Philadelphia Union head coach John Hackworth has explained the thought behind Friday's shock trade involving Jack McInerney and Andrew Wenger.
The Union sent promising striker McInerney to Montreal Impact in exchange for Wenger, who was the number one selection in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft, in a surprising transfer.
McInerney has scored 25 goals in 95 outings for the Union since arriving via the 2010 SuperDraft but Hackworth felt it was right to move him on and bring in Wenger whose MLS record reads six goals in 52 appearances.
"Right now, we see it as a straight swap - forward for forward," Hackworth said on a conference call.
"[Wenger] is more of a prototypical No. 9 than Jack was or is. That's where we see him. But he is versatile enough, which we really like. You could put him on the left or right, or drop him into the midfield, and he'd be effective."
Hackworth also suggested that the imminent contract negotiations to retain McInerney may have not suited his club.
"I would tell you, yes, that's part of it," Hackworth said of McInerney who was nearing the end of his Union deal.
"It's not that I don't think we could have signed Jack to another contract. But it certainly presents another set of problems when a player is at the end of a contract and you know what you're going to have to do to retain that player's rights."
Hackworth added further: "We weren't disappointed in the way Jack was playing.
"Clearly, we have an idea of where we want to go and the type of players we want to bring in. We felt like this was a move that would improve that - it's as simple as that."
