Philadelphia loans Andres Perea to rivals NYCFC, what happened?

The Philadelphia Union has moved on from midfielder Andres Perea, at least for the rest of the 2023 season.

The club announced on Friday that they have loaned 22-year-old midfielder Andres Perea to New York City FC for the remainder of the 2023 season. In return, the Union receives $300,000 in General Allocation Money for the 2024 season. It brings to an end a rather strange first — and possibly last – season for the Tampa, Florida native in Philly. For a player who everyone thought brought a ton of promise to the squad, what the heck happened with Andres Perea?

There was a lot of excitement generated by Perea’s move to Philadelphia. The Atlético Nacional Academy product made 74 total appearances for Orlando City. The Union paid $750,000 in GAM for Perea, and everyone thought that he could play an integral role off the bench for the squad. Everyone knew how good Philadelphia’s starting 11 was after reaching the MLS Cup Final the year prior, now they wanted to shore up the bench pieces. A young, talented player like Perea could possibly earn a starting role sometime in the future!

You couldn’t draw up a better debut month for Perea in Chester. He made an immediate impact, being voted by the Union fans as the Independence Blue Cross Player of March. He scored three goals in his first month, playing a massive role in the club’s opening round series of the Concacaf Champions League.

After being named Player of the Month, his entire momentum just stopped. Why you ask? Well, we don’t have an answer yet. The freezing of Andres Perea from the first team has confused us all over the past few months. After showing a ton of promise early on, he just stopped seeing the field. Since starting – and scoring – against his former club Orlando in late March, Perea’s last significant game time came in the U.S. Open Cup against Minnesota. That was all the way back in late May. He has only tallied 31 minutes on the pitch since.

While many will point to the recent breakout of Jesus Bueno as a reason for Perea’s exclusion from the squad, he was phased out of the team long before that. The speculation that something happened behind the scenes that we don’t know about, that there’s more to the story, has to be the reason here. Even if it’s just the way that he practices or his choice in cereal in the morning, something has caused the decision makers of the club to balk on Perea.

There is not a buy-out clause in the loan agreement with NYCFC, a rival of Philadelphia whom they decided to give a player to might I add. With that in mind, this may not be the end of the road for Perea in Philadelphia. Maybe they do just want to send him to a place where he can get game time that they simply can’t guarantee. New York City can use all the help they can get right now. Maybe they just want him to play and get some confidence back.

It will be interesting to see whether or not Andres Perea ever plays for the Union again.