It looks like Alejandro Bedoya and Kai Wagner’s times are up with the Union

A source confirmed a report that the Union do not plan to offer the 36-year-old Bedoya a lucrative contract for next season. Wagner and the Union have been at an impasse for months.

Alejandro Bedoya (left) is likely to not play for the Union again after this year.Read more / Staff Photographer

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published Oct. 12, 2023, 6:31 p.m. ET

Longtime Union midfielder and captain Alejandro Bedoya’s time with the team seems to be coming to an end, at least as of now.

A source with knowledge of the matter confirmed a report by The Athletic late Thursday afternoon that with Bedoya’s contract expiring after this year, the Union aren’t going to offer another contract to him at near the level he’s had — the team’s third-highest salary, $1.06 million this year.

Last September, Bedoya, 36, signed a one-year contract for this season. It seemed a sign at that point that he might retire after this year. Now Bedoya seems to want to play another year, which is the real news in all of this.

But everyone who would come to the negotiating table, or has come already, has to account for Bedoya turning 37 next April. Those participants would likely include the Union’s owners, who’ve long cherished their youth development strategy and would have to sign off on prioritizing Bedoya’s playing time.

Bedoya has played in 35 of the Union’s 47 games so far this year, and would have played more if not for a five-game absence due to a hamstring injury in the late spring.

The bigger issue here may be a lack of polish on the talks. One source said a terse conversation on the field after a recent practice, when Bedoya asked sporting director Ernst Tanner for the clarity, ruffled some feathers.

The Athletic also said Kai Wagner isn’t coming back after his contract expires, but that has been known for a while in Chester. Wagner and the Union have been at an impasse for months, and while he seems to want to stay in town, for years there were rumors every offseason that the native of Germany would head back to Europe. He fueled them himself at times, too.

Before the Union’s regular-season home finale on Saturday, Wagner posted on Instagram that he expected it to be his last regular-season game at Subaru Park.

At the root of the issue with Wagner is this: Even if Bedoya retires or moves elsewhere, the Union aren’t likely to have enough salary-cap space to pay Wagner what he wants. The team will open up a Designated Player spot if it sells striker Julián Carranza, which seems likely, but if that money goes anywhere other than toward a top-level replacement, the attack will suffer — more than it already does, many fans will point out.

Buying down Wagner’s cap hit through Major League Soccer’s Targeted Allocation Money mechanism for high-end players might not work, either. Jakob Glesnes, Andre Blake, and Jack Elliott are on TAM deals, with raises in line next year. And the amount of TAM per team is set to decrease next year by $320,000 as part of the league’s collective bargaining agreement, with that money made available for the entire payroll.

Unfortunately for both players and their many fans — including those in-house at the Union — there might not be a polite ending here. But an ending seems to clearly be on the horizon.