Philadelphia Union head coach Jim Curtin won’t say who they are, but there are a couple of top players in Thursday’s MLS SuperDraft that he has his eye on.
And with the Union holding a pair of second-round picks but no first-round selection, he might try to make a trade to snag one of them.
“I’ll be blunt: there’s two guys that we are debating moving up for,” Curtin said. “But if the price gets too high to move up, we won’t do it. It’s as simple as that.”
Curtin added there are “different variables” that will come into play, whether that means trading a player, sending allocation money or packaging their two second-rounders – the 31st and 41st overall picks – for one first-rounder.
And when asked if trying to make a deal with a team like Toronto FC or Sporting Kansas City – both of whom have a cluster of first-round picks – Curtin admitted that would be a “possibility.”
“There’s a lot of chatter about teams trading picks all the way through the first round,” he said. “It’s a unique one. There are good players but there are probably only so many picks you’d want in the first round. Those are teams we targeted to possibly move up and if we think it’s worth it, we’ll put a package together. We’re not going to overpay for the sake of moving up, though, unless it makes sense.”
While second-round picks tend to have a steeper hill to climb in terms of making an MLS roster, the Union are comfortable with their position Thursday and certainly don’t regret trading the 10th overall pick to Sporting Kansas City last month for C.J. Sapong, a player they have big plans for in 2015.
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And even if they don’t make a move up the draft board, they’re cautiously optimistic they can find a contributor for next year’s squad, perhaps at a position of need like left back.
“I would just say that in the second round you’re looking to find the role-player types,” Curtin said. “We know that a lot of second-round picks haven’t worked out for a lot of clubs in MLS. There’s still a niche for the college player but more and more players are going through the academy route and Generation adidas.
"The talent may be a little watered-down, but there’s still a lot of value to be had in the second round. There are some players that we have targeted that we think can have strong careers in MLS.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
