TRANSFER TRACKER STATUS:Reports
Entering the offseason, the biggest positions of need for D.C. United were in front of goalkeeper Bill Hamid. Now it appears the Black-and-Red have addressed those needs.
On Friday, The Washington Post's Steven Goff reported that the club had locked up University of Maryland central defender Donovan Pines to a Homegrown Player contract.
Then Saturday, Boca Juniors beat reporter Leandro Aguilera indicated his sources told him Boca right back Leonardo Jara would be traveling to D.C. on Sunday to finalize an 18-month loan deal with an option to buy.
While the 27-year-old Jara would be the fourth Argentine to arrive at D.C. since playmaker Luciano Acosta came to United from Boca on loan prior to the 2016 season, he would be the first to do so in the prime of his career.
Originally a product of Estudiantes, Jara has made 172 Argentine league appearances between there and Boca, and also featured in 28 matches in Copa Libertadores and six more in Copa Sudamericana. He would presumably slide into the starting role on the right side of D.C.'s back four, with last year's starter Oniel Fisher on the mend from ACL surgery.
Meanwhile, Pines was the No. 2-ranked college player in Top Drawer Soccer's postseason 2018 Men's National Top 100 after his junior season with the Terrapins. He has 58 collegiate appearances over three seasons, and with Kofi Opare's recent departure could conceivably compete for a starting position with Steve Birnbaum and Frederic Brillant.
