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BREAKING- Le Toux returning to Union after Philly and RBNY complete trade (UPDATED)

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIPhotos.com

By IVES GALARCEP

Less than a year after being traded away from the team he spent two years starring for, Sebastien LeToux is one his way back to the Philadelphia Union.

The New York Red Bulls have traded LeToux to the Philadelphia Union for allocation money and the rights to a player to be named later (Updated- The player is Costa Rican forward Josue Martinez), sources with knowledge of the trade confirmed to SBI on Thursday. The trade came the same day the Red Bulls made a Bona Fide offer to LeToux to secure his MLS rights, which paved the way for the trade.

LeToux returns to the Union after spending time with the Vancouver Whitecaps and Red Bulls in 2012. Traded from the Union to the Whitecaps for allocation money at the start of the 2011 season, LeToux will now return to a Union side where he scored 25 goals over the course of the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

“Sébastien indicated to us at the end of the season that he wanted to return to Philadelphia and we respected his request,” Red Bulls sporting director Andy Roxburgh said in a team-issued statement. “We want to thank him for his service to the Red Bulls club and wish him the best of luck in the future.”

The deal is the latest in a busy week for the Red Bulls, who acquired Jamison Olave and Fabian Espindola from Real Salt Lake earlier in the week, as well as fullback Kosuke Kimura from the Portland Timbers. Now the Red Bulls have acquired a quick young forward in Martinez along with some allocation money that should help the Red Bulls continue making moves to build their roster.

Martinez had a disappointing first season with Philadelphia, managing one goal in 18 appearances. The former Deportivo Saprissa striker is only 22, and is versatile enough to play on the wing as well as at forward.

What do you think of the news? Happy to see LeToux back with the Union? Think the Red Bulls got enough back in the trade?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Now use the allocation money and keep Kenny Cooper and his 18 goals.

    Henry wants to miss the beginning of the season to stay with Arsenal.
    Need goals and the RedBulls have managed to put all of the pieces together! No don’t trade your top goal-scorer.

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  2. Juninho Pernambucano had a good visit with RBNY this week. Director is intent on prying him away from Vasco da Gama to form a partnership with Henry. Speaking French may help.

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    • Cahill becomes Henry’s partner and both are relieved of playmaking duties if this man comes in. JP also takes over free kick duties.

      NY’s attack would be scary good if he has anything left in the tank.

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  3. Maybe Adu will have more assist now that they have someone with quality finishing abilities. To many novice bums on the Union front.

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  4. Finally Philly has some veteran help up top. A dynamic player and excellent finisher LeToux might just be what the doctor ordered for the Union. Freddy Adu, who is tied for fourth in MLS this season with more than 19 big chances created, is finally going to have a quality finisher at the end of his passes. With Farfan and Cruz developing into their roles, Philly just needs to invest in other quality player up top with LeToux and 2013 is going to be a good season…..

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  5. Anyone know of Josue Martinez? Any Philly fans out there want to give the run-down on the guy?

    From the article above, he seems to be a potential winger for NY. Maybe to replace the speed lost with the Richards trade.

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    • He’s quick but still raw. He had a few opportunities to earn himself more playing time but did not impress. He’s not a guy who is going to help NY right away.

      That said, he is still young, and he’s already got that one skill you can’t teach. If he can improve his finishing and learn the team game, he could be a player…maybe.

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    • I’ve not seen him play that I recall but per good ol’ wikipedia he played 3 years at Saprissa, a year in Philly, and is 22. He has played for Costa Rica at the U20 and senior levels, with 2 senior international goals.

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  6. Since the league approves all contracts, I’ll bet there was a fair bit of collusion between all parties. LeToux probably didn’t mind as long as a raise was involved.

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    • Simple, really.

      A player has a contract that expires. Say he was making $ 100k. Previous club offers say $ 110k. Or $ 90k. Whatever. If it is something reasonably legit, it’s a bona fide offer, which means the club retains his rights. If he leaves and doesn’t sign, then comes back to MLS for a year, that team retains his rights, and can sign him (to that deal, or another one), or trade those rights.

      If he was making a $ 100k deal and the team offers a $ 35k deal, it would not be considered a bona fide offer- e.g., not a serious attempt to retain him. That team would then lose his rights, and he could sign for another club without compensation. Le Toux was about to walk. NYRB made him a $ 250k offer (perhaps more than Philly would have offered, but a legit salary for his quality). Therefore, they retained his rights. He then signed, which meant that he was back on the team. They then traded him to Philly.

      Had NY not made a Bona Fide offer, Philly could have had him for free. Risk is, had NY resigned him and not been able to work out a deal with Philly, he’d have been on their team at $ 250k, a big number for a part time bench player.

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      • Big risk by NY. I would’ve thought LeToux would’ve rejected any offer around 100k, become a free agent, and then sign with Philly. Seems that he could’ve saved Philly a player and money.

      • It’s like the “tender offer” rules in NBA. If the contract team makes a tender offer it doesn’t matter that the player might want more. It’s a team “dibs” system where you only lose your rights if you don’t make the sufficient offer, like the Knicks weren’t willing to match the Rockets’ tender offer.

    • Until the Flopping Fish weirded out off to Mexico, Philly was very good up top with Seba and Pescadito. They only struggled to their 2011 finish because Ruiz left. I get the idea one or both didn’t sit well with Nowak and were cashiered. Nowak has now been cashiered himself. Maybe it’s a re-Union?

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      • Not a bad idea, but McInerny really showed promise at the end of the year. Also, Hoppenot is a nice option off the bench. Philly still lacks a true playmaker.

    • In effect, they dump $240k salary off the cap, which roughly covers Cooper.

      Martinez as a Saprissa product and Costa Rican youth and senior international, may be an end in himself. He only makes $65K. [Or maybe he was acquired for trade value or because he lacks tenure to have a guaranteed deal.]

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      • “In effect, they dump $240k salary off the cap, which roughly covers Cooper.” ????????????????

        Correct me if I’m wrong, but Coop had a DP deal — which will be a $400k salary cap, unless there’s allocation money to pay it down…but NYRB seems determined to trade away their allocation money.

        $400k is not roughly $240k.

      • He means they lower Cooper’s salary cap hit from DP-level at $500k to non-DP level at $350-400k, whatever the allocation amount was. Then not having LeToux on the roster and replacing him with the less expensive Martinez (really LeToux was replaced with Espindola), saves some money also.

      • Cooper shows up on the MLS players’ union salary database at 2012 salary of $275K base $290 guaranteed. He was not a DP. However, I have read rumors that year 2 of the contract bumps up substantially to $400-500K. We won’t know that for sure until the salaries list comes out again, but suffice to say that NY, if they want to keep him, may not be clearing room for his year 1 salary level so much as clearing room for his built in year 2 salary increase…cover the difference?

        There’re reasons why Cooper’s not a DP. (1) Year 1 salary didn’t merit it. (2) NY already has Cahill, Henry, and Marquez as DPs. Full up, right?

  7. Might be good for Adu to have a striker that can actually do something with his service now. If he stays, that is. Funny how anything related to the Union ends up at Adu talk.

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    • He makes $400k. For a small guy who doesn’t do a ton he presents a substantial cap roadblock to any restructuring. Which IMO makes him the fruitcake re-gifted at Xmas that you don’t want to be the one stuck with it this year.

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      • Maybe so, but I think he’d be worth it if a good team like LA picked him up. Especially with Beckham gone, I think that would be a good move for LA. Everybody loves a good resurrection story. (Media hype + potential star player). I could just be an Adu fan boy, though.

  8. Feel really weird about this, happy but also wanted to see who else we could have got. It also depends on how much money and who we gave up.. In the end they should have just given him the raise he wanted and we might have had a better season.

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    • Considering the article states he “is not a high-profile player for the Union” I doubt it. He may not be a household name but he was one of the few bright spots of last season for a terrible team.

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  9. yay, he should not have left in the first place was it not for bonehead. hopefully they can still keep adu and they will be on the up and up. why does the coach treat adu like he does? i was never a fan of adu until he came to MLS.

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    • Why does Hack treat Adu like he does? Because he’s not produced on the field and has had a poor attitude all year. Makes sense to me

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      • He has produced a TON of quality passes and set up goals his team did not finish them. Lets not forget its a team game not the Philadelphia Freddy Adu’s. I personally dont care if he is not liked in the locker room, he’s the most talented player on the pitch with that team.

      • “Lets not forget its a team game…”
        “I personally dont care if he is not liked in the locker room…”

        AI, this is exaclty where coaches/manegers live and they tend to care BIG time about stuff like. So all things considered you gotta say Freddy’s got some say in how things play out. I love the guy, don’t get me wrong, but the evidence (past and current) seem to have all of his managers assessing him mostly the same way. Just sayin’.

  10. Its hard to judge without knowing allocation and player. Still, both teams got what they wanted. Philly got their strike partner, RBNY got something for nothing.

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