Union snubs two European offers for Roland Alberg

If you happened to be watching the New York Red Bulls match the other night against D.C. United, MSG Network’s Kristian Dyer dropped some interesting news about the Philadelphia Union’s Roland Alberg and Ilsinho. Here’s the full video:

Dyer states that Roland Alberg had two offers from European teams that were turned down by the Union. He went on to say that Alberg’s contract is up at the end of the season and that there is the possibility the Union could exercise an option to extend it and that if the Union don’t, CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria are interested in picking him up.

Dyer also says that Ilsinho’s contract will automatically renew if he hits 75 percent of appearances, and that he’s currently on pace to hit 70 percent.

There’s a lot to unpack here. Its not clear who made the offers for Alberg or what they were, but it’s troubling that the Union didn’t accept an offer for a player that was effictively replaced by playing Ilsinho out of position and then by changing the formation to add Warren Creavalle as a central defensive midfielder. Now the prospect of getting anything in return for Alberg is dim, unless the Union re-sign him in the offseason and then try to flip him - a highly unlikely scenario, and one that would surely upset a fan base that has already added Alberg to the list of other Union big dollar flops.

It is, however, a bit comforting that Ilsinho is not on track to have his contract automatically renewed. While I’m not opposed to his return per se, the Union would need to significantly negotiate down his contract to make it financially feasible. His $470,000 salary is a lot for what amounts to a bench option.