INDIANAPOLIS — Clubs were in no mood to take a break from the wheeling and dealing at Thursday's MLS SuperDraft, even in the midst of the proceedings, with a number of teams shaking things up with in-draft trades.
The most-talked about swap came Wednesday though, as the New England Revolution traded up with Toronto FC to secure the top pick, which they used on Louisville defender Andrew Farrell.
Farrell, a first-team NSCAA All-American and Big East Defensive Player of the Year in his final college season, was projected by many as a first round pick even before New England traded up, and should be ready to contribute from the get-go for Jay Heaps' side.
Chivas USA were the only team in the Top 5 to pick with their natural selection, with the Goats keeping true to their word and using the No. 2 pick on University of Connecticut playmaker Carlos Alvarez, whose father played professionally for Chivas de Guadalajara.
Toronto were by no means done trading after Wednesday's deal with New England, trading their new No. 4 pick to Vancouver for their No. 10 pick, and then going down again, sending that pick to Seattle for the No. 16. Still, the Reds managed to secure a pair of talented young Canadians in the first round, selecting Toronto-area natives Kyle Bekker at No. 3 and Emery Welshman at No. 16.
Who went where? Check out MLSsoccer.com's draft tracker!
Vancouver's various trades landed them not only the No. 4 pick, but a No. 5 pick as well, thanks to a summer trade with the Philadelphia Union. The 'Caps picked up 18-year-old Gambian standout Kekuta Manneh with the fourth pick before picking up Santa Clara speedster Erik Hurtado with their fifth selection.
Colorado also had two picks in the first round, picking up forward Deshorn Brown at No. 6 before landing much-discussed Notre Dame midfielder Dillon Powers at No. 11. Powers' Notre Dame teammate Ryan Finley was selected at No. 9 by the Columbus Crew to boost that team's goalscoring capabilities.
Both Furman University defender Walker Zimmerman and Indiana forward Eriq Zavaleta were projected as top 5 picks, but took longer to come off the board – Zimmerman fell to FC Dallas at No. 7, while Zavaleta landed at No. 10 with the Seattle Sounders.
