
In Trading Jack McGlynn, the Union Did Exactly What They Told Us They Were Going to Do
The Philadelphia Union traded one of their brightest young players on Monday, officially, sending United States international midfielder Jack McGlynn to the Houston Dynamo. Here’s part of the press release:
Philadelphia Union announced that they have acquired a guaranteed $2,100,000, as well as a significant future sell on and trade percentage, from Houston Dynamo in exchange for midfielder Jack McGlynn. The club may acquire an additional $1,300,000 if certain performances metrics are met. The transaction marks the first Homegrown cash trade transaction to be completed since being established earlier this year.
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“We want to thank Jack for his dedication and contributions to the team, both on and off the field,” said Philadelphia Union Sporting Director, Ernst Tanner. “Over the past three years, he has been a key part of our midfield, and we are incredibly proud of his growth. At this time, we believe this move is best for both the club and for Jack, allowing us to use the significant proceeds to reinvest and refine our roster, while placing him in an environment suited to his style of play and continued development. We have no doubt he’ll enjoy a successful career, and we look forward to following his journey.”
My emphasis in bold, and it’s the Union telling us the main reason they did this. McGlynn is not a fit for the Red Bull brand of soccer they’re trying to play. Even without a press conference quote, if you’ve followed anything that Ernst Tanner and Bradley Carnell have said in recent months, you figured McGlynn’s days were numbered, and the trigger pull was going to happen sooner rather than later, considering his age and market value.
Jack is equipped with a brilliant left foot and has the best passing chops we’ve seen since Haris Medunjanin wore the kit. He creates chances, can score from distance, and sprays the ball around the field. But McGlynn is slow, he is a not a box-to-box player in the diamond or a flat 4-4-2, and he doesn’t defend well, especially in frenetic transition. He is a classic ball-moving 8 who is best-suited to a central position with coverage from a rangy 6. Think of the classic 4-2-3-1 where you put a hard-nosed defensive guy next to a string puller. Javier Mascherano + Xabi Alonso at Liverpool, or even Brian Carroll and Vince Nogueira 10 years ago. That’s the type of setup where someone like McGlynn can thrive.
As Carnell said in his first press conference, he doesn’t place a lot of value in possession. They’re going to score most of their goals in transition or on set pieces. They’re going to press and turn teams over and look to immediately attack. Ball-moving 8s don’t really fit the system.
Which begs the question of rigidity. If you have a talent like McGlynn, can you build around him instead? Yeah, sure. There were times back in 2018, pre-Tanner, when the group of Medunjanin, Borek Dockal, Alejandro Bedoya, and Ilsinho would start knocking the ball around beautifully, which made the Union look like Barcelona for about 10 minutes during the second half of every game. But this front office has made it clear to us that they’re going with the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” routine, and that involves bringing through a bunch of academy kids and European and South American moneyball signings to run 17 miles a game and create chaos on the field. It worked before, right? It got them to MLS Cup, and should have won it for them. So I guess they think the system and the philosophy is fine, which makes outlier talents like McGlynn expendable.
Say what you will about the Philadelphia Union, and the decision making and spending, or lack thereof, but you can’t say they haven’t been honest about it. That’s the benefit of having an emotionless German at the helm. Pragmatic Europeans actually tell you things. Earnie Stewart had a little bit of that in him. And you don’t have to like the Union plan, but at least they have one, and we know what it is.