Top Stories

MLS Contract Decision Roundup

With the MLS offseason in full swing for all but two teams, each club began the 2018 season by moving on from the 2017 campaign.

That process began last Monday as each eliminated team released contract decisions while playoff teams joined in following their postseason elimination.

Here’s the roundup for each of the teams that have announced so far. This post will update when other team release their moves.

Atlanta United (Announced November 20)
Exercised OptionsAlec Kann, Mikey Ambrose, Julian Gressel, Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu, and Romario Williams
Declined Options Alex Tambakis, Mark Bloom, Zach Loyd, Harrison Heath, and Jeffrey Otoo.
Out of ContractKyler Reynish and Bobby Boswell
Loans Expiring: Yamil Asad (Velez Sarsfield), Greg Garza (Tijuana), Anton Walkes (Tottenham)
Retired
Kenwyne Jones

Chicago Fire
Exercised Options: Arturo Alvarez, David Arshakyan, Jorge Bava, Brandt Bronico, Jonathan Campbell, Stefan Cleveland, Drew Conner, Daniel Johnson, Dax McCarty, Matt Polster and Brandon Vincent
Declined OptionsJoey Calistri, Matej Dekovic, Patrick Doody, Collin Fernandez, John Goossens, Michael Harrington and Richard Sanchez
Out of Contract: Joao Meira and Bastian Schweinsteiger
Under Contract for 2018:
 David Accam, Jorge Corrales, Michael de Leeuw, Christian Dean, Johan Kappelhof, Matt Lampson, Djordje Mihailovic, Nemanja Nikolic, and Luis Solignac
Loan ExpiredJuninho

Colorado Rapids
Exercised Options: Eric Miller, Jared Watts, and Sam Hamilton
Declined Options: John Berner, Dennis Castillo, Mekeil Williams, Joshua Gatt, Mohammed Saeid, and Alan Gordon
Out of ContractBobby Burling
Under Contract for 2018
Tim Howard, Zac MacMath, Mike da Fonte, Kortne Ford, Axel Sjöberg, Micheal Azira, Johan Blomberg, Nana Boateng, Shkëlzen Gashi, Marlon Hairston, Ricardo Perez, Dillon Serna, Stefan Aigner, Dominique Badji, and Caleb Calvert
Retired
Kevin Doyle
Loan ExpiredLuis Gil

Columbus Crew
Exercised Options
Lalas Abubakar, Harrison Afful, Connor Maloney, Josh Williams, Artur, Mohammed Abu, Niko Hansen, Cristian Martinez, Ola Kamara
Declined OptionsLogan Ketterer, Brad Stuver, Waylon Francis, Gaston Sauro, Marshall Hollingsworth, Abuchi Obinwa, Rodrigo Saravia and Ben Swanson
Out of ContractKekuta Manneh
Under Contract for 2018: Zack Steffen Alex Crognale Jonathan Mensa Jukka Raitala Federico Higuain Hector Jimenez Justin Meram Pedro Santos Wil Trapp Adam Jahn

D.C. United
Exercised Options: Luciano Acosta, Nick DeLeon, Taylor Kemp, Kofi Opare, Jalen Robinson, and Travis Worra
Declined OptionsDeshorn Brown, Julian Büscher, Sean Franklin, Eric Klenofsky, Chris Korb, Chris Odoi-Atsem, Lloyd Sam, and Rob Vincent.
Out of Contract: Patrick Nyarko, Marcelo Sarvas, and Bill Hamid
Under Contract for 2018:  
Paul Arriola, Steve Birnbaum, Russell Canouse, Chris Durkin, Ian Harkes, Jared Jeffrey, Bruno Miranda, Patrick Mullins, and Zoltán Stieber.
Retired: 
Chris Rolfe

FC Dallas
Exercised OptionsTesho Akindele, Mauro Diaz, Jacori Hayes, Ryan Hollingshead, Victor Ulloa and Walker Zimmerman
Declined OptionsCarlos Cermeño, Eduardo “Pollo” Cortes, Hernan Grana, Cariaco Gonzalez, Aaron Guillen, Atiba Harris, Walker Hume, Javier Morales, Coy Craft, and Maynor Figueroa
Out of Contract: Chris Seitz
Under Contract for 2018: 
Kellyn Acosta, Michael Barrios, Reggie Cannon, Anibal Chala, Cristian Colman, Jesus Ferreira, Jesse Gonzalez, Carlos Gruezo, Matt Hedges, Roland Lamah, Paxton Pomykal, Adonijah Reid, Bryan Reynolds and Maxi Urruti

Houston Dynamo
Exercised Options:
Kevin Garcia, Leonardo, George Malki, Charlie Ward, Memo Rodriguez,  Philippe Senderos, Andrew Wenger
Declined Options: Jalil Anibaba, Calle Brown, Ricardo Clark, A.J. DeLaGarza, Tyler Deric, José Escalante, Boniek García, Joe Holland, Taylor Hunter, Christian Lucatero , Vicente Sánchez
Out of Contract: Alex, Eric Alexander, DaMarcus Beasley, Dylan Remick, Joe Willis
Under Contract for 2018: Adolfo Machado, Tomas Martinez, Erick Torres, Andrew Wenger, Romell Quioto, Mauro Minotas
Loans Expired: Juan David Cabezas and Alberth Elis

LA Galaxy
Exercised Options Emmanuel Boateng, Bradford Jamieson IV, Daniel Steres, Dave Romney, and Ariel Lassiter
Declined OptionsJermaine Jones, Jon Kempin, Rafael Garcia, Brian Rowe, Jose Villarreal, Jack McBean, Jack McInerney, Raul Mendiola, Pele Van Anholt, Clement Diop, Jaime Villarreal, Nathan Smith, and Bradley Diallo
Out of Contract: Ashley Cole and Baggio Husidic
Under Contract for 2018: 
Romain Alessandrini, Hugo Arellano, Emmanuel Boateng, Michael Ciani, Giovani dos Santos, Jonathan dos Santos, Bradford Jamieson IV, Sebastian Lletget, João Pedro, Dave Romney, Daniel Steres, Gyasi Zardes
Retired: 
Robbie Rogers

Minnesota United
Exercised Options: Ibson, Collin Martin, Johan Venegas, Brent Kallman, Alex Kapp, and Bobby Shuttleworth
Declined Options: Bernardo Anor, Ismaila Jome, Justin Davis, Thomas de Villardi, Joe Greenspan, Jermaine Taylor, and Kevin Venega
Out of Contract: Patrick McLain
Under Contract for 2018: 
Abu Danladi, Christian Ramirez, Sam Cronin, Ethan Finlay, Miguel Ibarra, Kevin Molino, Sam Nicholson, Rasmus Schuller, Collen Warner, Michael Boxall, Marc Burch, Francisco Calvo, Vadim Demidov, and Jerome Thiesson 
Loan Expired: 
Brandon Allen (New York Red Bulls)

Montreal Impact (Announced November 16)
Exercised Options: Evan Bush, Kyle Fisher, Daniel Lovitz, David Choinière, Michael Salazar, and Nick DePuy
Declined Options: 
Shaun Francis and Andrés Romero
Out of Contract: 
Eric Kronberg,Hassoun Camara, and Hernán Bernardello
Under Contract for 2018: 
Maxime Crépeau, Deian Boldor, Víctor Cabrera, Laurent Ciman, Wandrille Lefèvre, Louis Béland-Goyette, Marco Donadel, Ignacio Piatti, Samuel Piette, Shamit Shome, Ballou Tabla, Anthony Jackson-Hamel, Matteo Mancosu, and Dominic Oduro
Loan Extended: 
Blerim Dzemaili (Bologna FC)
Retired
Patrice Bernier

New England Revolution
Exercised Options: Juan Agudelo, Scott CaldwellCody Cropper, Zachary Herivaux, Femi Hollinger-Janzen, Kei Kamara, Kelyn Rowe, Chris Tierney, and Matt Turner
Declined Options: Benjamin Angoua,  Xavier Kouassi, Donnie Smith, Josh Smith, Je-Vaughn Watson, London Woodberry, and Brian Wright
Out of Contract: Teal Bunbury, Andrew Farrell, Brad Knighton, and Daigo Kobayashi
Under Contract for 2018: 
Antonio Delamea, Claude Dielna, Diego Fagundez, Krisztián Németh, and Lee Nguyen
Loan Ended: 
Gershon Koffie (Hammarby IF)

New York City FC
Exercised Options: Kwame Awuah, Ronald Matarrita, Andre Rawls, Khiry Shelton and Ben Sweat
Declined Options: RJ AllenFrederic BrillantMiguel CamargoShannon GomezEirik JohansenMikey Lopez, Jefferson Mena, Sean Okoli, John Stertzer, Andraz Struna and Ethan White
Under Contract for 2018: Alexander Callens, Maxime Chanot, Jack Harrison, Yangel Herrera, Sean Johnson, Jonathan Lewis, Tommy McNamara, Maxi Moralez, Alex Ring, James Sands, David Villa and Rodney Wallace
Retired: Andrea Pirlo

New York Red Bulls
Exercised Options: Sacha Kljestan, Connor Lade, Aaron Long, Danny Royer, Sean Davis, Derrick Etienne, Jr., and Evan Louro
Declined Options: Sal Zizzo, Gideon BaahMike GrellaDilly Duka, Dan Metzger, Arun Basuljevic, Vince Bezecourt, Zeiko Lewis, Gonzalo Veron, and Brandon Allen
Out of Contract: Damien Perrinelle
Under Contract for 2018: 
Ryan Meara, Luis Robles, Aurelien Collin, Fidel Escobar, Kemar Lawrence, Hassan Ndam, Tyler Adams, Felipe, Muhamed Keita, Sacha Kljestan, Alex Muyl, Bradley Wright-Phillips
Completed Loan Transfer: 
Michael Amir Murillo

Orlando City (Announced November 7)
Exercised Options: Earl Edwards, Jr., Rafael Ramos, Tommy Redding,  Cristian Higuita, Tony Rocha, Dom Dwyer, Cyle Larin, and Carlos Rivas
Declined Options: Josh Saunders, Seb Hines, Conor Donovan, Antonio Nocerino, Servando Carrasco, Dillon Powers, Giles Barnes, and Hadji Barry
Out of Contract: Kevin Alston, Devron García, and Kaká
Under Contract for 2018: 
Joe Bendik, Mason Stajduhar, Scott Sutter, Jonathan Spector, José Aja, Donny Toia,  PC, Will Johnson, Yoshimar Yotún, Richie Laryea, and Pierre Da Silva

Philadelphia Union (Announced November 1)
Exercised OptionsAndre Blake, John McCarthy, Jake McGuire, Jack Elliott, Raymon Gaddis, Keegan Rosenberry, Warren Creavalle, Marcus Epps, Derrick Jones, Adam Najem, and Fafa Picault
Declined Options: Aaron Jones, Oguchi Onyewu, Ken Tribbett, Giliano Wijnaldum, Roland Alberg, Maurice Edu, Fabian Herbers, Ilsinho, and Charlie Davies
Out of Contract: Fabinho and Chris Pontius
Under Contract for 2018: 
Richie Marquez, Auston Trusty, Josh Yaro, Alejandro Bedoya, Anthony Fontana and Haris Medunjanin, CJ Sapong, and Jay Simpson
Retired: Brian Carroll

Portland Timbers
Exercised OptionsJeff Attinella, Kendall McIntosh, Zarek Valentin, Dairon Asprilla, and Jack Barmby
Declined Options: Darren MattocksAmobi Okugo and Bill Tuiloma
Out of Contract: Ben Zemanski
Under Contract for 2018: 
Fanendo Adi, Vytas, Victor Arboleda, Gbenga Arokoyo, Sebastián Blanco, Diego Chara, Rennico Clarke, Jeremy Ebobisse, Marco Farfan, Jake Gleeson, David Guzmán, Larrys Mabiala, Roy Miller, Chance Myers, Darlington Nagbe, Lawrence Olum, Alvas Powell, Liam Ridgewell and Diego Valeri

Real Salt Lake
Exercised Options: David Horst, Luke Mulholland, Sunny, and Sebastian Saucedo
Declined Options: Matt VanOekelChris SchulerReagan DunkJustin Schmidt, Omar Holness, Chad Barrett, and Ricardo Velazco
Out of Contract: Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando
Under Contract for 2018: 
Connor Sparrow, Marcelo Silva, Tony Beltran, Justen Glad, Demar Phillips, Danilo Acosta, Albert Rusnák, Nick Besler, Jose Hernandez, Yura Movsisyan, Joao Plata, Luis Silva, and Jordan Allen
Completed Loan Transfer:
Jefferson Savarino
Loan expired: Brooks Lennon

San Jose Earthquakes
Exercised Options: Matt Bersano, Andrew Tarbell, Fatai Alashe, Darwin Ceren, and Anibal Godoy.
Declined Options: Victor Bernardez, Kip Colvey, Cordell Cato, Lindo Mfeka, Marc Pelosi, Matheus Silva, and Danny Hoesen.
Out of Contract: David Bingham, Andres Imperiale, and Kofi Sarkodie
Under Contract for 2018: Francois Affolter, Harold Cummings, Nick Lima,  Florian Jungwirth, Simon Dawkins, Jahmir Hyka, Shea Salinas, Tommy Thompson, Vako, Jackson Yueill, Quincy Amarikwa, Marco Ureña and Chris Wondolowski

Seattle Sounders
Exercised Options: Stefan Frei, Tyler Miller, Tony Alfaro, Oniel Fisher, Chad Marshall, Román Torres, Jordy Delem, Aaron Kovar, Zach Mathers, Cristian Roldan, and Will Bruin
Declined Options: Calum Mallace. Bryan Meredith, Brad Evans, and Joevin Jones
Out of Contract: Lamar Neagle
Under Contract for 2018: Kelvin Leerdam, Nouhou, Osvaldo Alonso, Nicolás Lodeiro, Victor Rodríguez, Harry Shipp, Gustav Svensson, Henry Wingo, Seyi Adekoya, Clint Dempsey, Jordan Morris

Sporting Kansas City
Exercised Options: Saad Abdul-Salaam, Kharlton Belmar, Amer Didic, Andrew Dykstra, Roger Espinoza, Tim Melia, James Musa, Ike Opara, Daniel Salloi, Colton Storm, Adrian Zendejas
Declined Options: Cameron Iwasa, Soni Mustivar, Kevin Oliveira, and Tyler Pasher
Out of Contract: Cameron Porter and Erik Palmer-Brown
Under Contract for 2018: 
Matt Besler, Latif Blessing, Gianluca Busio, Kevin Ellis, Benny Feilhaber, Gerso, Ilie, Jaylin Lindsey, Cristian Lobato, Jimmy Medranda, Diego Rubio, Soony Saad, Seth Sinovic, and Graham Zusi

Toronto FC
Exercised Options:  Alex BonoJustin Morrow, Jonathan Osorio, Jay Chapman, and Jordan Hamilton
Declined Options:  Mark Pais, Brandon AubreyOyvind AlsethSergio CamargoArmando CooperBenoit Cheyrou, Ben Spencer, and Tsubasa Endoh
Out of Contract: Drew Moor, Steven Beitashour, Eriq Zavaleta, and Jason Hernandez
Under Contract for 2018: 
Clint Irwin, Ashtone Morgan, Chris Mavinga, Nick Hagglund, Nicolas Hasler, Michael Bradley, Marky Delgado, Victor Vazquez, forwards Sebastian Giovinco, Jozy Altidore, and Tosaint Ricketts

Vancouver Whitecaps
Exercised Options: Sam Adekugbe, Marcel de Jong, Brett Levis, Jake Nerwinski, Tim Parker, Kendall Waston, and Tony Tchani
Declined Options: David Ousted, David Edgar, Cole Seiler, Sheanon Williams, Christian Bolaños, Marco Bustos, Nosa Igiebor, Matías Laba, Ben McKendry, Mauro Rosales, Russell Teibert, and Kyle Greig
Out of Contract: None
Under Contract for 2018: 
Stefan Marinović, Spencer Richey, Aaron Maund, Deybi Flores, Aly Ghazal, Alphonso Davies, Nicolás Mezquida, Yordy Reyna, Cristian Techera, Erik Hurtado, Bernie Ibini, and Brek Shea
Loan expired: Fredy Montero (Tianjin Teda)

The Seattle Sounders, and Toronto FC did not need to submit their moves today since they are still alive in the playoffs.

As for what happens to the players who are out of contract or had options declined, any that are over 28 years old and have eight or more years of service in MLS are eligible for free agency and can sign with any club they can. The rest are subject to the re-entry draft. The first stage of which takes place on December 15 at 3 p.m. eastern time. The second stage will be on December 21 at 2 p.m. eastern.

Comments

  1. I didn’t do a close comparison, but for players who played a fair amount of minutes, I think the Galaxy unloaded the most players of that type. Right now they have no GK’s, only 3 defensive backs, and their strikers are Zardes, who was used at RB at the end of the season, and a couple of young kids who still have to prove themselves.

    Reply
  2. Wow, proof of the “lost generation” right on this page:

    -Luis Gill
    -Josh Gatt
    -Jack McInerney
    -Jose Villarreal
    -Charlie Davies 🙁
    -Amobi Okugo
    -Dillon Powers
    -Marc Pelosi

    If you had told me six years ago that not ONE of these guys would be a star or even be able to hold down a job in MLS, I would’ve said you were crazy. Sad

    Reply
    • Luis Gil was a former Arsenal prospect. How times have changed.

      One should never turn down a chance like that to choose MLS. Chris Albright (Bayern Munich), Freddy Adu (Inter Milan), Gus Kartes (AC Milan) …

      If you are good enough at that age, go abroad. Worst case, you go to MLS a better player than before you left.

      Reply
      • the thing is, it’s very debatable that those guys were good enough in the first place. Kartes was a bust in Europe before he switched to MLS. The guy couldnt cut it anywhere.

  3. I guess DC United & Chicago didn’t have to announce their 2018 contract options….

    I think everyone expected a purge within the Galaxy. Their horrid performance this season warranted a house cleaning. Same with Salt Lake.
    Was a little surprised that Portland didn’t turn over more, considering the average age of their squad.
    Atlanta didn’t need to make many changes. They cut some dead weight and If they can secure the return of Asad & Garza they’ll be in a great position in their 2nd year.

    Otherwise not much to report. Most clubs declined options in the hopes of re-signing aging players at a reduced salary, or were cutting salaries/players who aren’t meeting expectations.

    Reply

Leave a Comment