Sports fans love to debate winners and losers of major trades. In the case of the blockbuster deal that sent Kei Kamara from Crew SC to the New England Revolution three months ago, the answer to who won might be nobody.

Sports fans love to debate winners and losers of major trades. In the case of the blockbuster deal that sent Kei Kamara from Crew SC to the New England Revolution three months ago, the answer to who won might be nobody.

Not the Crew, which has won once in his absence. Not the Revolution, riding a three-game losing streak and hemorrhaging goals. Not Kamara, who hasn�t had nearly the impact on the scoresheet that he did a season ago in leading the Crew to the MLS Cup Final.

�This is the definition of a lose-lose,� said Fox Soccer analyst and former national team standout Eric Wynalda. �(Columbus) lost a player who brought personality and goal-scoring output that made a team better . . . (and with New England) it�s difficult for any player to acclimate himself in the middle of the season. It�s like �Go figure it out on the fly.��

The clubs meet for the second timeSaturdayin New England since theMay 12deal that delivered Kamara to New England for $500,000 in allocation money, a 2017 first-round pick and a 2018 second-round pick. The Revolution won the first matchup, 3-1, onJuly 9with Kamara scoring a goal and figuring prominently in the other two. It was arguably the best showing for a player who has four goals in 13 appearances with the Revolution.

Columbus is 1-4-8 since the trade, while New England is 5-7-1. Both teams are out of postseason position entering playSaturdayalthough the Revolution has advanced to the final of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

A season after scoring 22 goals, Kamara publicly clashed with fellow Crew star Federico Higuain over a penalty kick against Montreal onMay 7. The friction between Kamara and some others on the team, however, had been festering. One source told the Dispatch on Friday the problems date to last season, but �they were masked because we were winning back then.�

New England marks Kamara�s fifth Major League Soccer team (he had two stints in Columbus) since 2006.

Wynalda likes Crew coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter and Kamara, but wonders if the club did everything in its power to keep a player the coach called, �the perfect striker for our system.�

�I�m not aware of the inner workings of this, but my only question is �was everything done in a way to help Kei Kamara become a better component to this team?�� Wynalda said. �I saw a guy who had so much fun playing for that team last year and was in such great form. Maybe sometimes guys like that get a little cocky and say things they don�t mean.

�There has to be a way to bring a guy back to earth and put them in check so to speak and I don�t know if there was anybody on the team that had the kind of relationship with him to do that, but that�s certainly a question for Gregg Berhalter. I hope that he feels he did everything to try to make it work.�

With three months to reflect, Berhalter was askedFridayif the trade had to be made and he replied, �Yes.�

�It was difficult, absolutely,� the coach added. �I�ve said from day one this was a difficult decision we had to make.�

Because of the future assets involved, Crew fans might look back differently on the trade once the draft picks are made and the allocation money is all spent.

One observer close to the Revolution said Kamara has been a fine addition, but the club needed to bolster its defense more than adding a productive striker. New England has allowed a league-high 44 goals and has an MLS-worst minus-15 goal differential.

Wynalda acknowledges managing personalities in a locker roomer isn�t easy. He points to the problems Sir Alex Ferguson had with Paul Pogba the first time the midfielder played for Manchester United. Ferguson is considered one of game�s greatest coaches.

The analyst believes the public breakup with the Crew has been difficult on the 31-year-old Kamara.

�All these negative thoughts have been put in his head,� Wynalda said. �So he goes to his new club and it would be impossible not to have this in the back of his mind. What that means is he�s going to hesitate. He�s going to overthink stuff and it�s going to be really hard to have fun. It�s almost like breaking up with a girl or getting a divorce. It�s hard to pour your heart out to the next person because you�re afraid of all the stuff that just happened. In my opinion I think he�s afraid to be himself.�

Crew team captain Michael Parkhurst expects another dynamic effort from Kamara against his old matesSaturday.

�He�s probably more motivated to play us than anybody in the league and we have to understand that,� Parkhurst said. �His pressing, his work rate and movement was good. That�s what we expect again.�

treed@dispatch.com

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