Earlier today, DC United signed Ethan White to a homegrown player contract, taking him out of the pool for the SuperDraft; he was projected by many to be a first round pick and so locking him up now essential will net United two players with first round qualifications. A young true striker (Omar Salgado?) with the number three pick would create a nice young core for United to build on.
Random other thoughts:
- I might take Juan Pablo Angel with the first pick in the re-entry draft both as a proven goal scorer (even though he’s on the backside of his career) and as a mentor for our young attacking players. I think that the #3 pick, Najar, Pontius, ‘Tino, and the other attacking players could learn a lot, even if its just in practice, from JPA. A two year deal for low DP money might pay dividends.
- Conrad would be a good choice but he might hamper the development of Julius James and Dejan Jakovic (although, considering the state of the defense last year, that might be a good thing).
- At least one of ‘Tino, Pontius, Boskovic, McCarty, and Simms would have to sit in any formation that has 4 defenders, unless you want ‘Tino and Pontius to be our two strikers. Is it back to the 3-5-2? You could have James, Jakovic, and Zayner in the back; McCarty and Simms sitting in front of them; Najar, Boskovic, and Pontius/’Tino in the midfield; the other of Pontius/’Tino in the hole and JPA playing up top. That’s not too bad of a lineup.
Before Extra Time 