Trading away Bernardo Anor and Josh Williams – two of Columbus Crew SC’s longest-tenured players – may not have been Gregg Berhalter’s first choice, but the head coach and sporting director said the moves were necessary ahead of Wednesday’s Expansion Draft.
And now armed with even more allocation money and two big holes to fill, Berhalter said some new faces will soon be arriving.
“Obviously we just lost two quality players, and we need to replace them,” Berhalter said. “So I would certainly expect some signings.”
Though Berhalter said he’s pleased with the undisclosed amount of funds Crew SC received from the two transactions, he made it clear that the decisions were made begrudgingly.
“These moves were necessary; we had to make these moves because of the Expansion Draft,” he said. “And I think we’re in a comfortable place now, but it came at the expense of two players that we highly rated. That’s just the nature of this Expansion Draft.”
Berhalter said the amount of transfer funds gained in sending Williams to New York City FC was more than if they lost him in the Expansion Draft. When asked if an agreement that NYCFC wouldn’t select a Columbus player in the draft was part of the deal, Berhalter said he was “not at liberty” to comment on that.
The Anor trade to Sporting Kansas City came together a bit differently.
Just a week after re-signing the Venezuelan to a new deal, Berhalter said the club would have been required to protect him in the Expansion Draft. And with several wing options on the roster, it was clear that Anor was a useful trade piece.
“We knew we had depth at that position, and we wanted to put one of our players in a position where he was going to be comfortable and send him to a good organization,” Berhalter said. “As we were looking at the depth and the salary cap, we thought this was a move that made sense for everyone involved.”
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How will Crew SC spend their growing stack of allocation funds? Berhalter isn’t tipping his hat just yet.
“We’ve amassed a nice chunk of allocation that we’re going to use wisely,” he said. “Whether that be in one player or numerous players, we’ll judge that when the time comes. But we’re certainly in position to use this money.”
