The Union released their list of 2025 roster decisions on Tuesday afternoon:

  • Option Exercised: Isaiah LeFlore, Mikael Uhre (automatically exercised)
  • Options Declined: Jamir Berdecio, Brandon Craig, Jack Elliott, Matthew Real, Joaquin Torres
  • Players out of contract: Sam Adeniran, Alejandro Bedoya, Leon Flach
  • In on-going negotiations: Alejandro Bedoya, Brandan Craig, Jack Elliott

It’s a typical late-year Union press release. They move on from some fringe players, negotiate with vets, and exercise a few options.

Some random thoughts following media availability with sporting director Ernst Tanner:

Leon Flach

Tanner said the team wanted to re-sign Flach, who had family needs overseas and that’s why he’s moving on.

Flach started 33 of 34 games for the 2022 team that scored 72 goals, conceded 26, and went to MLS Cup. He scored the game winner against FC Cincinnati to send the Union to the Eastern Conference final.


Leon is one of the biggest “what if” players in Philadelphia Union history. What if he developed a semblance of an attacking game? He was absolutely brilliant on the other end, probably the best defensive transition player to ever wear the uniform. The things he could do to win back the ball and protect the flank and put out fires were matched only by prime Alejandro Bedoya and maybe 2016 Warren Creavalle. Flach was tailor-made for that box-to-box #8 position on the left side of the diamond, and his ability to run for days and press and move really opened things up for Kai Wagner while giving Jose Martinez an extra bit of cushion at the same time.

He was so frustrating offensively, because he’d win the ball in these brilliant retreat movements, run it forward with directness, and then lose it. He really never developed much in the attacking third, outside of that inside channel run that you started to see a bit later on. Interesting enough, Tanner noted in the end-of-season press conference that development of young players is not restricted to homegrowns, and did say when I asked him that Flach is one of the players that thought could be applied to. Unfortunately, Flach dealt with injury issues after 2022, and the emergence of Jack McGlynn and other personnel shuffling saw him either coming off the bench or playing the #6 position, which was not his best spot. He leaves Philly at age 23 in a move that was a bit surprising to me, but the family issues are what they are. You always have to account for personal situations.

Alejandro Bedoya

This one surprised me because I thought with Curtin gone that Tanner would surely move on from Bedoya. I was told straight up that Bedoya’s status was a point of contention between the former head coach and sporting director, but apparently it is not. I asked Tanner on Wednesday if it was counterintuitive to bring back Bedoya based on this line from the end-of-season presser:

“we had a little bit of dispute with our team in particular with all the players as I’m always hearing the young ones are not ready to play.. I tell you I don’t know if they are ready to play because we didn’t try it.”

Tanner said that they value Bedoya as a veteran and that the young players need veterans to learn from. He also noted that Bedoya has a secondary role as Player Development and Front Office Specialist, which presumably factors in to how they view his on-roster role.

Sam Adeniran

Did he even play here? Seven matches, zero goals. An Andrew Wooten-esque cup of Union coffee.

Mikael Uhre

There was some transfer scuttlebutt about Uhre, which has seemed to subside. He had some nice moments this year after looking sluggish at times in 2023. I still think he’s best used when they can play him in space and get him running on to the ball, ala Sebastien Le Toux. He’ got a very Le Touxsian skill set, reminiscent of when Peter Nowak used him as a solo striker in a 4-5-1 back in 2011. If the new Union manager gets away from the diamond, that might be an option, but it leaves out Tai Baribo, who needs to be second on the team sheet after Andre Blake. I’m just not sure how you best use Uhre and Baribo together.

Jack Elliott

Tanner noted that a contract extension was offered to Elliott, who turned it down in pursuit of more money. We’ll see where it goes from here.

Elliott was better than Jakob Glesnes in 2024, which isn’t saying too much because Glesnes really had a rough year. Jack’s been a stalwart on this team for a long time. He turns 30 in August and still has a couple more years in him, but they absolutely need a stud CB1 to join this team and start a new three-CB rotation. Glesnes and Elliott have played a lot of games in recent years, spelled by Damion Lowe at times, but also thrown into these three-man backlines as well. My hope is that the new manager sticks with a flat backline and that these guys shake off a poor season. An aberration, we hope.