By IVES GALARCEP
The New York Red Bulls have spent much of the off-season trying to trade Kenny Cooper, but finding a team with both the salary cap space to fit Cooper’s significant 2013 salary, and the allocation money to give the Red Bulls.
FC Dallas became just such a team after their sale of Brek Shea, and on Monday the team that had Cooper before will have him once again after securing a trade for the big striker.
Sources tell SBI that Dallas acquired Cooper for $200,000 in allocation money. The deal comes on the same day FC Dallas secured the trade for Eric Hassli from Toronto FC.
Cooper returns to FC Dallas, where he spent four seasons before departing for Europe. The former MLS All-Star finished the 2012 season with 18 goals in 27 matches for the Red Bulls. That lofty number didn’t keep him off the chopping block though, as the Red Bulls decided early on that his big 2012 goal tally was not an accurate measure of his likely future contributions.
With Cooper set to make $370,000 in 2013, the Red Bulls decided to deal him in order to free up room on the salary cap to clear the way for a third Designated Player, which the team is expected to add this summer.
So why wouldn’t the Red Bulls keep Cooper? There was a strong belief within the organization that Cooper’s goal tally was more a product of the team’s service than Cooper’s own quality, and that finding a more reasonably-priced alternative could yield them similar results. The club also needed to make a deal to create some salary cap room for an expected high-profile Designated Player signing in the summer.
What do you think of the deal? Think the Red Bulls are making a mistake? See FC Dallas doing well with a forward trio of Cooper, Hassli and Blas Perez?
Share your thoughts below.