The 6-foot-5 center back, from Clarksville, Md., and River Hill High School, is a graduate of United’s youth academy, a status that tied him to the MLS organization and exempted him from last Friday’s draft in Chicago.

United officials acknowledged they’ve made an offer to Pines but declined to say whether they were making progress. Pines’s representatives also did not want to comment.

Pines — a second-team all-American who started 22 of 23 matches as a junior and scored in the College Cup semifinal against Indiana — is expected to report to training camp next week. He seems likely to begin his career with Loudoun United, D.C.'s new second-division team, but given his tremendous potential and United’s dearth of central defenders, he could work himself into contention for minutes in MLS sometime this season.

Pines will become United’s fifth offseason acquisition, joining goalkeepers Chris Seitz and Earl Edwards Jr., Argentine midfielder Lucas Rodriguez and homegrown attacker Antonio Bustamante (Springfield, Va.; William & Mary).

The club remains in the market for a striker to back up Wayne Rooney and an experienced center back to compete with Frederic Brillant for a starting role alongside Steve Birnbaum. Beyond the trade and international markets, United is expected to invite several trialists to training camp in Clearwater, Fla., over the next several weeks.