After going separate ways with Brazilian striker Luciano Emilio at the end of the 2009 season, the two parties have been reunited, with United re-signing the 31-year-old on a short term basis this afternoon.
The Washington Post has reported throughout the spring that Emilio, who played for Rio Branco de Americana in Brazil during the winter, had been seeking a return to Major League Soccer, where United has maintained his rights even though he wasn’t in the team plans.
But things have clearly changed with D.C. off to a 0-4 start and struggling to find the back of the net. In addition, forward options Chris Pontius and Danny Allsopp have both been sidelined by hamstring injuries.
The solution: bringing back Emilio a severely reduced rate for only three months. The team can exercise an option in July to keep Emilio for the longer term, or they could presumeably let him go in favor of a more prized overseas signing. In the meantime, Emilio is expected to start practicing with United on Thursday and could be available to play Saturday against New York.
“We welcome Luciano back to D.C. United,” said D.C. United General Manager Dave Kasper in a statement. “Over the past several months, we’ve been in constant communication with Luciano regarding his playing future and have reached an agreement that provides United a proven MLS goal-scorer at terms that take into consideration both parties’ plans for the future.”
My take: in some ways, the way D.C. has reached the troubled place that it finds itself in the club’s history is due in part to Emilio, who was fantastic in his first MLS season in 2007. He was named MLS MVP that season after scoring 20 goals, but did he deserve it? He was also playing on the field that season with Christian Gómez (10 goals, 9 assists) in top form along with Fred, Jaime Moreno and Ben Olsen, who each had seven goals each for a team that was clearly the best in MLS during the regular season and deserving of the Supporters Shield. Tripling his salary in 2008 while casting aside Gómez in favor of Marcelo Gallardo was the start of what has been a troubled era at RFK Stadium basically ever since. The team tried to reverse course with Gómez last year, and that didn’t work. How realistic is it that going the same route with Emilio, who has struggled the past two seasons, will be any different?
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