Philadelphia Union Preparing To Sell Sebastien Le Toux To Bolton, Report Says

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CHESTER, PA - JUNE 27: Danny Mwanga #10 (L), Roger Torres #20 and Sebastien Le Toux #9 of the Philadelphia Union celebrate Le Toux's goal against the Seattle Sounders FC at the PPL Park stadium opener on June 27, 2010 in Chester, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

Sebastien Le Toux appears to be heading to England after reports surface that the Philadelphia Union were preparing to sell him to a European club.

Jan 18, 2012 - The Philadelphia Union are preparing to sell forward Sebastien Le Toux to Bolton, according to Ives Galarcep. That report was bolstered by a Tweet moments later from Le Toux himself, which said "On a jet plane to England."

If true, this would culminate a rather remarkable rise for Le Toux, who was playing in the USL as recently as 2008. During his MLS debut season with the Seattle Sounders, he scored just one goal and was left unprotected in that year's Expansion Draft.

Once joining the Union, though, his career really took off. In two seasons with the Union, Le Toux has scored 25 goals and registered 20 assists. A big part of that success, was his move back to forward, the position at which he excelled in USL.

Even if the Union were able to fetch seven-figures for Le Toux, this would surely be a blow to their 2012 chances. Le Toux is the only player to score more than seven goals in a season in the Union's two years. During that time, Danny Mwanga is the team's second leading scorer with 12 goals. That said, the continued development of Mwanga and Jack McInerney, as well as the additions of Costa Rican forward Josue Martinez and recent SuperDraft pick Chandler Hoffman could fill that void.

At Bolton, Le Toux would likely be able to compete for playing time, but probably only as a third forward. Kevin Davies and Ivan Klasnic are old and neither has played well this season. Tuncay Sanli is on loan. David N'Gog is young. Klasnic is bad enough that Le Toux could be the third striker option, but Davies is the captain and N'Gog will be ahead of him as well.

For more reactions to this story, be sure to check out Union blog Brotherly Game and Bolton blog Lion of Vienna Suite.