Philadelphia Union Outline Offseason Plans For Alejandro Bedoya, Kai Wagner Contract Offers, More

Head coach Jim Curtin and sporting director Ernst Tanner met the media for their end-of-season news conference on Monday.

CHESTER — The Philadelphia Union extended contract offers to Alejandro Bedoya and Kai Wagner.

Bedoya and Wagner, who both could become free agents this offseason, are the two biggest out-of-contract question marks for the Union as they plan for the 2024 campaign.

Union manager Jim Curtin and sporting director detailed their talks about Bedoya and Wagner’s situations during Monday’s end-of-season press conference.

Curtin admitted there was some not-so-great communication when it came to the start of Bedoya’s contract discussions that have now been resolved.

“I think we can talk openly on that now. We’ve talked internally and we made some mistakes in communication,” Curtin said. “All of us made mistakes in communication. Now we have an opportunity to rectify those. We have to find a solution that is best for Alejandro that makes sense for him, the club, his family. That’s our hope.”

“Nothing done or finished or anything like that, but I think we all know what he’s brought to the club and how he helps the young players develop. Helping and declaring the new role for Alejandro moving forward, whatever it might be, has to be a fit,” Curtin continued.

The Union face a conundrum in offering Bedoya a reduced role, but one that does not disrespect the club captain going into the 2024 season.

“I value and respect Alejandro as a player and a person and I still think we’re in a good spot to do the right thing and have Alejandro be a part of the Union and wear this jersey and only this jersey,” Curtin said.

“That’s something we discussed internally and something we have to discuss. I’ll talk with Alejandro about that. He’s still in good shape and because of his soccer IQ and brain and ability to stay fit, he still contributes in a big way for the group. Exactly what those parameters will be we’ll see and discuss and probably keep internal and not give our opponents any outside influence to see what our plan is going to be. He’s going to be helping in that development role,” Curtin said.

Tanner doubled down on Curtin’s approach to the Bedoya situation.

“Nobody doubts about what Ale Bedoya has done for the club. We also need to see where we are going in the future,” Tanner said. “We are basically thinking in cycles and the future cycle for the next five years is definitely too long for a player that is 36, turning 37 years of age, that’s clear.”

“But at the same time there are possibilities and we need to see what kind of role we can foresee for him,” Tanner continued. “I think the discussions are going on so far and it has nothing to do with any comments. I don’t read the internet and I’m not present in social media so I’m not interested in that. I’m just interested in what is good for the club, the team and the players and that’s how we act.”

As for Wagner, the Union made a competitive offer to retain the left-back’s services.

Tanner did not reveal the deadline date for Wagner to accept or decline the deal, but mentioned it was soon.

“There is an offer out for him and it was very much appreciated what we offered. There is no decision until that. I’m just waiting for the feedback. I won’t tell you the deadline, but it will be soon,” Tanner said. “The question is for Kai is whether he wants to seek the challenge in Europe or if we wants to stay here and pursue his career in MLS. That’s what he needs to decide.”

Tanner said the club has full support of Wagner despite the suspension he was given for using a racial slur in the direction of the New England Revolution’s Bobby Wood.

“The whole thing got reported a little bit different than it was,” Tanner said. “Honestly I needed to learn that there is no sport jurisdiction as I know it from over in Europe. In no league is there a way the aggressor gets away with nothing. That’s happened here.”

“As I’m German and I know exactly who said what to whom. I can judge that even better probably. It would never happen in any other league in the world, but we need to respect the decision. Kai was very insightful and I think he handled everything very professionally. He is regretting everything and doing a fantastic job with the psychologist who is helping him to get over that. We stand for Kai. It’s his decision if he wants to stay here or go abroad and I have a full understanding for him.”

Loan Update

The Union have some decisions to make with on-loan players as well.

Andres Perea will return to the Union from his loan spell at New York City FC. There is no buy option in the deal for NYCFC.

That means the Union are free to accept offers from around Major League Soccer for the 23-year-old midfielder, if they want to move on from the player.

“We had a really crowded midfield,” Curtin said. “We didn’t anticipate things like losing Leon and we had a few international call-ups, we had some suspensions at tough times. Andres early on was the odd man out because Bueno took a huge step forward. That was just a numbers game.”

“Andres is a great player. That’s why we brought him here. Two things can be true. His style of play maybe suits a New York City FC where it’s ball possession and keeping the ball whereas we’re focused more on quick ball wins and quick transitions. It can be a combination of both. We’ll find a solution for Andres that makes sense for both teams,” Curtin continued.

“The boss here (Tanner) will decide what’s best for Andres moving forward, but it still works out for Andres because he played good minutes and got time and he got better as a young player. We’ll make a decision as to what’s best for us moving forward, but I would say that one is up the air,” Curtin said.

Brandan Craig is back from his unsuccessful loan at Austin FC. He will be the fourth center-back on the 2024 Union roster barring any changes.

Richard Odada is playing well at AaB Aalborg and his loan does not expire until next summer.

Jose Riasco, a 19-year-old Venezuelan who is under contract with Union II, is on loan at Boston River in Argentina until the end of 2023.

Tanner is working to get a first-team deal done for Riasco, but that process is more difficult than a normal deal because another MLS club holds his discovery rights.

“He is doing very good at Boston River right now,” Tanner said. “He just needs to play first-team minutes and develop further on. He is just 19 years of age and the second team was not really the place where he wanted to be. We are also in discussions with the league to make it happen to bring him back for the first team.”

One New Signing For 2024

The Union signed midfielder Sanders Ngabo from Lyngby in the Danish top flight two weeks ago.

The 19-year-old was viewed as a promising prospect and the Union will aim to get the best out of that potential in preseason and beyond.

“Sanders Ngabo was a really promising talent and then he got stuck with a hernia or groin injury and his club was fighting for relegation and promotion and that was basically his problem,” Tanner said. “He didn’t get the minutes, but he is still 19 years of age. There was an opportunity to bring him over and develop him further on. We had to take it. We are the club who needs to do that and needs to show we are No. 1 in player development.”

Lessons Learned From Busy 2023

Curtin and Tanner both reflected on the busy 2023 schedule and how it should better prepare the Union for another crowded slate in 2024.

“I want to emphasize the density of games,” Tanner said. “If you exclude FIFA windows and when we didn’t play games, we played 49 games in seven months. Everybody can calculate how many games per month that is. That is something which is just too much. We need to acknowledge that more in the future in our roster building and the scheduling of the games and how we deal with that.”

“Players were mentioning that it was too much, and it looks to me, that nobody is listening to that,” Tanner continued.

Jakob Glesnes and Leon Flach both were forced to have sports hernia surgeries and a handful of muscle injuries piled up throughout the season across the squad.

Curtin acknowledged he has to take a better approach to managing the minutes in 2024 for the Union to win as many games as possible.

“Finding that balance is something I have to do a better job of and I think I will moving forward,” Curtin said. “All the games are important in development and the players have to feel that I’m not putting them out there because we’re not even going for this game. You have to avoid that as well. There has to still be a good core of guys attacking these different competitions and games.”

Curtin played out a hypothetical situation that the Union could face in 2024 and how he would manage it differently.

“I’ll say it this way too. If we play Orlando in Orlando in July and have to play on Wednesday in Vancouver and then come back and play DC. We almost have to map out our season once it comes out. That Vancouver game, being a Western Conference game sandwiched between, not saying it’s less important because we always want points, but I have to do a better job and lay out which ones we target. Mapping that our a little clearer is something we’ll be working on. We’ll have a blueprint going into the season. There has to be strategy because when you go all out for 50, you see what happens to teams by the end of the year.”

“It is hard. It’s tough for me to say we’re ever going to concede, but as an example right off the bat. Say we draw a team in the Champions League early on in the competition, still darn important games and we want to advance in Champions League, but if we’re not playing Tigres in round one or a really difficult team, but if it is a little bit of a lesser team, maybe that is an area to trust the younger guys and throw them out there knowing Week 1 in MLS it’s important to get off to a good start.”

One player Curtin admitted that he mismanaged in 2023 was Joaquin Torres, who played 345 minutes in MLS this season.

“With Joaquin, and I said this to him, I didn’t do a good enough job,” Curtin said. “I didn’t get him on the field enough. Maybe it was playing with two 10s. We didn’t play with wingers a lot. We would get on a good run of form. His talent is still his talent. It’s the same talent Ernst and I saw to bring him here to be a 1v1 guy. It just didn’t work out how we hoped and we’re actively trying to find a solution that makes the most sense for Joaquin. I do respect him as a player. He’s an unbelievable individual talent. Everything doesn’t work out perfectly and I’ll put my hand up and say I could’ve done a better job.”

Roster Comings and Goings

Joe Bendik and Anton Sorenson will not return to the club. Bendik is out of contract and Sorenson had his option declined.

The Union will look outside the club for a backup goalkeeper for Andre Blake.

Tanner mentioned that Union II striker David Vazquez is one of a few Homegrown players the first team is working to sign.

Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union.