Minnesota United star Darwin Quintero was right: He's not returning to the team for which he starred the past two seasons.
Two days after Quintero posted on social media that United declined a contract option for next season, the team traded him Wednesday within MLS to Houston for $600,000 in allocation money and midfielder Marlon Hairston.
Quintero said his goodbye to the club and its supporters in Twitter and Instagram postings, but a United spokesman said Monday a deal wasn't done.
United traded Quintero on Wednesday instead, before a three-day trade window expired that evening, sending him to Houston along with a third-round pick in January's SuperDraft.
United will receive $300,000 in targeted allocation money and $300,000 in general-allocation money, split into $150,000 each for the next two seasons. The trade also clears Quintero's $2 million salary for 2020 from its payroll and opens up a designated player slot.
"It's hard to say goodbye to players who have done well for us," United's new technical director Mark Watson said. "But it's part of the business. This is not a decision we took lightly. Darwin has been great for us the better part of two really good years. He was part of some really good moments for this club to get where we are right now."
Hairston, 25, is a versatile wing and fullback who played in college at Louisville and has played six MLS seasons with Colorado and Houston.
"He came into the league early so he's really young," Watson said of Hairston. "He's versatile, very athletic. He fits the mentality of the player we're looking for. We've developed a really good chemistry, a really good identity and that's something we want to build on moving forward. The energy we have at Allianz Field, we want a group that's going to work and run and bring energy. We're also looking for players who can help with that philosophy."
