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Union Selling Two All-Stars After a Trophy-Winning Season Just the Latest Example of Ernst Tanner’s Ruthless German Pragmatism
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Following reports that leading goalscorer Tai Baribo is close to a move to D.C. United, the Philadelphia Union went official with the sale of Jakob Glesnes to LA Galaxy:
If Baribo is indeed sold for the reported $4 million dollar amount, it means the Union will have moved on from two of their three All-Stars following a trophy-winning season. Baribo scored 16 goals and Glesnes was named to the MLS Best XI in a rebound year that resembled the 2022 season in which he was named MLS Defender of the Year.
For a cross-sport equivalent, this would be like the Flyers winning the Presidents’ Trophy and then trading Travis Sanheim after a top-pair, All-Star year. But in this analogy, Sanheim is 31 years old and still has some value left, so you bring back assets for the player while you still can, then reinvest in youth.
It’s resulted in this constant Union churn that sees talented players come and go on a yearly basis. In less than 11 months, the team has sold U.S. international Jack McGlynn, franchise leading-goal scorer Daniel Gazdag, 3x All-Star Glesnes, and likely the leading goal scorer from this past season in Baribo.
The other thing that happened in those 11 months is that the Union won 20 games, logged 66 points, and lifted only the second trophy in franchise history.
So we know what it is at this point. Nobody should be naive or caught off guard.
Sporting Director Ernst Tanner, currently on leave as MLS investigates allegations of racist, sexist, and homophobic behavior, has never had an issue selling his best players in order to return value and keep the Red Bull machine going. This is a system with interchangeable parts and every talented veteran can be replaced rather easily by a plug-and-play 22-year-old from whatever random team is out there. Case in point, getting Jovan Lukic from Spartak Subotica and Kai Wagner from the German third division. Tanner gets it right pretty much every time, and even if the reopened-investigation costs him his job, the next player-personnel executive will be handed a clear blueprint that interfaces perfectly with thrifty ownership. Plus, most of the offseason moves that have happened since the playoff exit were decided months ago, before Tanner was placed on leave.
The sucky side effect of ruthless German pragmatism is that fan favorites depart with relatively little fanfare. Or, in the case of McGlynn, skilled players who don’t fit the system are shipped off for blue collar grinders instead. In Glesnes’ case, he had been with the Union for six seasons and is arguably the best center back, nay, best defender the team has ever had. His rebound season resulted in a trophy and his reward was being unceremoniously dumped for a few million, though Southern California is not the worst landing spot in the world.
Still, the fact that everybody on this team is replaceable leaves a bit of sour taste among a fan base that builds connections to the players and buys their jerseys. But if that’s the tradeoff for winning 20 games and a trophy, then so be it. Maybe the four majors in Philadelphia could benefit from this emotionless and effective strategy.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com