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In a trade announced Tuesday, Minnesota United have acquired midfielder/defender Raheem Edwards from the Chicago Fire in exchange for defender Wyatt Omsberg.
Edwards two seasons at Chicago were marred in injury, only seeing action in 17 games (four appearances in 2019), but his experience and work ethic is what attracted Head Coach Adrian Heath to pursue the 24-year-old.
“We are adding another player with quality, top-rate work ethic and someone who is an experienced and versatile athlete,” Loons head coach Adrian Heath said in a club statement.
“As we looked at our roster this offseason we knew we needed to add players on the left of the pitch, and in particular at left-back. Raheem will be critical throughout the middle and end of our season with so many matches; Leagues Cup, U.S. Open Cup, players on international duty, as well as the Olympics. He knows the league well and he knows how to win, we saw that from him in his time in Toronto.” (source: MNUFC)
Edwards joined the league in 2016 with Toronto FC then after spending two seasons there and was selected by Los Angeles FC in the 2017 MLS Expansion Draft. He was then immediately traded with fellow expansion draftee Jukka Raitala to Montreal Impact on exchange for defender Laurent Ciman.
Chicago immediately gets depth in the backline with the pickup of Omsberg who has played sparingly on the first team with United, only appearing in 7 games in 2018.
Omsberg made four appearances on loan with the Tulsa Roughnecks in 2018 and made 15 appearances (15 starts) with USL League One side Forward Madison FC in 2019.