FC Cincinnati wanted to bring former U.S. national team standout Fabian Johnson (center) to MLS ahead of the 2019 season, but the league prevented any deal from going through.

Doug McIntyre’s weekly MLS column, 23 Thoughts, parses through the latest insights and inside info from around American soccer.

Before the MLS summer transfer window closed in early August, I heard that 2014 U.S. World Cup team starter Fabian Johnson was drawing interest from the league.

I asked around at the time, but details were scarce. So when the deadline passed and Johnson, 30, remained with German Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach, it seemed there wasn’t much to it. After all, informal inquiries are made all the time. Many of them never result in an actual agreement, for a variety of reasons.

For the most part I’d forgotten all about it. Then Johnson’s name came up earlier this week for whatever reason — I don’t remember why — during a conversation with a source, and some of the particulars came pouring out. Another source verified that information. The most interesting tidbit? That MLS essentially prevented any deal from happening.

1. The team driving the interest in Johnson was 2019 expansion side FC Cincinnati. FCC wanted to sign the versatile, two-footed Johnson, who started all four games for the U.S. (and was one of its best players) four years ago in Brazil.

2. Cincinnati doesn’t begin play in MLS until next March, but the club intended to lure Johnson this past summer because they believed that, as a current USL team, they would not be subject to the MLS allocation order, a mechanism used to determine which club gets first priority to acquire certain USMNT members, youth national teamers, or ex-MLS players returning to the league.

3. The understanding between MLS and FCC was that the allocation process would apply to Cincinnati only after the summer transfer window closed on Aug. 8. As the lone new team to enter the league in 2019 (Miami and Nashville are scheduled to begin play the following year), they would immediately jump to the top of the queue.

4. Like other midseason arrivals Fanendo Adi (from the Portland Timbers) and Fatai Alashe (San Jose Earthquakes), the plan was for Johnson to play the remainder of the current season in the second-tier USL until the Orange and Blue made the jump to the top flight. The defender/midfielder was on board. But when FCC tried to sign Johnson, MLS balked, insisting that the club would have to trade for the top spot so that could be used on the German-American. With that, the deal died.

5. There’s no guarantee that Johnson and MLS would’ve agreed to terms, anyway. I’m told that the money on offer in Cincy was somewhere between $400,000 and $600,000 per, significantly less than the $1.5 million, net, that he takes home from ‘Gladbach. But Johnson wanted to come, and he would’ve been Cincinnati’s biggest signing yet. Maybe they try again this winter. Maybe that ship has sailed. Either way, it’s another example of MLS intervening in a negotiation in a way that feels unnecessary and overbearing. This has been going on since the league’s inception. In the early years, when MLS struggling to survive, it was necessary. Today, in what the league brass likes to refer to as “MLS 3.0”, it’s counterproductive.

6. Staying in Ohio, it dawned on me that this weekend’s game between the Columbus Crew and Montreal Impact might be the last time I ever see the Yellow and Black in person. It’s not a nice thought. However, I’m cautiously optimistic that it won’t be the case.

7. For one, the Crew look like just the sort of team that can make a deep run this fall. They’ve hit a bit of a lull lately, with one win in their last four games. But they can build momentum with winnable games at Orlando City and at home to Minnesota United to finish the regular season, and they won’t face the pressure of more ballyhooed teams like the New York Red Bulls or Atlanta United or even Wayne Rooney’s D.C. United once the playoffs start. Actually, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see DCU and Columbus contest the Eastern Conference final for an MLS Cup berth. With the threat of relocation to Austin, Texas, looming over the Crew all season, that would be some story.

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