BREAKING: Union Trade Daniel Gazdag to Columbus Crew
The Union dealt the club's all-time leading scorer to an Eastern Conference foe on Wednesday morning.
The Philadelphia Union have traded Daniel Gazdag to the Columbus Crew, according to Tom Bogert.
Gazdag leaves the Union as the club’s all-time leading scorer.
It’s a shocking trade on the surface, but when you break it down a bit more, it makes sense from inside the Union front office.
Gazdag’s contract was up at the end of the 2025 season. He had an option on the deal to stay in 2026, but he wanted a longer-term deal.
According to my sources, Gazdag was looking for somewhere in the $3 million range per year in his next deal with the Union.
Union sporting director Ernst Tanner is a notoriously tough negotiator, as you might remember from how the Kai Wagner saga played out in public a few years back.
According to the 2024 MLS roster salary database, Gazdag made a base salary of $1.6 million and had a guaranteed compensation of $1.75 million.
Understandably, Gazdag wanted a raise, but he wasn’t going to get anywhere close to $3 million with the Union.
Tanner typically plants his flag on negotiations and doesn’t budge much, and from his perspective, why would he pay a 29-year-old attacker around $3 million for multiple years.
That’s just not in Tanner’s DNA to spend that much money on a player of that profile.
Columbus was willing to give Gazdag a salary increase on a new contract, which is why the deal accelerated so fast.
The Crew, who recently sold Cucho Hernandez to Real Betis for eight figures, had extra money to work with to get the deal done.
The deal was made as a cash trade, Major League Soccer’s new acquisition mechanism. The fee has yet to be confirmed, but it is expected to be much higher than what the Union acquired from Houston for Jack McGlynn in preseason.
More details to come as the day unfolds.
Shocking but I read that he was not adjusting well to Carnell's offense which did not position him in the center. I hate to see us bolster a rival but if the Union do something with the cash, that could be good. Might this mean for playing time for Cavan Sullivan or giving Quinn Sullivan a chance to be our #10?
I have appreciated what Gazdag contributed earlier but he seems to have had an attitude of some kind last year and after a brief good start and a goal v Miami, not seemed in sync. I watched him with Hungarian national team too and saw similar: flashes but not sustained good play. Hope the best for him. Hope we can “do something” (a delco dad - not related to me - used to shout this at our kids’ games) with the money.