The Philadelphia Union announced the status of the current 2019 roster and implications for the 2020 season. The players’ contract statuses are broken down into the following categories: guaranteed contract, out of contract, and option available.

Guaranteed Contract:

Brenden Aaronson, Alejandro Bedoya, Andre Blake, Jack de Vries, Jack Elliott, Matt Freese, Raymon Gaddis, Kacper Przybylko, Sergio Santos, Cole Turner, Kai Wagner, Andrew Wooten

Out of Contract:

Aurelien Collin, Ilsinho, Haris Medunjanin, Jamiro Monteiro, Fafa Picault

Note that Fafa Picault is out of a contract. Sporting director Ernest Tanner mentioned changing up the Union’s base formation. If he goes forward with using a more narrow 4-4-2 diamond formation, there will be less of a need for wide attackers like Picault. Does this mean Picault will not be coming back? That would be a major bummer, as he played a pivotal role in the playoff win against the Red Bulls. Plus, he was the go-to starter when Kacper Przybylko went out with a left foot injury earlier in October. He also has a pretty hilarious happy dance when he scores, which we all saw and loved back in July.

Perhaps even more interesting are the players left with an option available including Marco Fabian, homegrown player Anthony Fontana, and Mark McKenzie. I’d hate to see any of those players leave the team, they are all great assets. Fontana is young and has so much potential coming up through the academy. I really hope they opt to keep him on the team.

Option Available:

RJ Allen, Joe Bendik, Cory Burke, Warren Creavalle, Marco Fabian, Anthony Fontana, Olivier Mbaizo, Mark McKenzie, Michee Ngalina, Matt Real, Auston Trusty

All clubs will report contract decisions for 2020 to the league later in November, at which time final decisions will be publicly announced by the club.

Watch the full press release:

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