Union Trade Jack McGlynn to Houston Dynamo

The Union received a $2 million fee from the Dynamo in exchange for the Homegrown midfielder.

The Philadelphia Union have traded midfielder Jack McGlynn to the Houston Dynamo.

The fee is over $2 million in cash plus bonuses and there’s a 50 percent sell-on fee, per The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jonathan Tannenwald.

The move came as a shock to the fan base, but if you dig past the surface level, it at least makes sense why the Union would move on from McGlynn at this specific time.

For years, McGlynn’s been the topic of an overseas transfer, but unfortunately, that did not materialize.

Last month, I reported that interest from the Dutch Eredivisie waned in McGlynn.

My best guess is that a few things were in play with moving McGlynn.

First of all, the $2 million+ price reported by Tannenwald is probably right in the range that the Union would’ve fetched from Europe for McGlynn.

We were never talking about massive numbers here, and if any type of interest, and a larger transfer fee that comes with it, faded away in the recent months, an internal move within MLS made the most sense.

The 50 percent sell-on fee is important here, because if McGlynn does improve his all-around game in Houston, the Union can benefit from that down the line.

But at minimum, there’s $2 million+ of cash coming and I’d assume the bonuses are performance-based, like many transfers within MLS that the Union have been a part of during the Ernst Tanner era.

Secondly, and probably most importantly, McGlynn might not have had a consistent spot in Bradley Carnell’s starting lineup once the Union acclimated to the coach’s style of play.

McGlynn is excellent on the ball, but his one key weakness is on the defensive side of the ball.

McGlynn would be stuck in the middle of a midfield depth chart with a clear No. 10 in Daniel Gazdag, a playmaking phenom in Cavan Sullivan, who needs to play more in 2025, and two clearly defensive-minded midfielders in Danley Jean Jacques and Jesus Bueno.

Alejandro Bedoya and Quinn Sullivan fit the attacking mold as well, and if Bedoya and one of the Sullivan brothers are coming off the bench and adding a heavy two-way work rate on the flanks and in the middle, that squeezes out McGlynn’s skill set.

A quick aside: I talked to Bedoya at Friday’s training about Carnell’s system before I knew about the McGlynn trade. That will be posted on Monday and will hopefully provide more insight into how the Union will look in 2025.

There’s a large set of the fan base that would break the pitchforks out if Bedoya was chosen over McGlynn, so I get that argument, but if you’re looking for a two-way shuttler off the bench for 15-20 minutes, you’re opting for Bedoya or a Sullivan brother over McGlynn in that situation.

There’s also an element in play of knowing when to sell at the right time, and this is what Tanner had to weigh while discussing this move.

You could make an argument that McGlynn’s stock is the highest it will be. He’s coming off a solid January camp with the United States men’s national team, is a proven playmaker and is coming off the best offensive season of his young career.

By the way, absolutely no one bats an eye at this transaction if a European club came in and bought McGlynn for around the same fee.

It’s the shock value of it being a trade within MLS that caught everyone off guard, but given how little the Union see Western Conference sides nowadays, they traded McGlynn to a spot where 1) (and most importantly) he can continue to develop, but 2) where he doesn’t haunt the Union year after year within MLS play.