As the Union announce end-of-year roster moves, they haven’t closed the door to Mikael Uhre yet
The Union picked up Tai Baribo's 2026 contract options and both of Olwethu Makhanya's future options. They also signed Indiana Vassilev to a new deal.
Life often moves fast in MLS, especially once teams get knocked out of the playoffs. That’s been the case for the Union this week, as they had just three days after Sunday’s season-ending loss to make their end-of-year roster moves.
Most already were in the works before the weekend — and before sporting director Ernst Tanner was put on administrative leave last week amid an investigation into alleged misconduct.
Still, Wednesday’s announcement from the club served as a milestone.
The Union bid farewell to a quartet of little-used backups in goalkeeper Oliver Semmle, defender Isaiah LeFlore (who was injured for a long time), academy-bred midfielder Nick Pariano, and former Drexel striker Chris Donovan.
All four players had 2026 contract options declined.
Two players had options picked up, to no surprise: defender Nathan Harriel and striker Tai Baribo. That sets the stage for talks on new contracts with both.
Earlier this month, Israel’s Ynet news website reported that the Union offered Baribo a $2 million contract. It remains to be seen if that proves true, or, if so, whether he’ll take it.
» READ MORE: Have your say on the Union's big offseason decisions with our Stay or Go interactive
The major news item was that the Union have not sent Mikael Uhre packing just yet. It was expected that they would, as he’s out of contract, but the announcement said the team is “in on-going negotiations” with him.
Presumably, the team would like its joint No. 3 all-time scorer to take a big pay cut. Uhre has scored 43 goals in 155 games over four seasons in Chester, tied with former running mate Julián Carranza. The Denmark native also has 28 assists.
Uhre has always been the first to say he knows he should have scored more, and some fans preferred to focus on what he didn’t do over what he did. They also were influenced by the fact that his $2.8 million transfer fee was the team’s record until Bruno Damiani broke it last winter.
Some people in the Union’s front office shared the negative view. Uhre would have been cast off after last season had his performance not automatically triggered his contract option for this year.
» READ MORE: The Union finish another season short of the biggest title, and now big questions loom
His defensive pressing efforts also didn’t always satisfy manager Bradley Carnell, which is part of why his playing time fell this year: from 2,667 minutes over 41 games last year to 1,542 minutes over 35 games this year. Though the Union weren’t in the Leagues Cup or Concacaf Champions Cup this year, the lighter schedule can’t solely account for a drop that substantial.
Other fans appreciated the breadth of Uhre’s skill set, from his runs that pulled defenses apart to an underrated cutback move on the ball. And they would not reject a player who hit double digits in scoring in each of his first three years here. This season was the first in which he didn’t, tallying six goals — though he made up for that with eight assists.
Three other players are out of contract, and the Union said they’re in talks with all of them: third-string goalkeeper George Marks, former captain Alejandro Bedoya, and veteran midfielder Ben Bender.
Bedoya, 38, also had a role in the front office this year and has become an ambassador for soccer around town. He presumably will be allowed some of his own say in when he hangs up his cleats, though he knows as well as anyone that the time is coming.
» READ MORE: The Union put Ernst Tanner on leave as MLS reopens an investigation into alleged misconduct
The Union’s announcement did not say who is conducting the negotiations while Tanner is on leave. Nor did it say whether there will be an end-of-year news conference, though one is expected.
Other key figures in the front office include assistant sporting director Matt Ratajczak, scouting director Chris Zitterbart, and academy director Jon Scheer.
As for the players whom the Union are keeping, the club announced Tuesday that it agreed to a new contract with midfielder Indiana Vassilev. He was one of Carnell’s first signings, having previously played for the manager in St. Louis, and the 24-year-old showed why with his work rate. Early on, that didn’t produce goal contributions, but it did by the end of the year.
On Wednesday morning, a few hours before the full announcement of roster decisions, the Union announced they had picked up centerback Olwethu Makhanya’s contract options for 2026 and ’27.
The 21-year-old impressively stepped into a starting role this year. If he starts next year equally well, there might be calls to get him into South Africa’s national team. Much of the Bafana Bafana roster plays in their country’s domestic league, not in Europe, and there has been some interest in seeing how Makhanya would do for his country.
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