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D.C. United signs Academy star Najar

D.C. United's acclaimed Academy program has produced another player worthy of a roster slot.

After signing goalkeeper Bill Hamid last year, D.C. has now added midfielder/forward Andy Najar to its senior team, signing the 17-year-old D.C. United Academy product to a Generation adidas contract.

“We are thrilled to have developed and signed our second home grown player from our youth Academy,” said D.C. United general manager Dave Kasper.  “Andy is a very talented player who possesses excellent technical and tactical abilities. Andy has shown us that he is ready to contribute first team minutes and we are excited about his future.”

The signing comes after Najar enjoyed an impressive pre-season with the club. A native of Honduras, Najar will join Hamid in taking up the team's two Academy Graduate roster slots.

Comments

  1. I always get a good chuckle when I hear them say that. That way we can distinguish which broadcasters are clueless or informed. Just calling them “United” is arrogance in itself. As if there are no other United teams in the world!

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  2. Why would he have to obtain a work visa if he, as alleged by others, already has a green card? Unless he only has a student visa, then he’d need permission to work, i.e., work visa.

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  3. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Andy. He has a very good resume, and is a right sided player, which United needs. I could see him slotting in at right back or right wing as a sub throughout the first few months.

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  4. can somebody break down the 2 in 2 years academy rule? is dc united now exempt from signing another academy player? also whats the progress on the agudelo signing?

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  5. i do still have an issue with other teams being able to sign other players from academies (if they are not signed). Basically if your academy isnt producing good players, tough tookas, work harder (just like if your team isnt scouting good players etc etc). That being said i think its great they dont count against the roster AND are capable of playing in MLS games as i understand these two players will be able to…

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  6. I believe Hamid was ineligible for league matches last year because he was signed after the roster deadline (x-fer window), not because of his academy status.

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  7. That’s the point grubbsbl was making. And, he correctly characterizes what the rule was last year. If you know that there’s been a change to that rule this year, then you know more than anyone outside of MLS.

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  8. The Acadmey rule was eased a bit last year — but the extra roster slots were supposed to be only for use in non-MLS gaems. Those players (Hamid and Chiradze) were not eligible for MLS games last year. Not sure if the rule has been eased even further….

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  9. It has nothing to do with being a Gen Adidas player. It’s about being an Academy player.

    It’s a rule the league adopted last year, presumably to allow DCU to sign Hamid before they lost him to a European team. They didn’t have a place for him on their 24-man roster, but they didn’t want to lose him. So, MLS adopted a rule for Academy players. Each team got 2 additional slots for 2009, if they used them for Academy players.

    The thing is that rule was supposed to last for last season only. I’ve been trying to get Goff to get to a clarification. The rule last year was only to get the player signed to a contract. They could play in non-MLS matches only. Now, it sounds like the non-roster status is not only continuing for guys like Hamid and NYRB’s Chiradze, it’s being expanded to allow the players full senior status… Unless there’s some confusion about whether DCU is using the Academy extra roster slot for Najar.

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  10. this is awesome, feels like the league is starting to gain a little momentum with respect to homegrown signings. Very encouraging to see.

    I wonder which will be the first to really break out and start to kill it, if any do at all. Hamid, Najar, Leyva, Navas, Bowen, Zamora, who am I missing? I guess Mayen has gotten some love for Chivas, and I think he’s a nice young player, but at this point i dont think you can say hes truly excelled.

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  11. Jim, the primary mission of soccer academies is to produce players for professional teams that run academies and DCU just signed two graduates to their first team. So their academy must be doing something right. And if you want to measure their academy head to head against other MLS soccer academies, it fares quite well. Last year, D.C. United’s under-17 team advanced to the SUM U-17 Cup, a tournament featuring 14 developmental teams sponsored by MLS franchises, for the third consecutive year and took home the trophy for a second time. A week later, the under-18 team played its way into the final of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy national championship, where it fell to Carmel United (Ind.), 1-0.

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  12. A few. Shaquille Phillips and Julio Arjona were down there a few years ago and are now headed to Duke and West Virginia, respectively.

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  13. They are homegrown players, so they do not count as part of the 24 man roster. This is too encourage teams to strengthen their academies.

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  14. Unfortunately, his soccer skills won’t make his citizenship come any easier. Unlike many other countries, the US does not have any fast track citizenship for talented soccer players. While I understand this approach, it puts our national team at a disadvantage. Rodney Wallace of DCU would have instantly upgraded the left back position for the USMNT, but he only has a green card. He is a Costa Rican citizen, but has not been capped by their team, so he could become a left back option for us in 2014.

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  15. I think he is at least a green card holder, which means depending on how close he is too citizenship he could be a US hopeful. The kid was a force for DC on the wing in the pre-season Challenge cup.

    Im pretty sure USSF is well aware of Mwanga and Najar and doing their best to “USA” them for the future….lol.

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  16. Is there an MLS wiki because the million rules make it hard. Anyone ever play those soccer sim management games, the developers totally just ignore all the crazy MLS limits. Hopefully it will not get as bad as the NFL, where there are salary gap gurus, or is it already.

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  17. I think two academy spots is perfect, encourages team to cultivate talent and then allow them to grow, but I think two is prob. a good number for max and that a player is limited to qualifying for the spot for only two years, this would then ensure teams do not hoard players who do not have the talent to make it just because they wouldn’t account against the roster and the two year limit would cause turnover encouraging one new signing each year.

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  18. yeah……it was a bad habit by some of our local news guys calling them “the United”, “The DC United” a few years back…since then its been on most of the press releases.

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  19. “Broadcasting and P.A. Request: When speaking of the organization, please refer to the team as either ‘D.C. United’ or ‘United,’ but not ‘the D.C. United’ or ‘the United.’ We appreciate your cooperation.”

    AWESOME.

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  20. not really sure, but as I recall the keeper for DC last year (or the year before) was signed from the academy and ineligible to play for MLS games. However, he was allowed to play in other tournaments. So in that respect he did not count against the roster.

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  21. Could someone please explain the rules for signing Academy players? How long does United have to wait now before they can sign someone else?

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  22. Ives, since he is exempt from the 24 man roster does this mean his is eligible for MLS play this year? (Hamid was not eligible for last seasons MLS play, only the CCL.) I hope he is able to play in the league.

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  23. you and i both, i think its a great idea if its true (ie academy slots and if the slots continued to grow in amount annually)

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  24. the two academy graduate slots? I was under the impression there were only limits on how many could be graduated per year, not total graduates on a roster. But I could be confused…

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