Kai Wagner and Olivier Mbaizo take the field on the Union’s first day of preseason practice

The Union kicked off their first day of preseason practice on Monday, and two players were on the field who weren’t expected to be when last season ended.

There remains overseas interest in left back Kai Wagner and right back Olivier Mbaizo. It won’t be surprising if either player is sold before the Union kick off their 2023 campaign at Subaru Park on Feb. 25. But for now, they are here.

Wagner has had the most suitors, led by the English Premier League’s Leeds United. It’s the home of U.S. men’s national team stars Tyler Adams and Union alum Brenden Aaronson, with fellow American Jesse Marsch — a close friend of Jim Curtin’s — as manager.

Late last month, Leeds moved in a higher-profile direction, spending $12 million on Red Bull Salzburg’s Max Wöber. He spent the last 3½ years with the Austrian club, playing for Marsch and with Aaronson when they were there.

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Once that deal was done, the English media assumed Wagner wasn’t coming. It was never quite clear, though, that the deals were mutually exclusive.

As of this week, it’s clearer. Multiple sources have told The Inquirer that Leeds looks off the table as a destination.

Where else could Wagner go? There are rumors of interest in France and Italy, and one more in England that could prove fruitful: Newcastle United. The club’s CEO, Darren Eales, used to be Atlanta United’s president. He knows how to scout MLS.

In late December, TribalFootball.com floated Newcastle as a potential destination for Wagner. When this was put to the same sources, they didn’t deny it as a possibility.

To be sure, the nets on the Subaru Park practice fields are made of sterner stuff than some of the threads that get spun into transfer rumors in England. But the expectation should remain that Wagner moves somewhere this year.

» READ MORE: Paxten Aaronson joined Germany's Eintracht Frankfurt in November, in the Union’s latest big-money deal

The Union know the Germany native has long wanted to return to Europe. His contract is up at the end of this season, so there’s an incentive to do something now instead of losing him for nothing.

“Obviously I do want what’s best for Kai,” manager Jim Curtin said after practice. “I understand his dream and goal is to play in Europe, but I also know that he really loves Philadelphia as well, and so does his family. So hopefully we can find a solution where he’s either very happy here — and I think you guys know what that would mean — or he’s happy, you know, with a transfer that makes sense for the club.”

Would Wagner take a new contract here, and a good raise with it? He said he hasn’t thought about it yet, but mainly because the year is just getting started.

“I have to talk a lot with my family now, talk a lot with Jim and Ernst [Tanner, the Union’s sporting director] about what the thinking with them is,” he said. “And at the end, I have to make my decision. But I think the decision will be soon.”

For now, Wagner said he’s “just focused on myself in the preseason, enjoying the time with the team, and then we will see what’s going on in the future.”

The winter transfer window for Europe’s major leagues closes at the end of the day on Jan. 31.

» READ MORE: Dániel Gazdag signs new deal with the Union, gets raise to Designated Player status

As for Mbaizo, the theory was that his going to the World Cup with Cameroon — where he was the first active Union player ever to make a World Cup roster — would grow interest in him overseas. But he never took the field in Qatar, so there wasn’t much growth.

“It was a great experience for me to be able to take part in a World Cup,” Mbaizo said, even as he lamented not being able to play. “It was difficult for me, because I worked all last year to be ready physically to go to a World Cup. I had to accept the manager’s choice and to put my head down so that if the chance did come, I could seize it.”

There is still foreign interest in him. A source with knowledge of the matter confirmed that much, albeit without saying where it’s from specifically.

“In soccer, you never know what will happen — every player knows that,” Mbaizo said. “For now, I’m concentrating on this team. If an opportunity comes along, I’ll talk about it with the team and my agent. But for now, my head is focused here.”

Every player was present except José Andrés Martínez, who was on his way back from Venezuela after a visa issue.

In a sign of the overall continuity of the Union’s roster, the team was able to spend a healthy amount of time in scrimmage action instead of drills. Along with the first-team players, there were the recent draft picks, goalkeeper Holden Trent and forward Stefan Stojanovic; and academy prospects including 17-year-old midfielder Frankie Westfield and 17-year-old forward Nelson Pierre. Both players were regulars with the Union’s reserve team last year.

“Every guy, to a man, has come back incredibly fit — ahead of what we anticipated, ahead of where their benchmarks were supposed to be,” said Curtin, who unflinchingly wore shorts on the sideline despite the cold. “To be honest, when you look at training today, just the sharpness of guys, I’m a little bit surprised because it looks like we never really stopped. It has the same feel and intensity [as] the end of last season.”

Jack McGlynn and Andre Blake left town after practice to go to San Jose, Calif., for a preseason media event with Apple, Major League Soccer’s new broadcast partner.

» READ MORE: A scouting report on Nelson Pierre

Curtin was asked for his opinion on the Reyna-Berhalter scandal that has upended the U.S. men’s national team. His view is of special interest, because Curtin has been floated among the candidates to be Berhalter’s successor.

While he said he hasn’t yet been contacted about the job by U.S. Soccer, Curtin had plenty else to say.

“I was as shocked as everybody when it came out,” he said. “First of all, Gregg is a colleague, and not just a colleague, a friend. I think what he said and how he handled it has been the right way, and I trust and believe everything that he said. And obviously you’d never want to see someone go through something that difficult.”

As for being in the news himself, Curtin said: “Is it flattering to have your name even mentioned in those talks? Yeah, of course it is.”

» READ MORE: Claudio and Danielle Reyna, Gio’s parents, admit to disclosing incident to U.S. Soccer concerning Gregg Berhalter