are on the same page about how they envision their game model, and which players fit that model. Fair enough. They went out and got Kim Joon Hong, whom they seem really high on. They seem to value Kijima, and Peglow was somebody they like a lot. I was kind of hoping for a real stud CB. We’ll see what Kye Rowles and Lukas MacNaughton can do. I think they’ll be upgrades, though not necessarily near the MLS best.
They also say they’re a year away from competing for the Eastern Conference Championship while also saying they’re dedicated to a singular star, with the rest of the team built around them. So, that’s Benteke for this year again. He could come back next season, but he’ll be that much older. I think they also were taking great pains to not address the Klich situation.
For now, we have a lot of players that COULD work out. It’s a lot of unknowns, and a number of them are youngish. They could pan out and get a year of seasoning and really be ready to go in 2026 with Klich’s DP slot finally available again. Or… they might not.
I don’t really know that the depth is all that better. We have 24 players. Three of them are already out on injuries. Another one is coming back from major surgery. Two and a half of the others are basically USL players. We may sign Brandon Servania. We may sign an academy player. Right now, it seems like whatever improvement we’re hoping to see is going to come from reversion to the mean. We gave up something like twenty more goals than were expected. If the bounces go our way, we should pick up a couple more points.
Oof.
Even giving Mackay the benefit of the doubt w/r/t the depth quote and assuming that he was talking about “having more quality we believe in on the roster” rather than “avoiding running out of bodies”… I haven’t got any patience with the language used here. “We’re going to say the same things the team has said for decades about developing DMV youth and having a long-term sustainable model, but in the meantime we’re going to run out cheap projects/bounceback candidates and use Benteke as a fig leaf to paper over ownership’s complete unwillingness to invest properly in the on-field product.”
I would very much like for Mackay to make such cynicism look foolish, but the actual evidence we have at hand right now does not point in his favor.
In fairness to Lesesne and Mackay, working for these owners is what you get when you ask to “manage and run a professional soccer team and get a salary” on a monkey’s paw.
Meaning, doesn’t matter what their intent is, it’s a tough prospect to do this. The Klich situation, the unraveling of any semblance of reputation, the fan apathy, these are products of this ownership group asking anyone responsible for the club to be at a disadvantage. Maybe it’s possible for Mackay and Lesesne to do their best with the situation, but let’s not kid ourselves that we’re competing to be the best.
We haven’t signed an academy player since Matai Akinmboni in 2022 (or maybe Fletcher; I forget which order they signed in). We only have two homegrown players on the active roster, and both of them are hurt right now. For an area as “rich in talent” as we always hear about, that’s unforgiveable. You should probably be getting at least one new signing every season out of your academy. And one of our highest rated academy products could be off to Europe, instead of signing with us.
And agreed that “focusing on youth” is 100% a cop out by Mackay. You’re not even going to fill all your U-22 slots?
I think it’s premature to judge this. The team may be keeping their powder dry until the summer transfer window. That’s a choice which makes sense, if that’s what they’re doing.
It comes down to how much of the benefit of the doubt you’re personally willing to extend to the team. It’s a defensible move if you don’t seem to be overly worried about competing for anything this year, and it doesn’t seem like they are. “Make the playoffs” this year, and then next year, “compete for the Eastern Conference Championship.”
Okay.
Looking at the roster, it still seems like “making the playoffs” is kind of a reach goal.
100% agreed. We’ve gotten cheaper and younger, but until proven otherwise it’s really hard to say we’ve gotten better. The Dajome and Santos replacements still have a bar to climb even if both of those guys needed to go for one reason or another.
Goff is reporting that United is actually in talks with two trialists. Brandon Servania we knew about, and the other is 21 year old Canadian Rida Zouhir. He’s a central midfielder that was a Montreal homegrown, and has spent the last couple seasons on loan to San Antonio and Birmingham. His MLS debut was actually against DC.
Goff said if everything works out, he’d assume that Servania would be on the senior minimum ($104,000) and Zouhir would be on the reserve minimum ($80,000). The price is right, and we need depth there. Zouhir is probably an upgrade on Garay. Servania is like Leal, needing to show that they’ve recovered from serious injury.
DC sold its last international slot. They’d need to do something to accomodate Zouhir, unless they just plan on loaning him out too.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/43598157/inter-miami-raul-sanllehi-replaced-lionel-messi-ally-source
Just generally, it seems really unwise to mold the whole organization around a player who is likely to play less and less each season, and will retire sooner rather than later. Is this whole organization just Messi’s legs and preferences? Yeesh.
Interesting that you post this as we’re discussing DC United apparently throwing all their eggs in Benteke’s basket (admittedly younger than Messi, but…).
Also worth mentioning that Neymar will not be coming to MLS and Inter Miami. Apparently, he’s aiming for a rematch with Messi in 2026, counting on Santos to put him back into the national team.
Our team on the field is built around him, not every aspect of the club’s structure and personnel
Just to clarify, I don’t think building everything around one player in the form of Benteke for sporting purposes is wise, either, but Miami’s appeasement and lack of identity other than “what Messi wants goes” strikes me as orders of magnitude less smart.
We may be a team of negligence, but we’re not due for a collapse the way this club is.
I don’t agree. It’s a very wise business decision to appease Messi, who, if they play their cards right, may be involved with the team for years or decades to come.
DC United, I think, went much too far in signing pieces that Rooney wanted, seemingly without any real vetting. That was poorly thought out because Rooney wasn’t really committed to the club in any way, and I would trust Messi’s judgment over Rooney’s any day. Messi knows the new guy well, sure — but he also brings the greatest possible pedigree in youth development. I would say they’re lucky they have Messi, who can pull in someone with that pedigree. Messi is trusting his own kids’ development there, so he has good reason to get someone he believes in.
Your theory assumes Messi is developing a strong enough emotional attachment to Miami to be around as a figure for decades to come. I wouldn’t bet on it, personally.
Also don’t know why you think Messi knows how to run an organization any better than Rooney, no experience with that to speak of, either.
DC will officially be playing in the US Open Cup again!
Along with Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Minnesota, Nashville, New England, NYCFC, Red Bulls, Orlando, Philly, Portland, San Jose, and St. Louis.
It’s been 12 years. Let’s go win another!
Some of those teams are also playing in Leagues Cup. We are not one of those, and given our depth, that’s probably a good thing.
Ben is probably winning that one. He loves the Open Cup and he’s pretty good at winning them. 🙂
No team will be asked to play in more than two tourneys (Leagues, US open, Concacaf, Canadian cups). Seem like a decent solution.
I am glad we are going to do that.
More on the DCU website.
7 of the 16 MLS teams entering USOC are also in the Leagues Cup or Champions Cup. As for our depth, Rida Zouhir and Brandon Servania will surely get a good run-out in USOC, as will Antley and Dotson, Tubbs and McNaughton. Probably Muller starting up top. Hopefully Ku DiPietro and Haramoko will be healed and available when the tourney starts in May, and maybe Fletcher may be back. A decent side that I could see winning games if matched against lower-division teams.
*I meant Murrell obviously. Though I guess I had Chris Mueller on my mind…
Awesome news!
All MLS teams should be playing in the USOC!
I agree in principle, but that ship has sailed with the advent of more lucrative (?) tourneys that MLS has stuck their fingers into. Too many games leads to injuries and inefficiencies.
Tom Bogert out with a piece on each teams top transfer needs. Unsurprisingly, he says DC United needs a chance creator, but doesn’t even speculate on who they might get, other than noting they will have a U-22 slot open (but still possibly a 3rd DP). Unless they cast in for Lucho Acosta, I would expect they wait until the summer, if at all to address this glaring need, They’ll cross their fingers and hope to get that out of some combination of Pirani, Peglow and Leal.
I am concerned about the lack of depth up top, unless they’re prepared to rely on Badji and Murrell, if something happens to Benteke. One thing that Bogert notes in his piece on the Chicago Fire…
…..
If Mueller becomes available, I think DC should pounce. Don’t let that one get away.
Tom Bogert is saying that terms were agreed to between Cincinnati and Estudiantes for Acosta, but no personal terms yet, and that many MLS clubs are still interested as well. I’d love for him to be back here, but that does seem like a long shot.
oops, did not see your post.
Lucho is heading back to Argentina, Estudiantes. This just dropped.
https://www.americasrugbynews.com/2025/01/28/the-rugby-sevens-world-cup-disappears/
A sad day in the world of rugby today. World Rugby has decided to cut costs and is canceling the Rugby 7s World Cup. Rugby 7s is the Olympic version of the sport.
An interesting quote:
Goff reporting that Moses Nyeman is signing with Loudoun
So disappointing that his career trajectory has been so difficult. Perhaps a return to familiar surroundings will help him tap into the potential that everyone saw in him.
I actually did not see that much with him, especially with Parades and Yow floating around. I certainly do wish him great success. Maybe he can develop enough to get back on with DCU? That would be nice.
I think it says a lot that he fills a role that DC needs currently (cheap CM depth), and he wanted to come back to the area, and they instead decided to go with a cheap Canadian international that they don’t have an international roster spot for instead. Not a huge bode of confidence there in Nyeman. I think if there was a chance of him coming back, he would already be in training camp
No question that Nyeman isn’t up to holding down a spot in MLS right now. It was always going to be hard for someone as short as he is. If he’s going to play as a 6, or even an 8, he needs to be stronger, and become more two-footed. I’ve just always thought that’s just asking too much, and he’d flourish in a different role, like wingback, or winger, or a 10 in the right formation.
Without an MLS Next Pro team, there’s no way DC United would want to bring him in. He needs to play. As a bonus tho, he’ll be easy to keep tabs on.