After a recent dispute between the club’s two top players, could the Columbus Crew be thinking of trading Kei Kamara or Fredrico Higuain?
SI.com’s Grant Wahl reported Tuesday that MLS club, Columbus Crew, are looking to trade striker Kei Kamara before Wednesday’s transfer deadline.
The idea of trading Kamara comes after Saturday’s 4-4 draw to the Montreal Impact, in which Kamara had a dispute with teammate Fredrico Higuain over taking a penalty kick. Kamara, who was a goal away from earning his first career hat-trick, wanted to take the spot kick. But Higuain stepped up and demanded the ball. The two argued for a minute about who would be taking the kick, which resulted in Impact players and the referee urging the players to hurry up.
Higuain eventually took the penalty and scored. After the match, Kamara spoke to the media and said that what Higuain did, was not what teammates do and called him “selfish.”
"That’s selfish. That’s not teammates. That’s selfishness"
— Shawn Mitchell (@shecky218) May 8, 2016
Kamara went on a rant about him not depending on Higuain and that when the two stepped up take the penalty, they agreed that Ethan Finlay should take it. When Finlay declined, Higuain reportedly said “I’ll take it,” which upset Kamara. The Sierra Leone striker has since been suspended by the club for one match due to his post match comments.
The riff between the two continued on Tuesday, when the club met with the media.
Kamara grew emotional when explaining the PK argument again today. Clear that getting his first hat trick meant a lot to him. #CrewSC
— Shawn Mitchell (@shecky218) May 10, 2016
Kanara said his suspension was "not at all" warranted or fair. "I didn't agree to it at all." #CrewSC
— Shawn Mitchell (@shecky218) May 10, 2016
Kamara said he would not take back anything he said on Saturday. #CrewSc
— Shawn Mitchell (@shecky218) May 10, 2016
Asked Kamara if taking Higuain to lunch for 1-ion1 would help. Twice said his Chipotle card only good for one burrito. So, no. #CrewSC
— Shawn Mitchell (@shecky218) May 10, 2016
This recent behaviour has caused the club to rethink their future with Kamara and Higuain. Having two top players angry at each other is not what any team wants, and head coach Greg Berhalter will need to think of a way to solve this problem.
The Crew recently signed Kamara to a Designated Player contract before the season started, when the striker refused to practice with the team and demanded more money.
Wahl thinks the idea of trading Kamara would be difficult considering his wage and lack of space for other teams to fit him in.
Hearing Columbus is trying to trade Kei Kamara pre-deadline, but it's hard to move DPs since so many teams have the maximum 3 DPs already.
— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) May 10, 2016
The Crew could trade Kamara in exchange for another team’s DP, but that would be difficult and seems unlikely. The same for Higuain, who is also a DP for the Crew.
This situation puts the Crew in a difficult position. Do they trade a player who scored 22 goals last season and almost won the MLS Golden Boot? Or do they trade a player like Higuain who has spent the last five years in Columbus?
Whatever the Crew decide to do before the trade deadline, they will need to sort this out quickly considering they are currently second-to-last in the East with nine points after nine games.
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