FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The Lee Nguyen hold out at New England Revolution has ended. In a deadline deal for the MLS winter/spring transfer window, the Revolution dealt their longtime No. 10 to expansion side Los Angeles FC in a massive exchange of assets.
Lee Nguyen Joins Los Angeles FC in Massive MLS Transfer Deadline Trade
?TRADE ALERT?: #NERevs have traded midfielder Lee Nguyen to @LAFC for up to 950k in allocation money.
Complete details ⬇️https://t.co/7jucOOlmZG pic.twitter.com/fwITJya0Zb
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) May 2, 2018
Over the off-season, it was widely reported that Nguyen wanted out of New England. The organization went through a coaching change, a philosophy change, and was undergoing a metamorphosis (some would call it a rebuild). Winning now wasn’t a priority, Nguyen had been underpaid in his mind, and he wanted to go somewhere where one or both of those were possible.
As such, he held out during the preseason, only later joined the team in training, and has not played a minute for the Revs in 2018.
Now he’s on his way to Los Angles. As announced this evening by New England, LAFC get Nguyen in exchange for $350,000 in General Allocation Money and $350,000 in Targeted Allocation Money. With conditions built into the trade, that transfer fee could increase to $950,000 total. New England could also receive LAFC’s natural first-round pick in the 2019 or 2020 MLS SuperDraft depending on the performance conditions built into the trade.
Nguyen joined MLS in 2012. In league play with the Revs, he combined for 191 games played, 185 starts, 51 goals, and 49 assists in six seasons. He led the club to the 2014 MLS Cup Final and was an MVP candidate that year.
TRANSACTION: New England Revolution trade midfielder Lee Nguyen on May 1, 2018 to Los Angeles Football Club in exchange for $350,000 in General Allocation Money, $350,000 Targeted Allocation Money, and conditional compensation to be determined.
What it means:
This trade is on the seismic level of Dom Dwyer going to Orlando City SC. The Revs just got a bunch of cash and freed cap space that they can use in the summer to improve their team. On the other side, LAFC got maybe the one attacking piece they were missing on the attacking side. They have a goal scorer in Carlos Vela and several contributing wingers. Nguyen is the playmaker who can connect all the parts.
They might still be missing some bite at the defensive midfielder role. But one thing is for sure now. They’re going to score a bunch more goals. They were a contender for the playoffs before this move. With Nguyen and a few right moves in the summer, they can absolutely be a force in the Western Conference come October and November.
