Transfers: Philadelphia Union Sells Richard Odada to Dundee United: Impact on Roster and Future Signings
After an uneventful tenure in Philadelphia, Richard Odada's sale opens up roster flexibility for the Union.
Chester, PA— Philadelphia Union announced on Saturday, July 28th that they have sold Richard Odada to Scottish Premiership side Dundee United for an undisclosed fee.
The Union paid a reported fee of $217,166 to Serbian side Red Star Belgrade in the summer of 2022 for Odada. He never made a single appearance for the club, though he was on the bench 10 times. During his time in Philadelphia, he made 10 appearances (all starts) for Union II from 2022-2023, playing 641 minutes.
This past February, Odada gave an interview with Pulse Sports Kenya and opened up on his difficulties during his time with Philadelphia Union and his displeasure playing with Union II, which eventually led to his loan to Aalborg.
“It was not a good experience because you wake up, train hard and at the end of the day, you do not make a difference.
“Growing up as a player, the dream was to play regularly. Playing in the Next Pro was like featuring in friendly matches because I felt I was good enough to play higher.
“Sometimes they would bench me but never play me and it never make sense, which is why I decided to look for another option that would build me as a player because I do not want to make regrets and make excuses, which is why I went to AaB on loan as they were offering me regular senior football.”
The Union loaned Richard Odada to Danish Superliga side Aalborg BK on August 23, 2023, through June 30, 2024. Aalborg had the option to make the loan permanent at the end of the season, but the club declined, which sent Odada back to Philadelphia Union.
Odada, 23, made 22 appearances (nine starts) for Aalborg during the 23/24 season, scoring four goals and registering one assist in 834 minutes.
Transferring Odada now opens up a second international roster slot for the Union and allows the club to bring in another international player if they so choose. Teams start the season with eight international roster slots but have the option to trade for more or trade away slots if they so choose. The Union and Nashville SC agreed to a deal in April that saw the Union trade away one international slot for 2024 and one for 2025 in return for $350k in GAM (General Allocation Money). With that trade, the Union only had seven international roster slots in 2024 unless they chose to trade for more. With Richard Odada and Joaquin Torres both out on loan, the Union had two slots opened, but once Odada returned to the club, he went back to taking up a slot.
On Friday, the Philadelphia Union released their latest episode of their podcast “The DOOP”, hosted by Sage Hurley. In that episode, Union Sporting Director Ernst Tanner joined Hurley and Vice President of Season Ticket & Premium Sales and Services, Mark Evans and discussed how the Union are close to finalizing another deal. Listening to the whole podcast, that player ISN’T Sam Adeniran—Ernst made mention of the deal to bring Adeniran to the club earlier in the podcast.
“Yeah, there will be definitely another player coming in,” said Tanner.
“But like I said before, we need to see a little bit how we can fit everything in our CSP charge. As the summer window is not the real window where you can go out [and buy players], but we are having rule changes in place, which will be confirmed very likely soon, also publicly, and that allows us also to do further investments, but at the same time we need to see what we have as well, you know, and see that we piece and fit everything together. But transfer windows are here usually to do changes.”
Those roster rules have been announced by MLS now, and the rules that are going to be most intriguing to Union fans are new roster construction flexibility. There are two roster construction models that MLS has introduced that teams must summit before the start of the season. Since these rules were changed midseason, teams must have their pathway announced by August 14th.
Option 1:
Designated Player
Designated Player
Designated Player
U22 Initiative Player
U22 Initiative Player
U22 Initiative Player
Option 2:
Designated Player
Designated Player
U22 Initiative Player
U22 Initiative Player
U22 Initiative Player
U22 Initiative Player
+ $2M in added GAM
The Union currently only have two Designated Players in Mikael Uhre and Dániel Gazdag, while Olwethu Mahkanya is their lone U22 Initiative Player.
Hurley later asked Tanner about newly appointed Director of Scouting Chris Zitterbart, and how Tanner has changed the whole scouting model since promoting former Director of Scouting Jon Scheer to Head of The Academy, and bringing Zitterbart over from the Colorado Rapids. Tanner mentioned that Zitterbart was recently over in Europe, and that doesn’t necessarily mean that the player Tanner was hinting at is an international player, DP, or U22 Initiative Player, but with international roster slots, DP, and U22 Initiative spots opened, it makes you wonder if, in fact, the Union’s next signing will be an international player.
Video Credit: Philadelphia Union
Thanks for that link to the Pulse Sports Kenya interview. Very interesting!