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Report: D.C. United set to part ways with De Rosario

Dwayne De Rosario

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By DAN KARELL

Barely two seasons removed from winning a Major League Soccer MVP award with D.C. United, Dwayne De Rosario’s time with the club has come to an end.

According to a report in the Washington Post, D.C. United declined to pick up an option on the contract of De Rosario and have chosen to move in a different direction, as opposed to offering him a new contract at a significantly lower level. The club have not made a public statement on the report.

The 35-year-old De Rosario, who was acquired in 2011 from the New York Red Bulls in exchange for Dax McCarty, struggled mightily along with the rest of the D.C. United squad who set records in futility with the fewest wins (three), fewest goals per game (0.65), and goal differential (-37). The club also announced on Wednesday the departure of three other players, including former MLS MVP winner Carlos Ruiz.

De Rosario finished this season with just three goals and two assists, a far cry from his 2011 totals of 16 goals and 12 assists between Toronto FC, the Red Bulls, and D.C. United.

This season, De Rosario was D.C. United’s lone Designated Player, making $600,000 in base salary and $630,000 in guaranteed compensation. According to the report, it’s unknown whether De Rosario will enter the MLS Re-Entry Draft in December or whether he’ll try to sign a contract overseas.

Despite his success in 2011 after arriving mid-season, De Rosario was unable to help the side make the playoffs, finishing three points behind the Red Bulls for the final playoff place. In 2012, D.C. United made it all the way to the Eastern Conference finals after upsetting the Red Bulls in the semifinals but De Rosario had injured his knee in early September on Canadian National Team duty and didn’t return until the finals series against Houston, where he reportedly wasn’t at 100 percent health.

For all the struggles and injuries this season, De Rosario did help lead D.C. United to an improbable run in the U.S. Open Cup, winning the final on the road at Real Salt Lake, 1-0.

De Rosario finishes his time at D.C. United with 23 goals and 19 assists. The report states that as recently as last week, De Rosario spoke to reporters saying that he was looking to play with the club next season and play in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Comments

  1. Releasing Carlos Ruiz, now DeRo, from a team with a high scorer of 3 goals? If you thought the record-breaking DCU was bad this year, things may get even worse. Yikes

    Reply
    • Ruiz is not much of a loss, but DeRo is a quality player. Given his age and injuries, I can see why DC did not pick up his contract option, but I am surprised they did not try to negotiate a new contract at the lower amount (assuming that this information is correct).

      Reply
    • Except in one day, the team has cleared about $750,000 in cap room — enough to bring in two new DPs (not to mention all that allocation money they could use to pay a transfer fee or two). …and all the gave up in production was 5 goals and 2 assists. They ought to be able to replace that with one decent player, much less a couple of DPs.

      Look, DeRo gave the team some menace — until Silva came in, the only player who was putting any pressure on opposing defenses. With those four roster slots, one international player slot and all that cap room, even the most casual fan could probably find more productive players to bring in.

      Reply
      • The main assumption here is that Ruiz and Dero were a large part of the problem, and removing them would be a solution. I don’t see it that way. The problem is the entire team. You can’t expect one or two high value players to come in and fix a team. Dero is quality enough to have done that if this premise were true. My guess is that this move is paving the way to refresh the roster by freeing up money, but not necesarily by replacing with two more players. I’d say the team is better off using the freed cash to upgrade accross the board in just about every position.

    • You clearly haven’t watched DC United, DeRosario, or Ruiz this year. Or you have no idea how the salary cap works. DeRo would have cost $600k and Ruiz $80k.

      Reply
      • Well young buck, considering 1) Fischy is a DC fan and actively follows the club, 2) DPs only count in the $368k range, and we released Saragosa, Ruiz and Pajoy, something tells me his figures might be more accurate than yours.

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