On the final day before the start of Major League Soccer’ssummer transfer window, D.C. United's front office is already hard at work.
The transfer period exposes a new talent pool for MLS teams to explore, and D.C. is no different. On Tuesday the club brought in apair of trialists for an extended look. Defender Xavier Thomas joined United on trial after most recentlyplaying for Levadiakos of the Greek first division. Thomas is joined in the evaluation process by anotherdefender in Gienir Garcia, a Mexican player who was selected by Montreal duringthis year’s supplemental draft only to be released by the Impact in late May.
So, despite the fact that the club sits in first place,United’s technical staff continues its due diligence. But do the new faces add to the sense of competition in D.C.’salready intense training sessions?
“Not really,” answered Brandon McDonald. “You can’t really worry about whatother people are doing. You haveto worry about yourself and take care of your abilities and do what you need todo on the field.”
Veteran Robbie Russell sees things from a slightly differentperspective.
“It’s up to the guys who are on this squad to keep theirspots,” Russell noted. “[We] haveto let the [trialists] know that we’ve been here a little bit and we areintegrated into the group ... if they bring something to the team, then I’m allfor having them out here.”
