The Union’s trade of Dániel Gazdag isn’t done yet, but Bradley Carnell has to focus on what’s next
"The players have been ultra-professional, and they know the nature of the industry," Carnell said as everyone waited for the deal to get over the line. It will net the Union at least $4 million.
Although the Union’s trade of Dániel Gazdag to the Columbus Crew hasn’t become official yet, he was on the field at the Crew’s practice late Thursday morning.
This naturally left Union manager Bradley Carnell in an awkward position when he walked into his weekly lunchtime news conference at Subaru Park. Everyone in the room knew the deal was coming, but Carnell couldn’t talk about it directly.
At least he did indirectly, and he said enough to get the necessary points across.
“At the end of the day, it’s professional football, and coaches, players, staff members, they are rotating,” Carnell said. “One thing that will always be there is the club. The players have been ultraprofessional, and they know the nature of the industry, especially within America and understand everything that goes with it. Those conversations, obviously we’ve had [them], have all been very professional — also very discreet.”
A few hours after Carnell spoke, the biggest piece of the detail got out. Columbus agreed to pay the Union $4 million in cash, plus up to $500,000 in performance incentive bonuses. That’s a serious amount of money for a 29-year-old who was in the last guaranteed year of his contract, with a team option for 2026. It certainly swayed some fans’ opinions on social media when the number was published.
Gazdag’s salary last year was just under $1.8 million. Anyone could rightly guess that he and his agent had started looking for a new deal and that they wanted more than the Union were willing to pay.
For as much as Gazdag’s team-record 72 goals will be missed, his veteran presence in the locker room will be, too. The Union put a lot of focus on their young players, but it’s still good to have some old heads on the field to show youngsters the ropes — and make big plays in games.
» READ MORE: Union in talks to trade star midfielder Dániel Gazdag to the Columbus Crew
“There’s leaders by doing and leaders by talking, and I think we have a good balance of what’s in that locker room,” Carnell said. “Listen, we’re just talking about cohesiveness, collectiveness, and in our game model, connectedness. I think that’s what we have right now, and just because there might be a missing body in and around the training environment. … We were nine men down just two, three weeks ago, and we coped just fine.”
That was a reference to the many Union players who missed the March 22 game against St. Louis that was during a FIFA national team window. The Union won that game, 1-0, but that doesn’t mean everyone should want to replicate that every week.
Carnell praised Indiana Vassilev’s contributions to the season so far, mainly as a substitute. That was no surprise, since the manager recruited the midfielder here after coaching him in St. Louis in past years. It was another signal that Vassilev likely will take Gazdag’s starting spot, with Quinn Sullivan as the other attacking midfielder in Carnell’s box-shaped 4-4-2 setup.
Carnell also praised Sullivan quite a bit when asked how much the midfielder’s role will grow. Sullivan has started the season playing well, and although he has no goals and just three assists, that’s far from the whole story.
“I knew about Quinn coming in, but I didn’t really know the Quinn that I’m getting to experience on a day-to-day basis,” Carnell said. “I just think in terms of being humble, grounded, hardworking — everything that is the signature of a Philadelphia kid, for me, Quinn is that. He’s tough as nails, he has some great work ethic, he has good energy. He’s like a dynamo, lasts the whole game.”
Carnell cited Sullivan’s versatility, joining a long line of coaches who have. He also praised the 21-year-old for being “a real role model for the young players.”
And notably, Carnell put it on himself to get more out of Sullivan at the attacking end.
“Now we’re just trying to develop him into final plays,” he said. “He’s been great in terms of assists, and can we get him more dangerous? Can we get more shots off, and can we get more goals under his tally? That’s some of the things that we’re trying to work on, to be a little bit more goal-threatening.”
» READ MORE: Amid the hype over Cavan, the Union’s Quinn Sullivan continues to make a name for himself
Then there’s the matter of those young players: CJ Olney, David Vazquez, and, above all, teen phenom Cavan Sullivan. Their odds of first-team playing time obviously improve with Gazdag’s departure.
Carnell at first described Cavan Sullivan as “on our roster, still eligible, still vying for minutes, and there’s a lot of competition.” But he wasn’t in as talkative of a mood at that moment as he became over the course of his session. By the time a question came up about Olney and Vazquez, he felt like saying more.
“Whether they’re playing at Union II [the reserve team], or whether they’re training with us and being in competition to make game-day rosters, I think they’ve done exceptionally well,” Carnell said. “Guys put their head down, do what’s needed just to be a good teammate. Every one of those guys is committed to what we’re trying to do … I can’t ask for more as a coach.”