Union loan midfield prospect Richard Odada to Denmark’s Aalborg

The Union loaned defensive midfield prospect Richard Odada to Denmark’s Aalborg, a sign he wasn’t going to be getting first-team playing time here soon.

The loan was done earlier this month, but the Union only announced it from their end on Wednesday. Aalborg announced it on Aug. 15.

“We have been interested in Richard Odada for a long period of time, and we are pleased that an agreement has now fallen into place with the Philadelphia Union,” Aalborg’s sporting director Ole Jan Kappmeier said in a statement at the time.

The Union signed Odada last summer when they were looking for defensive midfield backups to José Andrés Martínez. He showed flashes of the potential in his 6-foot-3 frame in an exhibition game against Mexico’s Pachuca last September, but didn’t progress further.

The 22-year-old Kenyan made the first team’s bench for 10 times, and that was as far as he got. His only game action in a Union jersey came with the reserves, where he played two games last year and six this year.

The last of those, on May 8, was the last time Odada made the reserve team’s game day roster. His last time on a Union game day roster was June 4.

Meanwhile, Jesús Bueno kept getting better, and became a regular contributor when Alejandro Bedoya was out injured.

Odada’s loan to Aalborg is through June 30, 2024, and has a purchase option. If he does well enough in Denmark to merit a full-time move, it won’t take much for the Union to recoup the $150,000 transfer fee they paid Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade.

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