Kei Kamara’s time with the Columbus Crew came to an end on Thursday morning via a blockbuster deal.
After earning a suspension for lashing out at Federico Higuain on Saturday night, Kamara was traded to the New England Revolution on Thursday. In return, the Crew receive General Allocation Money, Targeted Allocation Money, the Revs’ highest first round MLS Draft pick in 2017, the Revs’ highest second round MLS Draft pick in 2018 and one of the Revs’ international roster spots for the 2016 season. In addition, the Crew will receive a percentage of any future transfer fee generated by the forward should he be sold to a club outside of MLS.
The deal was finalized just moments before the conclusion of the transfer window, which ended at 1 a.m. Eastern on Thursday.
“Kei had a memorable 2015 season and we recognize and understand how popular and productive he was, so this decision was not one we made lightly,” said Crew head coach Gregg Berhalter. “Our actions will always reflect the values of our club and we believe this transaction will improve our competitiveness this year and in future years.”
“We have been looking to strengthen our team and we feel that this addition accomplishes just that,” added Revs General Manger Michael Burns. “Kei is a player who has had success and is a proven goal scorer in MLS. We’re pleased we were able to get this deal done and look forward to Kei’s arrival and integration into the team.”
Reports emerged on Tuesday that the Crew were looking to move Kamara, who signed a DP deal with the club this offseason after leading the team to last season’s MLS Cup final. After publicly berating Higuain and then refusing to back down from his comments, the Crew have opted to part ways with a forward that netted 22 goals last season while adding five through the first nine games of 2016.
The Crew return to action on Saturday against the Colorado Rapids, while the Revs face-off with the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
What do you think of the trade? How will Kamara fit in with the Revs? What do you expect from the Crew?
Share your thoughts below.
Crew,
Figure out how to make it work. Hope you enjoyed giving away the MLS Cup last year, because that will be an accomplishment rather than a disappointment now.
Are there any good teams in the East? I am going to say no, now. New England is the only hope for that.
In MLS, draft picks are like lottery tickets — and more like a scratch-off card than a Power Ball ticket too.
Considering that the Crew were determined to unload Kamara and they only had a few days to do it, I thought they got the better end of the deal. The draft picks may or may not amount to anything, but with the TAM and allocation money plus an international slot I think they made out well. So, they freed up a DP slot and got more money to spend and the international transfer window is not that far away as European seasons end in a couple of weeks, or less, depending on the league. So, they could get a DP and a good player with TAM. They will have that hole up top for a while and it will take time for new players to get integrated so that they may struggle to make the playoffs, but long term I think they are better off.
The Crew totally made out like bandits! All said and done they raked in more that $500k plus another international spot. That is huge money for MLS.
Now all they have to do is buy another golden boot contender…
Wow the REVs made out with this deal. The presence of Kamara is really going to push the limits of Agudelo and Davis too.
Kei Kamara 2015 – 22 goals and 8 assists (5 goals up this season)
Salary: $400,000.00
Federico Higuain 2015 – 8 goals 9 assists (3 goals 2 assists)
Salary: $ 1,175,000.00
It’s harder to find a proven elite striker than it is to find an elite midfielder, especially for around $400,000. The Crew got the short end of the stick and just turned the Revs into a power house
Except Kamara isn’t on $400,000 salary…
Over the summer Kei held out and was bumped up to at least a 1 million DP contract. Moving Higuain along is probably next on the Crews list but they thought getting Kei out was a more pressing.issue.
If Agudelo and Davies couldn’t find motivation competing against each other and Teal Bunburry (all former nat players) I am not sure adding one more striker is going to stoke them to greatness. Just eats up more minutes and Kamara will demand a lot of service. Back off that PK Lee Nguyen!
And soccer can’t really be explained with numbers.
And by the way his take home pay last year was $536,667.67 (which by the way does not include performance bonuses or “amenities”)
I see you got it!! Nice…
I think you misunderstood, Kamara didn’t make 400,000 he made 536,667.67 (and that doesn’t include performance bonuses, health club memberships, team cars, or discounts at the souvenir stand like you thought it did). This year its reported around a million as he moved to the DP slot.
This is a bad move on all sides. New England need defensive help, not scoring help.Crew just got rid of a proven, elite MLS goal scorer for a bag of beans essentially. If I were the Fire, Whitecaps, Dynamo or DC, I would be pissed because they could have done this deal. They better have a replacement lined up.
People in this world are too sensitive nowadays. These two don’t have to like each other to play together. I hated one my teammates and literally wanted t beat the crap out of him, but we still played together.
Did you go to the local newspaper and tell them exactly that though? You could understand the on the field issue, and even the post match field interview. However, when he stuck to his guns in the locker room interview and then came out Tuesday and claimed he didn’t know why you were suspended, that’s an issue.
Ok bye.
Would have liked to have gotten at least a semi-proven forward back (Agudelo?), but now I just hope the team adjust to whatever new system they use since Kamara isn’t up top. Oh, and I wish we still had Jack Mcinerney.
They must have a lot of confidence in Ola Kamara, he did score 21 goals across all competitions last year for Molde including 5 in European play.
or
Falcao is coming, Falcao is coming!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a strange trade. I don’t get why the Revs did it.
And quite a few on incompetent defenders, unfortunately.
They will be better defensively with JJones back there now.
revs have quite a slew of competent strikers.
Sure if you combine their powers like voltron…. lol
Paging Juan Agudelo. Time to get the hell out of Dodge.
So much for whoever said they would need to trade like-for-like to acquire another striker. Personally, I would have dealt Higuain.
That was me, I’m shocked the striker contingent at Crew SC now contains only Ola Kamara and Conor Casey, either they have a signing in mind or a formation switch is in the works.
Seems like the Revs got pretty good return here considering they had about 2 days to make the trade happen. I guess that will ultimately depend how well they use the picks and their international spot. Kamara and Higuain being 31 maybe they should have unloaded both?
Five years ago the picks would have seemed better. Doesn’t seem like many players come through the draft anymore.
Probably the best scenario for all parties involved, although the Crew now need to go out and sign another goal scoring beast.