Today, DC United acquired 62 year old Maine resident Stephen King. They hope that he can strike fear into the hearts of their opponents and provide some useful service to United.
Oh wait. DCU actually acquired 24-year old Stephen King, formerly of the Seattle Sounders, Chicago Fire, and the Maryland Terrapins. They gave up a 2nd draft pick in 2011 to acquire the midfielder.
He’s a fairly young player with some potential, and will hopefully provide some offense. He was part of a Maryland team that went to two Sweet Sixteens, the 2004 College Cup, and the 2005 National Championship. He ended his four year career with 30 goals and 33 assists; his 33 assists are second all time at Maryland and his 30 goals are 11th. He was first team All-American and first team All-ACC his senior year. He was called into camp for the US U-23 team, but never made an appearance for the full team.
He was drafted in the third round, 40th overall, by the Chicago Fire in 2008. He was selected in the fourth round of the expansion draft by Seattle at the end of the 2008 season. He scored two goals with the Fire, and scored 3 goals in six games in the US Open Cup for the Sounders.
It looks like he’s a central midfielder, which would make sense, because Onalfo wants someone besides Andy Najar in the attacking center mid role, in either the traditional DC United diamond or in the newer 4-2-3-1 we saw in the Open Cup. I think King will probably get more of the playing time to let Najar develop slowly, but we shall see. All in all, not a bad trade. You’re not going to get much better with a 2nd round draft pick.
Here’s an interview with King from December, along with some highlights from some of his goals. Its really the only Youtube video out there that I could find of him.
Before Extra Time 