Hassani Dotson’s trade request leaves Minnesota United in a tough spot

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 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 it had received Dotson’s trade request.

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 who doesn’t require a special roster spot and has been a standout at a premium position on the field.

By the standards of MLS, Dotson’s pay has been in the middle of the pack. According to 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.

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 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 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, and 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. It had less to do with anything broken with MNUFC and more to do with his personal situation. Dotson, meanwhile, seems unhappy with how he’s been treated.

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.

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.