Chivas USA continued its rebuilding efforts under new coach Robin Fraser, acquiring United States National Team defender Heath Pearce from FC Dallas in exchange for allocation money. Big D Soccer, SB Nation's FC Dallas blog, broke the news earlier on Tuesday, and Chivas USA has now confirmed the trade.
Coming off their first playoff-less season in five years, Chivas could very well start the season with a completely new back four. Prior to acquiring Pearce, normally a fullback, Chivas picked center back Jimmy Conrad in the Re-Entry Draft, picked defender Zarek Valentin in the SuperDraft and signed defender Andrew Boyens. Pearce has played primarily at right back for FC Dallas, but has played left back for the USMNT.
Since coming to MLS after spending three seasons in Europe, Pearce has established himself as one of the best fullbacks in MLS, notching six assists last season. He has also made 32 appearances with the USMNT. But FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman reportedly was unhappy with Pearce's unwillingness to play through injury in the MLS Cup championship game.
This continues an exodus of players that didn't quite mesh with Hyndman. Since leading the Toros to their first ever MLS Cup championship game in November, he has allowed contributors such as Jeff Cunningham, Atiba Harris and Dax McCarty to leave for virtually no compensation. In trading Pearce for allocation money, this appears to be a move made with the intention of bringing in a player from outside the league. Who that player is, obviously remains an open question.
Heath Pearce Trade All About Creating Flexibility For FC Dallas, Big D Soccer Says
The decision to trade fullback Heath Pearce has left a lot of people scratching their heads. That FC Dallas only received an undisclosed amount of allocation money from Chivas USA, as opposed to a useful player or even moving up in the Allocation Order, left many even more confused. Big D Soccer, SB Nation's FC Dallas blog, is at least willing to see the potential upside of this move.
Drew Epperley, who wrote this article, goes on to point out that FC Dallas was already going pretty young on defense. At 26, Pearce was hardly long in the tooth, but he was relatively expensive. Pearce made more than $200,000 last year and may very well have been in line for a raise. Other than David Ferreira, no other player currently on the FC Dallas roster made more than $150,000 last year. Zach Loyd and Jackson Goncalves, the favorites to be the starting fullbacks, made about $130,000 combined last year. There's no question this move creates some flexibility.
After the losses of relatively high-priced players like Pearce and Dax McCarty, FC Dallas probably has more than $500,000 of cap space. Coming off their most successful season in their history, now may be the time to wade back into the Designated Player pool.
Feb 16 3:36a by Jeremiah Oshan - 0 comments