MINNESOTA UNITED | ANALYSIS

Minnesota United was already short of players in its central midfield, and now, the Loons must handle the potential loss of another.

The club picked up a contract option for Hassani Dotson at the beginning of the offseason, meaning that the 27-year-old midfielder is entering the final season of his deal — a situation that Dotson is clearly unhappy with.

Late last week, he sent a statement to GiveMeSport.com, registering his frustration: "After over 1 year and 2 months of back and forth with broken promises made by the club in multiple occasions, Hassani Dotson has formally requested to be traded from Minnesota United."

The club declined the opportunity to comment, beyond confirming that they had received the trade request from Dotson.

It's hardly a novel story. "[Player] is unhappy, demands to be traded" is a headline that could have been written just about any time in the past century, about any professional sport.

Dotson tore his ACL in 2022, limiting him to seven games, but otherwise has been a key player for the Loons since being drafted before the 2019 season. He's been especially valuable given that he's an American player, not requiring a special roster spot, who has been a standout at a premium position on the field.

Down the stretch last season, even as Minnesota settled marquee new players into the lineup, Dotson might have been the best player on the squad — a two-way force in the center of the field.

By the standards of MLS, Dotson's pay has been in the middle of the pack. According to the salary guides released by the MLS Players' Association, Dotson has averaged $507,500 in guaranteed compensation over the three years of the deal he signed in 2021.

If he wants out, though, it's not exactly a new situation for chief soccer officer Khaled El-Ahmad to handle. He's only been on the job for a little more than a year, but this is the third high-profile player who's asked to be moved.

It's impossible to speculate as to the motivations of Emanuel Reynoso, who went AWOL early last season and ended up being sold to Liga MX. But the case of Kervin Arriaga last summer seems more similar. The midfielder, who'd become an outside center back in midseason, had an opportunity to move to FK Partizan in Serbia — a big move to Europe, to be sure, but also a chance for a huge pay bump for Arriaga, who like Dotson was in the final year of his contract.

Arriaga did everything he could to force the move to happen. It had less to do with anything broken with MNUFC, and more to do with his personal situation. Dotson, meanwhile, seems unhappier with how he's been treated.

Chief soccer officer Khaled El-Ahmad has been clear, beginning with the Reynoso situation and continuing through the Arriaga saga, that he's not interested in keeping players who don't want to be with the team. Reynoso was the team's most talented player, and Minnesota was desperately short of players when Arriaga wanted out, but El-Ahmad still moved both on.

Doing so, though, would blow a hole through Minnesota's already thin midfield. The Loons are close to signing two young midfielders, in Jeong Ho-yeon and Owen Gene, but even if both signed today, the Loons would still seem shorthanded. And as talented as both might be, it would be hard for either to immediately replace Dotson, who's played 141 matches in MLS.

If the season began today, the Loons would likely have to replace Dotson by moving Robin Lod from wide forward to central midfield – which they've done before, but means playing an All-Star in a position other than his best position. And they'd still have no natural backups for either Lod or Wil Trapp in the center of the pitch.

Once again, Minnesota will have to make a difficult decision about what to do with an unhappy player. Unless Dotson and the Loons can mend that fence, we may have seen the last of one of Minnesota's longest-serving players.