A player who hasn’t played for the New York Red Bulls since 2010 somehow, thanks to the wacky rules of MLS, will end up being traded from New York to another Eastern Conference side. This, even as he hasn’t been on the clubs payroll in eight seasons.
A league source tells Metro that the Red Bulls have traded the rights for goalkeeper Caleb Patterson-Sewell to an Eastern Conference squad in a deal that could be completed shortly. Patterson-Sewell has been training recently with Toronto FC, a place which would seem to be a natural landing spot for the goalkeeper.
Once the team trades the rights of Patterson-Sewell, his new club will then sign him to a new contract the source said.
As of publication, the Red Bulls did not respond to a request for confirmation or clarification about this pending deal.
Patterson-Sewell was with the Red Bulls in 2010 but was released during preseason. Since then, he’s spent time in the USL, NASL as well as in Portugal. He is coming off a very solid year in the NASL with the Jacksonville Armada.
Born in Tennessee, Patterson-Sewell also is eligible to play for Australia and was drawing strong interest from their national team during his several standout seasons in Portugal.
A good shot blocker, Patterson-Sewell commands his area well and has solid distribution.
While the Red Bulls retain his rights, there was not going to be a place for him on the roster. Goalkeeper Luis Robles is the ironman of MLS, holding the longest streak of consecutive starts in MLS history. Behind him is Fordham-product Ryan Meara, who was outstanding a season ago in the team’s run to the US Open Cup Final, which they lost at Sporting Kansas City.
Also on the Red Bulls roster is Evan Louro, a draft pick last year who was a standout in college at Michigan.
There is no one currently on the Red Bulls from Patterson-Sewell’s last tenure with the team and yet a team had to trade for his rights. Just another day in MLS.
