Jack McGlynn’s sale to Houston started off a busy week of news coming out of Chester and as the dust settles on Friday, the Philadelphia Union first team roster has grown by two with three player signings. Two were homegrown signings just waiting to be announced while the marquee addition is 23-year-old Serbian midfielder Jovan Lukić. While you can’t rule out more moves, the roster is at 28 players with three openings (one for a player that is loaned out for the season to a lower division) left. Two of those spots are likely to go to two more players from the academy/Union II.

In the email today:

1. 🎢 A Roller Coaster Week of Roster Changes

After staying relatively quiet for the past few weeks with official news coming out of HQ in Chester, Philadelphia Union fans road a roller coaster of emotions this week with the official announcement of Jack McGlynn’s sale to Houston Dynamo and the official announcement of the addition of a promising Serbian midfielder and two homegrown players who were already fully integrated on the first team.

No matter the dollar sign, it’s never easy saying goodbye to players we’ve watched grow up before our very eyes but seeing them go to another MLS team complicates those emotions no matter the dollar sign attached. Fans have a right to question the approach and the stinginess of the front office but they shouldn’t be surprised by any of the moves this week.

Lukić is the marquee addition with a $621,000 price tag (10th most spent by the team to acquire a player) and he immediately creates both an interesting competition with Danley Jean Jacques and Jesus Bueno for the No. 6 spot in the diamond and some tactical flexibility for head coach Bradley Carnell to use all three. The combination of Lukić and Jean Jacques, who seems poised for a breakout year with a full preseason, is particularly intriguing.

While you lose a lot of creativity and skill in the final third and on dead balls with McGlynn’s exit the defensive setup looks more potent with Lukić’s addition whether he’s stationed in the base of the diamond, paired with another holding mid or pushed out wide. Defense, after all, was the achilles heel of the team. Whether this will all be enough to fill the Waste Management-sized hole left by El Brujo’s move to Brazil last summer remains an open question.

But at least there’s reason for more optimism in Chester for the present and not just in what new official additions Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield mean for the future.

2. 📺 Union Game vs FC Cincinnati Streaming Live

Rejoice Stream Truthers! The Philadelphia Union game against FC Cincinnati/FC Cincinnati 2 will be streamed and you won’t have to use Google translate to figure out how to sign up for a paid streaming account in a different language to access it.

3. ⚡️ Tweet of the Day: Midfield Nightmare

4. 💧 Water Cooler: McGlynn Reax

Please Note: This poll was taken before the Lukić signing was official

5. 🔗 Link Roundup

• Brazilian megaclub CR Flamengo will use Stockton University as their home base for the Club World Cup.

• Defending champs Penn will host the women’s Philly Soccer 6 tournament on April 12, which is the same day as the final for the men’s tournament.

• West Chester United will host USL Championship side Loudoun United for the first round of the U.S. Open Cup on March 18 at YSC Sports. It’s their third straight year hosting the first round of the competition at the facility near King of Prussia.

• Todd Lewis of The Free Kick provides some good information about the Union’s newest midfielder and reason to be optimistic about the acquisition.

• Jose Nunez noted in his report on the Neil Pierre signing announcement that the paper he signed for the staged photo was blank.

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