TRANSFER TRACKER STATUS:Trade
Nashville SC has made another addition to their 2020 MLS roster, announcing Thursday evening that they had acquired midfielder Derrick Jones from the Philadelphia Union in exchange for $175,000 in General Allocation Money. The deal will be made official with Major League Soccer on January 1, 2020 and Jones will be loaned to Nashville for the remainder of the 2019 USL Championship season.
As part of the transaction, Nashville have also acquired Jones' Homegrown Player rights, and he will count as a Homegrown Player on the club's MLS roster. Philadelphia will retain a portion of any future transfer revenue should Nashville transfer Jones outside of MLS.
“This deal allows us to acquire a young, talented player early in our build up to MLS that gives our coaching staff an opportunity to get to know Derrick and his game before we take the field in MLS,” said Nashville SC GM Mike Jacobs in a team statement. “We are also continuing to work diligently on trades that add pieces to our senior roster in 2020.”
Jones made his MLS debut in Philadelphia’s 2017 season opener, and has since split time between the Philadelphia Union and Bethlehem Steel, making 26 MLS appearances and 29 USL Championship appearances, scoring five additional USL Championship goals.
The 22-year-old Jones, who was born in Ghana and also holds citizenship there, is a US youth international. He made four appearances with three starts in the US’s quarterfinal run in the 2017 FIFA Under-20 World Cup. More recently, he made two appearances in March for the US U-23 team as it prepares for qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.
“Derrick epitomizes the modern central midfield player,” said Nashville SC head coach Gary Smith. “He’s a terrific athlete, and covers ground immensely well. He is technically very efficient, creative, chips in with a few goals and is very competitive. The fact that he’s 22 years old means that we have plenty of time to be with Derrick and to really mature his game. He’s got all of the qualities you want to see, but it’s going to be that experience, that know-how, and probably more than anything, those opportunities, that are going to make the difference for Derrick.”
