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Minnesota United has made another splash in Major League Soccer’s 2019 secondary transfer window.
MNUFC announced the signing of Uruguayan midfielder Thomás Chacón from Danubio FC of Liga Profesional de Primera División in Uruguay, pending visa and ITC clearance. The 18-year old will occupy a Young Designated Player roster slot; to open that slot, the Loons used Targeted Allocation Money to buy Angelo Rodriguez’s contract below the budget maximum. Additionally, Minnesota traded $50,000 in General Allocation Money on Tuesday to D.C. United to obtain an international slot to accommodate Chacón’s roster eligibility.
“The club is continuing to evolve and grow in terms of the types of players we’re bringing in and certainly adding in our first Young [Designated Player], an 18-year-old, is exciting for us,” said Sporting Director Manny Lagos. “[Thomás] is going to bring a lot of youthful energy and it’s a big thing for the club to have a player of his quality and a player of his potential be a part of our family.”
While he’s a young player, Chacón has quite a bit of experience playing at a high level. He has 26 caps with Uruguay’s U-17 national team and 22 caps with their U-20 national team, including two at this summer’s U-20 World Cup. He also has 20 appearances for Danubio FC, with two goals in 1,110 minutes played.
“[We’re] obviously really excited about the signing. [Thomas] is a player we’ve been following for more than 18 months. Considering he’s only 18 years of age, we think he’s got an incredibly bright future. I’m really pleased that the club has decided to invest such a large amount in a young talent,” said Head Coach Adrian Heath. “We’re really excited about Thomas. He can play wide left, wide right, number 10 — number 10s cost a fortune in the modern game, we think we’ve got one for the future we’ll develop into being a top number 10. [He’s] coming from an unbelievable country where players play with this incredible desire to be successful and we’re really excited to have him.”
Chacón is the third player signed by the Loons this window, coming after Robin Lod, who was signed from Spanish Segunda club Sporting Gijon, and French fullback Will Moimbe-Tahrat, who was signed as a free agent after playing with Ligue 2 club AS Nancy-Lorraine.
The MLS secondary transfer window closes this evening, with clubs required to complete intra-league trades by August 8th and submit final 30-man rosters on August 30th.