Jim Curtin believes Alejandro Bedoya will be back with the Union soon

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Alejandro Bedoya’s return to the Union isn’t official yet. It’s not even unofficial yet, the kind of unofficial where he’d sneak away to do the social media videos and photos that come with a player announcement.

But Union manager Jim Curtin believes his longtime captain will be back soon, and doesn’t mind saying so out loud.

“I think we did the right thing at the end of the day,” Curtin told The Inquirer in an interview Tuesday night, before his team played Austin FC to a 1-1 tie in a preseason scrimmage.

“To have your captain, your leader, and the guy that will be probably, along with Andre [Blake], the next guy to hang in those rafters next to Mr. [Sébastien] Le Toux,” Curtin said, “that’s what I think, and I think that we did the right thing — eventually.”

That last word hung heavily over the conversation. The 36-year-old Bedoya’s Union tenure was in danger of coming to a fractious end last year, in part because of a terse exchange he had with sporting director Ernst Tanner at an early-autumn practice. His future was uncertain at the time, and in Tanner’s eyes, that didn’t help.

Once the season ended, the waters calmed, and, in early December, Curtin and Tanner said the team was in talks with Bedoya about a new contract. Those talks are ongoing, and the last stages often are the hardest. If the deal gets over the line, it’s expected to be for one year.

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Bedoya has passed the time at home, including snow-shoveling duty during the recent storms.

The Union have passed the time by giving it to other players. Quinn Sullivan and academy products C.J. Olney, Nick Pariano, and Frankie Westfield (an unsigned prospect who might go to Penn State) have played Bedoya’s right midfield role in the two preseason games.

Sullivan has been perhaps the standout attacking player of the two games, and Olney is the latest notable prospect to know.

Now add in Jack McGlynn’s ability to play in that spot, Jesús Bueno’s versatility, and Leon Flach, once he recovers from his latest injury. Perhaps also Danish newcomer Sanders Ngabo, who has shown a spark in his minutes so far, though he’s played on the left side and is likely to spend more time this year with the reserves.

You get the idea: the Union have a lot of players who can play Bedoya’s position. And if the Union are to survive another 50-plus-game schedule and contend for a championship, they will need them to.

That’s one of the biggest points of contention in the team’s negotiations with Bedoya. He’s doubtless going to reduce his salary given he will turn 37 in late April, but reducing his playing time could matter even more.

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Curtin revealed his view when he said firmly that Bedoya “can still do it” after playing 2,766 minutes over 39 games last year. Along the way, Bedoya missed two long stretches with quadriceps injuries, one suffered in mid-May and one in late July.

So it was time to ask Curtin once again: will this be the year when he plays all those other players more?

“We have to,” he answered. “Whatever is next in his career, look, he still wants to win a trophy here in Philadelphia, there’s no question about that. He’s the most competitive guy we have. But I do think now he is starting to transition into whatever is next, and we have to, as a club, be supportive of that.”

Perhaps that will be in coaching or the front office. Or in the business world, which Bedoya has already started to venture into.

Until then, whatever his role will be on the field, Curtin is certain of what it will be off the field.

“I don’t set foot in the players’ locker room in our training complex; I let them have their space,” he said. “When I’m not in there, he’s the guy that keeps the guys going together. So in a lot of ways he, without knowing it, has already been a coach. And he’s been teaching, and has been invaluable for me.”

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Tommy Wilson, the mastermind of the Union’s youth academy since it became a full-time operation 11 years ago, has departed to become Charlotte FC’s technical director — a high-ranking job in the team’s front office.

Wilson has shepherded almost every big homegrown name in Union history through the team’s pipeline: Brenden and Paxten Aaronson, Quinn and Cavan Sullivan, Mark McKenzie, Auston Trusty, McGlynn, and more.

Charlotte is loaded with money, thanks to shared ownership with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers under billionaire David Tepper. But the 2022 expansion team has had two volatile seasons, finishing ninth in the Eastern Conference both times and barely reaching the playoffs last year.

New manager Dean Smith, formerly of England’s Aston Villa, Norwich City, and Leicester City, already is the third head coach hired by sporting director Zoran Krneta, a former agent. Krneta surely will hope Wilson brings Charlotte the kind of stability he brought the Union.

“The opportunity Zoran presented to work across all technical aspects of the club is something I’ve wanted since I broke into coaching,” Wilson said in a statement. “It was a privilege to work at the Philadelphia Union and I’m extremely grateful to the leadership and all the players and staff I’ve worked with, but the position in Charlotte was an opportunity I was eager to embrace.”

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