Loons trade starting left back Chase Gasper to LA Galaxy
With the MLS primary transfer window closing Wednesday, Minnesota United traded starting left back Chase Gasper by the deadline to the Los Angeles Galaxy for general allocation money.
The Galaxy paid $450,000 in 2023 GAM for the Loons' starting left back in his first three MLS seasons. It also will pay a conditional $300,000 if certain performance metrics are met.
Gasper, 26, hasn't played in MLS action yet this season because of a concussion sustained in preseason and a month he spent voluntarily in the league's treatment program.
In a team statement, Loons coach Adrian Heath said, "We all feel a little bit of sadness really" about trading a "really popular guy" and "incredible professional." He also said, "Chase sees this as a new beginning and a new great opportunity ... I hope he's really, really successful."
Gasper in the same statement called himself "so grateful" for his time in Minnesota and thanked teammates, coaches, staff "and especially the fans."
"While this club, its fans and this city will hold a special place in my heart, I am really looking forward to a new beginning."
Gasper has started 60 of 63 MLS games played. Center back Bakaye Dibassy, DJ Taylor, Oniel Fisher and Kemar Lawrence have started at left back in his absence.
Lawrence, a two-time Supporters' Shield team member and 2018 MLS Best XI selection, supplied a veteran presence and recent play that allowed Loons management to trade the team's left-back starter his first three seasons in a trade mutually agreed upon between team and player.
The deal sends Gasper back to Los Angeles, where he played three seasons at UCLA and recently spent a month, starting in mid-March, at the Cliffside Malibu addiction treatment center.
Gasper also was in L.A. last weekend, when he accompanied his teammates for a game against Los Angeles FC but didn't play on his way back to full fitness.
After those three seasons at UCLA, Gasper transferred home to Maryland to be nearer his ailing father. Maryland, also featuring Gasper's future Loons teammate Dayne St. Clair, won the 2018 NCAA title.
Gasper, St. Clair and midfielder Hassani Dotson all are part of the Loons' productive 2019 draft class and all three received new multiyear contracts that began this season.
Also Wednesday, the Loons' MNUFC2 reserve team made Molik Kahn from Trinidad and Tobago its first international signing to an MLS NEXT Pro contract. It acquired Argentine midfielder Ignacio Gutierrez on loan from Velez-Sarsfield, the same club from which it acquired current Loons striker Luis Amarilla.
