11 big questions facing the Union this offseason following their playoff exit

This isn’t the biggest long-term question, but it’s the biggest one right now. Bedoya played this year on a one-year contract. Manager Jim Curtin wants his captain back, and his players launched a social media campaign this week to show that they do, too.

Will that be enough to sway sporting director Ernst Tanner into making a decision he might not want to? And how much of a reduction in salary and playing time — the latter of which could be more important — will Bedoya accept?

Jesús Bueno and Leon Flach are waiting in the wings, and Quinn Sullivan is waiting for a move back to midfield. If Bedoya returns and plays a lot next year, it will keep them all out.

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The bet is he will be, but it won’t be certain until the buyer’s check clears — and even when that happens, it won’t be so simple.

Inter Miami will get a sizable sell-on fee, having surrendered him for just $500,000 up front as part of sanctions for breaking MLS roster rules. Carranza’s previous club, Argentina’s Banfield, could also be in line for a piece of the pie. The Union’s eventual profit won’t be close to all of the transfer fee that’s announced.

But however much the team gets, as much of it as possible must be put into signing a new marquee striker. Carranza has 33 goals and 20 assists in 80 Union games, ranking fifth on the team’s all-time scoring chart.

His mix of lethality and creativity is unlike any other player the Union have had, and it would help to replace him with someone who can complement Mikael Uhre’s size and speed instead of copying it.

» READ MORE: Julián Carranza stayed focused on scoring goals, not European transfer rumors

It’s a fact that Kai Wagner won’t be the opening day starter next year, because that will be the last game of his suspension for racist language in the playoff opener. But Tanner was already inclined to let Wagner go this winter, so the suspension was probably the last straw.

Expect Tanner to go sign someone from abroad, and expect the bar for that player to be high. Wagner was the Union’s top chance creator over the last few years, between his crosses from the left wing and his great free kicks and corner kicks.

» READ MORE: Were these playoffs win or bust for the Union? Not when a busting might be coming no matter what.

It was Joe Bendik again this year, but he was only on a one-year deal. The Union finally have some good prospects at the position in the pipeline, from academy products Brooks Thompson and Andrew Rick to last winter’s first-round draft pick, Holden Trent.

Bendik is 34, which isn’t too old for a goalkeeper, but there have been rumblings that he might not return. Blake will be gone for a while with Jamaica during the Copa América, and that might be time to give one of the prospects a chance.

There’s no question that he’s a marquee centerback prospect, but Damion Lowe played so well that Craig couldn’t get on the field. The Union loaned the Morrell Park native to Austin FC in July, expecting that he’d play there, but Austin FC made another signing and Craig didn’t play a second.

Lowe will join Blake at the Copa América, which should open playing time, and the Union should want to play Craig on principle. If that happens enough before late summer, he might get one last shot at going to the Olympics.

» READ MORE: The Union didn't expect Brandan Craig's loan to go so badly

Surely the answer here is yes. He got just 150 minutes over six games this year, went away often to Israel’s national team, and had to deal with the mental toll of moving to a new country. A few months later, war broke out in his homeland.

The last of those items is beyond a lot of people’s control, but hopefully he’ll have some time this winter to settle down. Baribo, 25, had 16 goals in 32 games last season in the Austrian Bundesliga for Wolfsberger before joining the Union. There’s a long history of summer signings from abroad not taking off until the next year. We’ll see whether Baribo is another one.

» READ MORE: Tai Baribo knows he can fit in with how the Union play

Mbaizo is a regular with Cameroon’s national team, and the tournament runs from Jan. 13 to Feb. 11. If he goes and the Indomitable Lions make a deep run, as they should, he’d be gone for most of preseason and potentially the CONCACAF Champions Cup opener.

And if he plays enough in the tournament, the Union might get a phone call they’ve long awaited with an offer to buy him.

» READ MORE: Olivier Mbaizo measures the toll of a 51-game Union season

There are suitors now for the 20-year-old midfielder with a dazzling left foot, and the line will only grow. A big check could pry him away this winter, or next summer after the European season ends. But the biggest stage of his young career is set for late in the summer, as McGlynn seems bound for the U.S. Olympic team.

Big performances there could raise his profile further, and the size of a sale. It would sting to lose him in August, but it’s easy to see that being the pathway.

» READ MORE: Jack McGlynn has hit the heights he and the Union hoped for, and now can rise even higher

One of the Union’s less-talked-about weak spots this year was their lack of a real backup for Dániel Gazdag at attacking midfield. That will change next year if the latest marquee academy prospect gets a first-team deal for next year, and he might.

Vazquez is a 17-year-old Los Angeles native whom the Union controversially signed from under LAFC and the Galaxy’s noses. He just got back from playing for the United States at the under-17 World Cup. He’s been turning heads in scouting circles for a while.

The time is coming for him to join the lineage of Anthony Fontana, Brenden and Paxten Aaronson, Sullivan, and McGlynn as great creators who’ve come through the Union academy.

When he arrives, the Union should try to play him. If a team develops great youngsters and gets beaten by big-money stars, that’s a problem, but if a team develops great youngsters and doesn’t play them, that’s also a problem.

» READ MORE: From L.A. to Philly, David Vazquez’s Union Academy life could have gone a different direction

Coming into this year, the Union had a lot of spare allocation money — MLS’s fancy term for tradeable extra salary cap space — that would expire if it wasn’t used, and a need for depth signings. So that’s where the money went, in the signings of Torres, Perea, and Lowe.

Torres started brightly, was underwhelming for most of the year, then out of nowhere came up big in the playoffs. Perea was a bust, going on loan to New York City FC in late July for the rest of the season. Will they come back, or could they be trade bait?

» READ MORE: Joaquín Torres was an unexpected hero in the playoff win at New England

Though this year ended disappointingly for the Union, the overall Eastern Conference standings were once again a remarkable sight. For yet another year, the Union finished above a raft of teams that either spend more or are in more famous soccer cities or are just generally thought of as bigger deals.

New England was fifth, Atlanta sixth, the New York Red Bulls eighth (miraculously), NYCFC 11th, and D.C. United 12th. And the bottom three were teams that spend among the most in MLS but have repeatedly been epic flops: Chicago, Toronto, and Miami.

It’s a near certainty that Miami will be better next year. Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba might be joined by Luis Suárez, and youngsters Tomas Avilés, Facundo Farías, and Diego Gómez are likely to show why they commanded big transfer fees.

Atlanta will also probably get better, unless star playmaker Thiago Almada is sold and there’s no good replacement.

But how much better will the other teams be? The Red Bulls have promised they’ll be better, and the reported pursuit of Swedish veteran Emil Forsberg is a good sign. That’s all that’s on the landscape right now, though.

The Union, meanwhile, should be among the contenders again, as long as they replace Carranza properly.

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