FC Cincinnati on Wednesday announced several 2020 roster decisions in a story posted on its website. Among the decisions are the declination of options for five players, including 2018 USL MVP Emmanuel Ledesma and franchise originals Corben Bone and Jimmy McLaughlin.
In the story, the club said it is currently in contract negotiations with Ledesma and McLaughlin. FC Cincinnati also confirmed it will not bring back Justin Hoyte and Roland Lamah.
“It is never easy to make decisions that affect your players personally at the end of the season,” general manager Gerard Nijkamp said in the story. “We had to take an evaluative approach after this season and really look hard at who we believe will fit into our system going forward. There were some very tough decisions to be made, but ultimately our goal is (to) put an improved product on the field in 2020.
“We have a lot of guaranteed contracts next year, so that factored into our decision-making process. As the offseason continues, there will be additional changes and additions. There are a couple of players we are in continued discussions with about their futures at FC Cincinnati, and we know those decisions will also have an impact on our 2020 roster.”
Wednesday’s roster announcements fell into four categories — players with guaranteed contracts for 2020, players out of contract, players with options the club picked up and players with options the club declined.
Nazmi Albadawi, on loan with North Carolina FC, and Victor Ulloa are out of contract.
Players who had their options declined or are out of contract can be selected by another team in the re-entry draft.
“We wanted to make these decisions for next year known now so that players who will not be back with us next year gain time to find a new playing situation for 2020,” Nijkamp said in the story. “When we begin our three weeks of postseason training next week, we anticipate having those players who could be back with us next year out on the field.”
Sixteen players have guaranteed contracts for next year, according to the club: goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton; defenders Mathieu Deplagne, Greg Garza, Andrew Gutman, Alvas Powell, Maikel van der Werff and Kendall Waston; midfielders Fatai Alashe, Frankie Amaya, Leonardo Bertone, Allan Cruz, Joseph-Claude Gyau and Caleb Stanko; and forwards Fanendo Adi, Kekuta Manneh and Darren Mattocks.
These players can still be moved in the offseason.
The club announced it will pick up the option on at least six players: goalkeepers Jimmy Hague, Ben Lundt and Spencer Richey; defender Nick Hagglund; midfielder Tommy McCabe; and forward Rashawn Dally.
The contract status of players on loan or loaned out will be made in the coming weeks before the MLS deadline, according to the story. Defenders Logan Gdula, Forrest Lasso and Hassan Ndam are loaned out, and midfielder Derrick Etienne Jr. is on loan from the New York Red Bulls.
FC Cincinnati must submit its list of up to 12 players to protect from the expansion draft to the league by Nov. 15. Inter Miami CF and Nashville SC will participate in the expansion draft on Nov. 19. No more than one player per team can be lost via the expansion draft.
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