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D.C. United acquire Jared Jeffrey

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By JASON MITCHELL

D.C. United added to their stable of young talent Wednesday afternoon, acquiring 23-year-old midfielder Jared Jeffrey in a waiver draft. Jeffrey, who most recently played for Bundesliga side Mainz, will be able to join United on Tuesday pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate.

Jeffrey made 87 appearances and scored four goals for the Mainz reserve team between 2010 and 2013. A member of multiple U.S. youth national sides, Jeffrey made two starts for the U.S. Under-23 team in the 2012 London Olympic Qualifiers.

“We are pleased to add another quality young player to our squad in Jared Jeffrey,” said D.C. United General Manager Dave Kasper in a press release. β€œHe is a technically gifted midfielder who has solid experience at various U.S. Youth National Team levels and recently with Mainz. We look forward to his future contributions to our club.”

Per club and league policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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What do you make of United’s signing? Think Jeffrey can contribute to D.C. United this season? Where do you see him fitting in?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Actually, according to what I read elsewhere, he was originally going to be exposed to the allocation process. But no team (in including DCU) was willing to claim him (and risk going to the back of the allocation order). So MLS had a player they’d signed and no team claiming him. They effectively claimed him “waived” (as in: no team in the league would take him) and thus the team with the worst record (DCU) gets first pick in the waiver selection. Again, every team had a chance at this guy and passed–didn’t want to give up their allocation slot for him. So that tells me that a lot of teams have plans come the international transfer window. It also tells me that this guy (Jeffrey) is a prospect, not a player.

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    • All I’ve seen of him was at the Olympic Qualifiers, and I admittedly didn’t know much about him before then, but he stood out as one of the players with the most impact. Pretty stout center mid then, and I can see him and Kitchen as a strong combo–though I’m not sure how much the two of them would offer offensively. Only a three game sample size, so take it for what it’s worth

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  2. For those asking about the draft, Grant Wahl tweeted out that the reason he went into a waver draft is that like any other returning US youth international, he was going to go into a weighted lottery. However, all teams declined to participate in the lottery (indicating that someone else like a Joe Gyau is likely returning to MLS soon). Because Jeffrey had already signed a contract with MLS and all teams passed on the chance for the lottery (remember, participating removes you from doing so any future ones this season), he was basically placed on the waiver wire like any other player who had just been released by a club in the middle of the season.

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    • Wow I can’t believe you beat me to this. Considering how soccer centric most commenters are I didn’t think to look before I posted.

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  3. What “waiver draft” are we talking about here? I can’t find any info online about any MLS waiver draft that just took place . . .

    Reply

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