Philadelphia Union Loan Brandan Craig to Austin FC

The Philadelphia Union’s first move of the MLS summer transfer window was a surprising one.

Homegrown center back Brandan Craig was loaned to Austin FC for the rest of the 2023 regular season.

The Union received Austin’s natural third-round pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft, plus up to $125,000 in general allocation money if certain performance incentives are reached.

“Brandan Craig is a great young player that we have produced from our academy,” Curtin said. “We feel as a club that we need to find creative ways to get him minutes. We happen to have, I think, three of the best center backs in the league and that’s no slight on Brandan.”

There is no mention of a buy clause for Austin, so this seems like a move strictly to get Craig playing time at the MLS level. Curtin was not aware of any clause to buy when I asked him on Thursday.

I’m sure Jim Curtin and Ernst Tanner had plenty of time to think about what is best for Craig in 2023.

Jack Elliott and Jakob Glesnes aren’t going anywhere, and Damion Lowe will slot back into the starting lineup once he returns from the Concacaf Gold Cup with Jamaica.

Craig’s most likely path to minutes would be due to an injury to one of the three center backs, and that seems unlikely given the track records of those players, especially with Elliott and Glesnes in their time with the Union.

The Union can probably recall Craig from his loan if the situation becomes dire on the depth chart, but we hope it doesn’t get to that point.

The Gold Cup ends on July 16, so the Union think they can get by with Elliott and Glesnes, albeit a risky move, for the next three MLS regular-season matches against LA Galaxy, Nashville SC and New York City FC.

Lowe would be back for the start of the Leagues Cup, and if any rotation tweaks are needed, Curtin can move Kai Wagner or Nathan Harriel inside in a back three, like he has done on a few occasions this season.

As for Craig, he is off to an Austin squad that sits eighth in the Western Conference with a -3 goal differential. Austin has conceded the second-most goals of any West team in playoff positions.

Austin manager Josh Wolff played with Curtin during their time with the Chicago Fire in 2001 and 2002, so the Union are sending Craig to a manager they trust, which goes along with the theme of Homegrown sales abroad. This is just an in-league loan, but the theme holds.

“He needs to experience MLS minutes,” Curtin said. “There’s obviously a good relationship with Austin. Josh is a coach I played with as a player. He’s a great coach. In some ways, you’d say Austin is a team that plays more with the ball. It’s a good fit. I think it will be great for Brandan in his development. He’ll still have to go there and earn his minutes, of course, but just the logjam with the way our guys tend to stay healthy, knock on wood, as well and perform well. It’s a great opportunity for him to grow. We still believe in him very much here. We want him to get more MLS minutes. That’s not a slight on Union II, or anything like that, but it is a step up and step forward in his growth and development.”

Curtin mentioned on Thursday that he is familiar with new Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell, whose most-recent job was at Manchester City.

“If you look at Josh and the way his team builds and plays out of the back, you look at who is the sporting director there. Rodolfo is a guy I’ve had contact with before in my coaching career, and he is guy coming from Manchester City that likes to play with the ball too. Don’t get me wrong. Brandan is still a center back and defender, but his elite quality is his passing through the lines so it’s a great fit in the way, philosophically, that Austin wants to play,” Curtin said.

Craig needs playing time to bank off the success of his time with the United States at the U-20 World Cup.

It’s a rare move for the Union to send a player on an in-league loan, but the loan makes sense for all parties, and hopefully it ends with Craig earning minutes and developing further before 2023 comes to an end.