Jakob Glesnes’ remarkable turnaround this year earned him a new contract from the Union

At the end of last season, Jakob Glesnes’ stock at centerback had fallen so far that the Union likely would have gotten rid of him if there were any takers. But there were none because they all saw the same thing.

This year, Glesnes has rebounded so far that the Union gave him a new multiyear contract, guaranteed through 2027 with a team option for 2028.

It’s a remarkable turnaround, and the Norway native is pretty sure he knows the cause. Last year, he wasn’t fully recovered from the sports hernia injury that derailed the latter stages of his 2023 campaign. This year, he is pain-free.

“It was a tough year,” Glesnes said after Tuesday’s practice in Chester. “It’s fun now, when you play without pain and you don’t have to eat pills to get through every training and every game. Now to feel like I’m in my 20s again instead of late 30s, it’s a good feeling as well. So I think that’s a huge part of it.”

It’s also remarkable that the Union have given a big new deal to a 31-year-old. Sporting director Ernst Tanner doesn’t do that often for veterans. Glesnes knows that as well as anyone, having watched good friend Dániel Gazdag get shipped out at age 29 in April.

Tanner was out of town Tuesday — it happens in the world’s game, especially with the transfer window closing Thursday. So he wasn’t around to give details beyond a statement in the Union’s announcement.

» READ MORE: Bad things arrived in threes as Bradley Carnell and the Union were humbled by rival New York

“Jakob has been a reliable presence and an essential piece of our backline that has contributed to the team’s success, earning well-deserved individual recognition along the way,” Tanner said. “His dedication to our style of play has been vital to the team’s success and his emergence as a leader has made a significant impact. We’re happy to have come to an agreement to keep him in Philadelphia for the years ahead.”

This year was the last of Glesnes’ previous deal, with a team option for 2026. Talks had gone on for a while, and he’ll presumably get a raise from his current salary of $1,238,125. That sum is paid down with Targeted Allocation Money in MLS’s complex cap system, and that will remain his status in his new deal.

“I’d been going back and forth because of the contract situation that I already had,” Glesnes said. “But in the end, I’m really happy that it’s done, and that we have agreed to a deal.”

His family also is happy, calling Philadelphia a true home.

“I have two kids now that have been growing up here in Philadelphia and spent most of the time of their lives so far here,” he said. “This is their home for the moment. So we are enjoying every moment here, and we’re going to keep doing that.”

» READ MORE: Alejandro Bedoya takes the Union’s Open Cup run personally, wanting a final trophy in his career

Glesnes is in his sixth season after arriving from Norwegian club Strømsgodset in January 2020. He has played 212 games for the club since then. Along with being one of the team’s iron men, he’s third in the Union’s hierarchy for the captain’s armband behind Andre Blake and Alejandro Bedoya.

That leadership role matters a lot to him, just like his three All-Star selections — 2022, ’23, and this year — and MLS’s 2022 Defender of the Year Award.

“First of all, it’s an honor to wear a captain’s band for a big club like this,” Glesnes said. “But I hope everyone that doesn’t have the band around the arm is a leader as well, because we need everyone out [there] to push each other. We are a young team, we have a lot of young guys coming up, and I think everyone has showed it this year as well — it’s the next-up mentality every time people are getting the chance.”

From there, he said, “you need people like the older guys to step up maybe give small advices, but they’re learning in the game as well.”

» READ MORE: Three young Union prospects had a game to remember against Eintracht Frankfurt

On that point, will the risk-reward style of Glesnes’ game change in his 30s? He knows how many times he got caught upfield last year when the Union gave the ball away and he couldn’t run back fast enough to prevent goals — often game-deciding goals, too.

He has dialed that back some this year, as he did late last year after it bit the team too many times. He also has benefited from Olwethu Makhanya’s growth next to him, and from manager Bradley Carnell’s tactical switch to playing two defensive midfielders. Danley Jean Jacques and Jovan Lukić also have big engines and can cover ground when Glesnes gets forward.

The Union aren’t going to change their overall philosophy of playing a high defensive line as part of their counter-pressing system. Glesnes offered a reminder of that, too, as he addressed his role.

“The way we are playing now, we are defending really forward-minded,” he said. “So it will happen when they are playing, and you are trying to step forward and the ball is going over you — that probably happen at times again, and that’s just a part of the game. But the benefit of defending forward is giving us more opportunity again to win the ball, and win the ball higher on the field, and that’s what the coaches here want us to do.”

The next chance to show that will be Saturday, when the Union host the Chicago Fire. It will be the first game back at Subaru Park for Glesnes’ former longtime centerback partner, Jack Elliott. But more important, it will come with the Union in a bit of a rut: an ugly 1-1 tie at home against Toronto FC on Aug. 9 and a 1-0 loss at the New York Red Bulls this past Saturday (with Glesnes suspended because of yellow card accumulation).

» READ MORE: Indiana Vassilev knew the Union had themselves to blame for not beating Toronto

Those results cost the Union first place in the Eastern Conference and the Supporters’ Shield race. They are still in good shape overall, second in the East and contending for the Shield, U.S. Open Cup, and MLS Cup. But standings rivals FC Cincinnati and San Diego FC have relatively easy schedules down the stretch.

As the pressure grows on the Union to deliver a trophy this year, Glesnes knows the team needs to get back on track fast.

“The hunger is there — everyone wants to win, and you can feel it in the room today,” Glesnes said. “It is different after a loss, but also, the last home game as well felt like a loss when we conceded a goal late [against Toronto]. So the boys are really hungry now for more, and I think we have showed it over the whole year now that we are motivated for all these three trophies that are in front of us.”