New York Red Bull general manager Erik Soler has revealed that the club was basically forced to trade Dane Richards.
The Jamaican winger was sent to Vancouver Whitecaps in exchange for Sebastien Le Toux last week with Soler suggesting that the players agent told the club he wanted to depart for Europe at the end of the season.
"When you trade a player like Dane, it's two different emotions. One is your personal emotion, which it was very hard because we absolutely love Dane," Soler told the NY Post.
"He's been a fantastic professional, he's a great guy and it's so hard when you like someone this much. Dane is a great guy in all ways.
"We knew he was probably going to leave us. His agent was very clear that he was going to go to Europe; there were probably offers coming in for him to go. Then we had to look at it from a professional and business matter, which we did; and we think bringing Sebastien here was the right move.
"We wanted to try something different, fresh air in the attacking game. Sebastien is more an attacker playing up front; Dane is a natural right sided midfielder."
