If the Crew is to add at least one player while the summer transfer window is open, it will likely be right up against the final deadline August 6.

Monday, coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter said he hoped to have some player news to announce by the end of the week. Yesterday, Berhalter said a " big national-team player" had reached out to the Crew, which holds the top spot in Major League Soccer's allocation order.

So will at least one deal get done before the deadline?

If the Crew is to add at least one player while the summer transfer window is open, it will likely be right up against the final deadline August 6.

Monday, coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter said he hoped to have some player news to announce by the end of the week. Yesterday, Berhalter said a � big national-team player� had reached out to the Crew, which holds the top spot in Major League Soccer�s allocation order.

So will at least one deal get done before the deadline?

�We�re working through it,� Berhalter told The Dispatch today. �It appears that it�s going to come down to the deadline, but we�ll see.�

Nothing has changed regarding the player who contacted the Crew since yesterday, Berhalter said. Multiple sources have told The Dispatch that the player in question is Sacha Kljestan, although Berhalter has declined to mention the player�s identity.

While the player has interest in the Crew, does the Crew have interest in the player?

�What I would say is that any national-team player is interesting,� Berhalter said. �You would look at it twice. I don�t think I said if it�s the perfect fit or anything like that because I�m not going to comment on that, but I�d say categorically any national-team player would be interesting.�

Although the Crew holds the top spot in the allocation order, it does not hold the top spot in the designated player allocation order. Although it�s not mentioned in the league�s official roster rules, players who come back to MLS and are signed to designated player contracts are subjected to a different order. A message to a league spokeswoman seeking clarification was not returned.

The Crew sits fourth in that order, Berhalter said. It means that should the league sign a player to a designated player contract, the Crew is not guaranteed to have first dibs on him.

The Crew�s pursuit of a player via the allocation order is separate from its hopes of signing another player, and Berhalter said it�s possible that the Crew could bring in a player via each mechanism.

One other factor affecting the situation: the unknown status of the league�s collective bargaining agreement for next season.

�When you�re projecting a cap next year, it becomes difficult when you don�t know what it�s going to be,� Berhalter said. �We�re doing our best job of estimating it. Particularly when you�re talking about guys you�re bringing in on multi-year deals, it can be a little bit complicated.�

As such, Berhalter said the Crew is currently basing its plans off of this year�s salary cap.

Defender Giancarlo Gonzalez, who starred for Costa Rica in the World Cup and has been the subject of transfer rumors ever since, remains with the Crew – for now.

In recent weeks, Berhalter said the Crew has heard from agents but had not received any concrete offers for the defender. That has not changed, Berhalter said, but the Crew is listening.

�We still haven�t received anything official,� he said. �In the last couple days, we�ve been waiting for something to come but nothing has come. There�s been a lot of talk and a lot of speculation from agents but nothing club-to-club.�

Back to Atlanta

Forward Deon McCaulay has been returned to the NASL�s Atlanta Silverbacks after spending the week with the Crew as a trialist.

�We sent him back to Atlanta to keep playing and we�re going to keep monitoring him from there,� Berhalter said. �We�ll try to look at him in competitive games and see how he is. He made a good impression but not the impression that he�s ready to step into MLS right now and perform.�

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy