McLain, 30, joined Orange County SC on March 29 and made his 2019 debut for the side a day later against El Paso Locomotive FC. It wasn’t the first spell in OC for the goalkeeper: McLain featured 15 times for the side in 2014 before moving to northern rivals Sacramento Republic FC in 2015, and then to top flight club Chicago Fire. In 12 appearances for the Southern Californian side in 2019, McLain kept three clean sheets and made 37 saves in 1,080 minutes.

The rumors followed McLain’s exclusion from the traveling squad for the Austin Bold match on July 14, for undisclosed reasons. If an offer had been made from the Revolution, or any other side, it is understandable that McLain would not feature again in a match until the completion or breakdown of the transfer negotiations. The keeper was present at training for OCSC on Tuesday, interacting with fans at an open training session.

Neither club made any public effort to confirm or deny the interest in McLain, and it is unknown if the goalkeeper trained on Wednesday. Interestingly, the wording of Lesser’s tweet suggests that McLain had left the club on Wednesday independent of having a completed transfer or contractual agreement with the Revolution. In the void of both teams’ silence, the rumor gained more traction in both Orange County and New England, and a few possibilities grew to substantiate the rumor’s plausibility:

The New England Revolution refused to meet Orange County SC’s valuation or any buy-out clause for the first-choice keeper and the transfer offer fell through. Fearing his best chance to return to MLS was slipping away, McLain canceled his contract with OCSC, becoming a free agent to again court the MLS side. Orange County SC received an inquiry for McLain, but outright refused to sell the goalkeeper during a crucial point in their season. McLain found out that an inquiry and/or offer had been made for his services. Again, fearing his best shot at returning to MLS was quickly disappearing, the player cancelled his contract to become a free agent in hopes of forcing a deal with interested clubs. McLain is keen to force a move back to MLS during the secondary transfer window, but Orange County SC was unwilling to shop their key player around. Likely aware of concrete interest from a top flight club, the player canceled his contract to be a more attractive option to a suitor by allowing the interested club to forgo the arrangement of a transfer fee with Orange County.

Generally, preventing a player from joining a higher division club risks alienating other players in the locker room who may soon be in similar situations or wish to move to other clubs. The ensuing domino effect could create a negative stigma and reputation that would ultimately affect free agents’ decisions when receiving offers from a club.

Officially, neither the second nor the third circumstances align with Orange County SC policies surrounding player development. Since James Keston’s takeover in 2017, the club has repeatedly stressed that the club is focused on “opening doors” for its players, “developing… so that [coaches] can get [players] to the next level.” It is a tenet of the club’s vision, not just limited to younger players. To quote the owner himself: