Philadelphia Union trades first round draft pick with D.C. United to move up in allocation order

MLS Draft Day won’t include any picks for the Philadelphia Union for the third year in a row.

The Union announced less than an hour before the annual MLS SuperDraft began that they had traded their only pick of the first two rounds (No. 21) to D.C. United in exchange for moving up from No. 21 to No. 17 in the allocation order.

In addition to moving up in the allocation order, the Union will receive up to $50k in general allocation money based on performance metrics of the player D.C. United ends up selecting.

The allocation process determines how clubs can acquire specific U.S. Senior National Team players, youth National Team players and former MLS players. The Union previously traded for the top spot in the allocation ranking in order to bring Alejandro Bedoya to Philadelphia.

The Union previously traded their second round pick to the Columbus Crew to acquire goalkeeper Joe Bendik but still have the No. 73 pick in the third round and Nos. 99 and 101 in the fourth round of the draft, which will be conducted via conference call on January 13.

The Union last drafted a player in the first two rounds in 2017 when they selected Marcus Epps and Aaron Jones in the second round. Their last first round selections were all top six picks in 2016 when they drafted Josh Yaro, Keegan Rosenberry and Fabian Herbers.