A little off the top: Union lost team barber in Rosenberry trade

News of Keegan Rosenberry’s trade to the Colorado Rapids last month came as a shock to the Philadelphia Union fanbase, but it also hit home with several of his teammates who have come to count on him for more than just his skills on the field.

“I think that came as a shock to all of us but you know it’s a business and we trust what’s going on,” captain Alejandro Bedoya said of the Rosenberry trade after training on Tuesday. “He was one of my better friends on the team and a great guy in the locker room and you know we lost our barber.”

Rosenberry was dealt to the Rapids for $150,000 in general allocation money in 2019 and $50,000 in targeted allocation money with as much as an additional $100,000 coming in 2020 depending on performance metrics. The news came on the heels of his call-up to the United States Men’s National Team for January camp, his first since he was called in to a camp after he was a Rookie of the Year finalist in 2016.

“Keegan and I spoke on the phone, it’s a hard conversation,” head coach Jim Curtin said of the trade earlier this week. “It’s tough because it’s a relationship dating back to the academy days. These are hard things that have to happen for teams...but I think it will work out for both sides to be good.”

The Lancaster native, who graduated from Lancaster Mennonite High School and played for Penn Fusion Academy and the Union Academy in high school, started cutting hair while at Georgetown University because the player who previously cut hair for the team had graduated.

He gained enough of a reputation for his skills that the team ran a “Cuts by Keegs” fan drawing in 2016.