In any other offseason, Atlanta United’s trade of Julian Gressel to D.C. United would be a typical local sports narrative: a fan base struggling to accept that a fan favorite was shipped off for what the team deems “business decisions.”



In this offseason and for this league, however, the trade of Gressel reveals a much larger issue — one that has been a focus of ongoing collective bargaining negotiations between Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Association.



Gressel’s situation with Atlanta was illustrated best by something Atlanta United general manager Carlos Bocanegra said on a conference call with reporters after the trade was announced.



“In the end we’re getting a million dollars in allocation for a player that, if we really wanted to, we could have him play on $130,000 this year, extend him a bona fide offer at the end of the year and he can go nowhere else in the league,” Bocanegra...