Hello to 2026

Opening day is three weeks away (February 21 at 730pm vs the Philadelphia Union at Audi Field), and it's time to catch up on the offseason news for DC United.

First, the goodbyes:

Christian Benteke. DC tried to convince him to stay at a lower, non-DP salary, but he decided not to stay. Surprise, surprise. He'll be in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) Pro League this coming year.

Luis Barraza. Free agent.

Lukas McNaughton. Option declined.

Dominique Badji. Waived.

David Schnegg. Waived. This one makes no sense.

Boris Enow. Traded to the Israeli league. This one makes a lot of sense.

Temporary (maybe) goodbye: Kim Joon Hong has been loaned to the Suwon Samsung Bluewings for 2026 with a permanent transfer option.

Good luck to all.

Now, the hellos:

Tai Baribo (forward, 27 years old). DC paid the Philadelphia Union around 4 million for Taribo and signed him to a 5 year contract. He will be a Designated Player. Baribo scored 19 goals for the Union last year and made the MLS All-Star team. He is an Israeli international with experience in the Israeli league and Austrian Bundesliga before joining the Union in 2023.

Sean Johnson (goalkeeper, 36 years old). Johnson has played for the Chicago Fire, NYCFC and most recently Toronto FC. He has 13 caps for the US men's national team.

Louis Munteanu (forward, 23 years old). Munteanu was signed from CFR Cluj (a Romanian team) and will be a Designated Player. He was born in Vaslui, Romania and started his career with Romanian club Vitorul Constantja in 2019. He was transferred to Fiorentina in Italy's Serie A in 2020 and played with their youth side for two years (13 goals in 40 appearances) and then on load with Farul (in Romania) for two years (scoring multiple goals each season). Then transferred to CFR Cluj, where he had 25 goals in 49 appearances.

Sean Nealis (defender, 28 years old) was signed from the New York Red Bulls for $350K of General Allocation Money (GAM).

Keisuke Kurokawa (defender, also 28 years old) was signed from Gamba Osaka in Japan.

Silvan Hefti (defender, ALSO 28 years old) was signed from Hamburg in Germany's Bundesliga. Hefti played 19 games last year when Hamburg was in Bundesliga 2, but has not played yet this year since the team was promoted. He is Swiss and also had some playing time with Genoa in Italy's Serie A.

Alex Bono (goalkeeper, 31 years old) was acquired from the New England Revolution for $50K in GAM. Bono played for DC in 2023 and 2024 (starting the second year) before being released during the 2024-2025 offseason. Not sure if he has signed a contract yet.

Gabe Segal (forward, 24 years old) from the MLS Reentry Draft. Segal played for the Houston Dynamo in 2024 and 2025, and for NYCFC in 2023.

Nikola Markovic (defender, 21 years old), the first pick in last year's MLS draft. Markovic is just out of college from NC State, who made the NCAA finals last year.

Richie Aman (midfielder, 21 years old), the 8th pick in last fall's MLS draft. Aman is just out of college from the University of Washington, who won last year's NCAA final.

Other draft picks from last fall, not sure about their status right now:

Isaac Emojong (midfielder, Utah Valley, 31st overall pick)

Stephane Njike (forward, University of Maryland, 61st overall pick)

Lasse Kelp (defender, University of Maryland, 85th overall pick)

As of this moment, and as far as I know, the following players are returning. It's quite possible this list may not be completely accurate, but here goes:

Oscar Avilez

Lucas Bartlett

Jordan Farr

Aaron Herrera

Hakim Karamoko

Jacob Murrell

João Peglow

Matti Peltola

Kye Rowles

Brandon Servania

Jared Stroud

Gavin Turner

Conner Antley

Caden Clark

Jackson Hopkins

Hosei Kijima

Gabriel Pirani

Garrison Tubbs

DC started preseason 3 weeks ago in Leesburg, and should be on the West Coast now assuming they escaped the DC ice. They are scheduled to play in the Coachella Valley Invitational (a preseason tournament) over the next two weeks (Portland Feb 1, Minnesota Feb 11, St. Louis Feb 14) before returning to DC for Opening Day on February 21.