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D.C. United parts ways with Cristian Fernandez

Cristian Fernandez

By MITCHELL NORTHAM

Spanish defender Cristian Fernandez was absent from D.C. United’s lineup in their loss on Saturday to the Seattle Sounders due to what head coach Ben Olsen called, “personal issues.” But now it looks like he won’t be returning.

He and the club mutually agreed to terminate his contract on Tuesday, making Fernandez a free agent and allowing him to return to his home country of Spain.

“Cristian was unhappy living in the United States and we have decided it was in everyone’s best interest to release the player from his contract,” D.C. United General Manager Dave Kasper said in a statement. “We wish him all the best at his next club.”

Fernandez joined the Black-and-Red during the off-season in February and was one of the many players that Kasper and the front office added to the team to improve their bottom of the table record from last season. During his time with the club, Fernandez started 15 games and recorded one assist.

Before joining D.C. United, the left back played for many Spanish clubs including Racing B, Racing Santander and Almeria of La Liga.

Without Fernandez filling out the left back position for D.C. United, Olsen may have to turn to defenders Chris Korb, Taylor Kemp or even homegrown youngster Jalen Robinson, who is currently on loan to their USL Pro affiliate, the Richmond Kickers.

Comments

  1. And kord is a good replacement , and do you really expect beasly to come to the us? Oh and Michael McGurie korb is spelled korb not kirb. Learn to spell

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  2. Look I know christian wasn’t the best, but do you really excpect him to come to some random team in the us from Spain and be the next Roberto Carlos . I am a huge DC United fan, and I loved him but you have to cut him some slack. He’s not close to home, he’s new in a new country he probably doesn’t Speke much English and he did do very well. DC had the best defense in the league maybe. And he was a party of that. Just stop being so mean about him leaving. I’m mad about it to. He was good though. Why does every hate him? And he plays left back not right back

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  3. Beaze would be great. If we are looking for old MLSers I would like to see what Bibby Convey could do for us a left back. Anyway I think Kirb is competent , but I really think we need more cover. I wish they had figures out a replacement b4 they let him go. I figure he got a better offer from a Spanish club and that is why he is leaving.

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  4. Ridiculous. How can a grown-ass man be allowed to walk away from a contract because he’s homesick? I know he was a little reckless, but he’s better than Korb pound for pound.

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  5. this is so annoying. DCU just can’t get it together when it comes to foreign players. i thought he would be a good move but it wasn’t as good as i expected. i did think he would grow into the league though and had no idea he was unhappy.

    for all the talk about Gooch having a trial, DCU need to get in touch with Beasley if they haven’t already. i’d certainly take both!

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    • Anyone know what led to his unhappiness living here? If he wanted to walk to shops and restaurants, he could have lived in DC, or across the river in Rosslyn, Courthouse, Clarendon, etc.

      As if there wasn’t enough Spanish spoken already around the area, and he wasn’t able to adapt? Seems there is more to the story that what DC FO is dishing out.

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      • Maybe nothing. Living abroad can be challenging and isn’t for everyone. Seems he had never lived outside of Spain before.

      • I’ve been to Europe loads of times thanks to my English mum. The way of life there is a lot different from here so I can understand if he’s homesick. Especially if he has a family. It’s usually them who push for a transfer back to their comfort zone.

  6. Not too surprised at this one. I haven’t seen all the games for DC this year, but was not too impressed with the Spaniard – was expecting more out of him.

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  7. Seems that Jalen Robinson is on loan with Arizona at the moment. Is he a natural left-back? Definitely a spot of need for the USMNT going forward.

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      • We had good luck with German 4th division players, so what’s wrong with throwing some PDLers into the mix?

      • Yeah, just looking ahead, which is pretty normal considering it’s the day after the USMNT got knoocked out of the world cup. And I never said he’s a USMNT prospect. Obviously, I don’t know the first thing about him or I wouldn’t be asking. Plus, I’m just interested in finding out a little more about him just as an MLS player. But left-back is a spot where the cupboard is pretty bare.

  8. It’s not like the guy was lighting it up on the right side of DCU’s defense anyway. When he first got here, he was pretty disastrous, but he kinda pulled it together after a while. Still, you could tell he didn’t want to be here, from the jump.

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    • Right side??? Pretty sure you haven’t been watching him play, else you would know he doesn’t play on the right.

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    • Well, coming to DC from La Liga is a big drop when you finally step onto the field and look around a stadium that’s 66% empty and noticeably falling apart.

      He wasn’t fantastic, but he does fit nicely into the “Olsen has no idea how to recruit/coach foreign players” role. DC needs to wake up and learn how to scout players a lot better. We waste money like no other team.

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      • We would need scouts in order to do that in the first place, I don’t think Kurt Morsink fits the bill when it comes to scouting and I think thats all we got.

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