Less than a week left in the summer transfer window:
- It's been rumored for a while and hasn't been made official, but it's almost certain that Dallas winger Fabian Castillo has been sold to Trabzonspor. The fee is said to be $4m, which I think is a bargain for him. That's a huge loss for FCD, especially midseason when there's less time to find a replacement and less time for a replacement to adjust. I suspect that Castillo just decided that he wanted out, perhaps even with encouragement from Colombia, who rarely give serious looks to MLS players.
- A couple of teams have brought back old faces. Seattle signed Alvaro Fernandez, who has spent the last few years at Gimnasia La Plata in Argentina since leaving Chicago in 2013. He'll give them some width, at least, but at age 30 he feels like another stopgap.
- Likewise, central midfielder Hernan Bernardello returns to Montreal after stints at Cruz Azul, Newell's Old Boys, and Deportivo Alavés. They cleared out Eric Alexander to make room for him last week.
- The Fabian Espindola trade took a strange turn when he refused to play for the Whitecaps. Vancouver subsequently sold him to Necaxa.
- In a big blow for Portland, Nat Borchers ruptured his achilles and is out for the season. At age 35, he might be done. His immediate replacement at CB would likely be either Jermaine Taylor or Amobi Okugo, but the Timbers are rumored to be signing Steven Taylor.
- RSL has taken 19 year old Paraguayan forward Pedro Báez on loan from Cerro Porteño
- Philly made their first academy signing in a long time, inking central midfielder Derrick Jones to a homegrown contract. He had been on a USL deal with their second team, Bethlehem Steel. Philly's academy seems to be on the rise; having Bethlehem around to give minutes to guys like Jones and others is a big help.
- Tally Hall, who was a solid starter at GK in the league for a number of years,
is retiring to become a cop. He had multiple knee injuries and never really recovered his form. Chris Rolfe, another DC player, is also facing a possible retirement after
some bad concussion issues.