Most Kansas City fans probably didn't expect Guadeloupe midfielder Stephane Auvray to play another game for the Wizards ever after he had basically disappeared from training almost 2 months ago. Today that became official as Sporting KC traded the midfielder to the New York Red Bulls. In return, Kansas City get the Red Bulls second round pick in 2013. For a player that was likely gone for nothing at the end of the season, this is actually a good trade for KC.
While people may feel we could have gotten more, I'm not so sure. Auvray hadn't done much this year to warrant more of a price tag at this time. Sure he was solid last year, but this year his play hadn't been as good, and he'd found his spot on the team not where he probably thought it should be. With the emergence of Roger Espinoza and even Julio Cesar in midfield, along with Craig Rocastle and even Davy Arnaud that can play more of the withdrawn midfield roll. People saw that he didn't have much of a roll in the team, which likely reduced his value. Add in the fact that Auvray was also making $170,000 against the cap. That's another thing that's going to knock his value down.
In the end, with Auvray's role in KC gone, KC went and was able to get something for nothing in this deal, so overall I'm happy with this move. Auvray finishes his career with KC with 27 appearances, 24 starts, and getting just over 2000 minutes in league play. Good luck to him, except when it comes to KC's success.
Come on. This has absolutely nothing to do with Auvray's play. There was something going on off of the field that people have hinted at, but no one has been bold enough to actually disclose.
ReplyDeleteWe do have some depth in midfield, now. But, the fact that Cesar was getting starts is proof enough that it wasn't THAT deep.