Red Bulls and D.C. United made a trade and didn’t tell anyone until now

Earlier today, MLS' website updated saying the New York Red Bulls 4th round pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft would be going to D.C. United. Users on twitter were quick to point out the mystery surrounding the deal:

#It #Is #A #Mystery pic.twitter.com/ULNPstVK0n

— Snack Plissken (@brendan_joe) January 13, 2016

No reason was given for the trade, and neither team announced the deal.

Once a Metro reached out to the New York Red Bulls for comment on the situation and did not receive a response.

This is the second time the Red Bulls have negotiated a trade for MLS SuperDraft picks without any clarification on the situation. To trade for Kyle Reynish before the 2015 season, the Red Bulls sent Chicago a third round pick in 2016. The team did not own a 3rd round pick in 2016 because of the ill-fated Bobby Convey trade.

Eventually, it came out that the Red Bulls received a 3rd round pick from Vancouver in 2016 so they could send it to Chicago. Like today, OaM reached out to the Red Bulls last year and never received clarification on how the team acquired that 3rd round pick.

Thankfully, the kind folks at Black and Red United reached out to DCU to get their side of the story, and heard back fairly quickly that the pick was sent to D.C. for the discovery rights on Kemar Lawrence in 2015. The trade happened in 2015, but was just reported today.

It seems the Red Bulls found a cheaper alternative to paying $50,000 to their biggest rivals to sign Kemar Lawrence outright. Knowing this franchise's luck, the 79th overall pick in the 2016 SuperDraft will be the greatest MLS player of all time.