Julián Carranza’s move from Union to Dutch club Feyenoord is official

The departure of Julián Carranza from Union to Dutch club Feyenoord was made official on Sunday, ending the tenure of a striker who had become his team’s third-best goalscorer of all time in just 2.5 seasons.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but there are conditions. Carranza’s contract would have expired after this season and he would have left the club for free. Instead, Union will receive a small transfer fee and part of a future transfer fee if Feyenoord sells Carranza to another club.

Further complicating matters is that when Union purchased Carranza from Inter Miami in July 2022 – after initially loaning him from the Herons the previous winter – it not only agreed to a sell-on clause with Miami, but also assumed the sell-on clause Miami had agreed to with the team it purchased Carranza from in his native Argentina, Banfield.

This further reduces the amount Union will ultimately pay into the bank. But it does not change the principle that it is always better to get something than nothing – especially when the player is a 24-year-old striker from one of the best footballing nations in the world.

It also underscores that Union’s acquisition of Carranza is one of the biggest coups of any player deal in MLS history. His 43 goals and 20 assists in 95 games here cost Miami just $500,000 up front, plus a couple of years of salary, which this year was $1 million.

” READ MORE: Why Julian Carranza’s departure from the Union is necessary for the team and for him right now

The big money will be up for grabs through that sell-on clause if Carranza does enough to attract the attention of other clubs. He will certainly have the chance, as Feyenoord are playing in the UEFA Champions League this autumn after finishing second in the Dutch Eredivisie. And if Feyenoord sells their best striker, Mexican Santi Giménez, this summer, Carranza will likely be in the starting line-up.

“I am really myself” with the Union

“I have been watching Feyenoord in international competitions over the last few years, so that was one of the main reasons why I wanted to come here,” Carranza said in an interview on Feyenoord’s website published alongside the signing announcement.

He praised Union as the club where he “honestly found my place” after not playing much in his two years in Miami. The Herons paid $6 million to acquire Carranza from Banfield as one of the expansion team’s first signings in 2020, but let him slip down the rankings when the more famous Argentine Gonzalo Higuaín arrived in 2021.

“Miami was a tough team for me,” Carranza said. “I couldn’t play much, I couldn’t show much – especially when Gonzalo Higuaín came, it was difficult for me to play a few minutes.”

In Philadelphia, Carranza said, “I was comfortable off the field and on the field. I was really myself. And that’s where I reached my best level.”

Feyenoord’s sporting director Dennis te Kloese knew where to look for a successor to Giménez. He previously worked for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, the former Chivas USA, as well as the Mexican national team. Te Kloese was willing to write a check to get Carranza now, rather than wait until winter, when the Champions League group stage is over (and Feyenoord’s run potentially too).

“I think the call was two or three weeks ago,” Carranza said. “We started talking and everything happened pretty quickly. So I was happy. They asked me, ‘Do you want to come?’ and I said, ‘Yes, of course I want to come.'”

Many observers of the global football transfer market were surprised that a club of Feyenoord’s stature would take this step. The reason for this was Carranza’s decision last winter to reject much higher offers from Werder Bremen and Mainz in the German Bundesliga and from Ipswich Town in the English second division.

Ipswich were promoted to the Premier League the following season, so Carranza could have been promoted with them.

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He never wanted to stay here

In late summer last year, Union received a $7.5 million offer from Greek club Olympiakos. Union’s sporting director Ernst Tanner turned it down for two reasons: He wanted to keep Carranza in order to make it deep into the playoffs again, and he believed he would receive bigger offers in the winter.

The long road to the playoffs did not materialize, as Union was eliminated in the second round by regular season champions FC Cincinnati. There were bigger offers, however, which Carranza turned down.

So he stayed, hoping for offers from destinations he found more attractive. But even though he gave the Union everything he had in the first half of the year, there was little doubt that he would leave at some point – neither by him nor by anyone else.

“He has been an integral part of our success and we are grateful for everything he has contributed both on and off the field,” Tanner said in a statement, “but this is the right move for the player as he continues his development and the best move for the club as we look to make adjustments ahead of the summer transfer window.”

A new contract with the Union was not an option for him. Carranza wanted to go to Europe and also hoped to attract the attention of the Argentine national team two years before the World Cup.

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Carranza is well known in his home country and was talked about when the reigning world champions played at Lincoln Financial Field in March. The Albiceleste have many great players but only two pure strikers: Lautaro Martínez of Inter Milan and Julián Álvarez of Manchester City.

If Carranza makes a good impression at Feyenoord, he will get even more attention.

With transfer negotiations nearly complete, the Union took Carranza off the field on the eve of the June 15 game against (coincidentally) Miami. He hasn’t played for the club since, and it was no secret that he wouldn’t again.

What now?

He scored his last goal for the Union on May 18 in New England. His last public appearance at Subaru Park was at a public training session on June 14, where he signed autographs for season ticket holders at the end.

Carranza stayed in the city for a few more days and then headed to Buenos Aires to spend some time with family and friends. That’s where he is now. Feyenoord’s pre-season training begins in early July, before the new season starts on August 10.

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The Union has already chosen Tai Baribo as Mikael Uhre’s new partner in attack. Baribo scored two goals in his first appearance after Carranza’s retirement on June 19 against FC Cincinnati.

Unless Union sign a new striker quickly, the Uhre-Baribo tandem will likely remain at the top of the squad list – although Uhre is currently out with an adductor injury. Chris Donovan and Markus Anderson are the other strikers in the squad, with midfielders Quinn Sullivan and Dániel Gazdag filling in at times.

Manager Jim Curtin has repeatedly indicated that he does not expect any major signings this summer, even though Carranza’s departure will free up a valuable Designated Player spot.

At the very least, Tanner’s words that the team “wants to make adjustments with the summer transfer window in mind” suggest that management is thinking about it as Union’s season spirals into disaster.

Saturday’s 4-2 loss at CF Montréal, where an undermanned team led 2-1 at halftime, was the seventh consecutive game without a win and the fourth straight loss.

” READ MORE: Union striker Mikael Uhre will be out for 2-3 weeks due to a groin injury