Mikael Uhre flying to Philadelphia tomorrow; Sergio Santos in Chile to process green card

Mikael Uhre’s long awaited arrival is coming tomorrow.

The Denmark international striker is expected to arrive in Philadelphia on Friday, Philadelphia Union head coach Jim Curtin said in his weekly press conference on Thursday afternoon.

Uhre was acquired for a club record $2.8 million transfer fee from Brondby IF in Denmark last month but his arrival has been delayed by a slowed visa process.

“He’ll be in Philadelphia tomorrow, probably not in time for training,” Curtin said.

Uhre’s status for the season opener against Minnesota United at Subaru Park on Saturday remains uncertain but at the very least he’ll be able to take in his first game at his new home stadium.

Sergio Santos’s status is also up in the air for Saturday. He returned from the knock that kept him out of the Nashville preseason game at the beginning of the week but has gone home to Chile to finalize the green card process.

“He’s healthy,” Curtin said.

Cory Burke recently returned from finalizing his green card and has been training all week and offseason acquisition Julian Carranza is also available to start Saturday.

Assuming Santos returns with his green card, the Union will have even more roster flexibility. That would leave five international players on the roster with four available spots. Those five are Jesus Bueno, Stuart Findlay, Daniel Gazdag, Jose Martinez and Mikael Uhre.