Andre Blake had a stellar season for the Philadelphia Union, but as they head into the offseason, his days with the squad may be numbered.

#SavesByDre became a movement for Philadelphia Union fans this year as Blake had a season that arguably made him the team MVP. During the season, Blake played in 32 games making 99 saves, most of the spectacular variety to keep the Union in games. This season Blake became one of the top keepers in MLS and will likely garner interest from abroad once January hits.

While the Philadelphia Union would love to keep Blake, it doesn’t look feasible given his current contract situation. When Blake was picked first overall out of UConn he was classified as a Generation Adidas (GA) player by MLS. As a GA player, Blake was allowed to enter the draft as an underclassman and his $138,000 salary didn’t count against the Union’s payroll.

Yesterday, MLS announced that six players graduated the GA program. They are Andre Blake (PHI), Christian Dean (VAN), Marlon Hairston (COL), Damian Lowe (SEA), Christian Roldan (SEA), Romario Williams (MON), and Schillo Tshuma (unattached). What this means is that these players will not be protected from the expansion draft and that teams will need to negotiate new contracts with them.

For Blake, this new contract would likely need to include a steep raise for the 2017 season if he were to stay in Philadelphia. Since only six keepers make over 300k in MLS and Earnie Stewart likely wouldn’t pay that to keep him when he could get a cheaper option.

What does this mean for the Philadelphia Union?

Currently, the backup keepers on the team are Matt Jones and John McCarthy. The duo didn’t get much action during the season but they didn’t look great in their limited appearances. Jones doesn’t look like a starting caliber keeper and McCarthy while he has amazing reflexes, makes bad decisions while in net. Due to this, the Philadelphia Union will likely need to look outside the organization for Blake’s replacement.

Fans knew that Blake would eventually leave especially since he garnered interest from Belgium but the deal broke down. MLS Transfers reported that Blake has winter trials lined up as well. Blake would likely be sold for 2-3 million dollars and the Union would be able to keep two-thirds of that amount (MLS keeps the rest).

1-2 million dollars in the hands of Earnie Stewart could be very useful for the future of the Philadelphia Union even if it does mean losing their MVP keeper. Blakes value is also raised by him being named to the shortlist for MLS Keeper of the year along with Tim Howard and Luis Robles.

It will hurt to see Blake go but he will be adequately replaced.