Vancouver Whitecaps trade Ousted to D.C. United

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Whitecaps traded veteran goalkeeper David Ousted to D.C. United on Monday, hours after transferring Canadian defender Sam Adekugbe to Valerenga Fotball of Norway’s top division.

Neither move came as a shock, with both players having fallen out of favour with the Major League Soccer club.

The deal for Ousted sees Vancouver get the 26th pick in this month’s MLS SuperDraft. United announced that the Dane, who will turn 33 on Feb. 1, has agreed to a new two-year contract.

Ousted spent five seasons with the Whitecaps after joining the club as a free agent in June 2013, going 58-53-39 in his 151 starts.

He had 43 shutouts in 145 MLS appearances, but lost the starting job towards the tail end of the 2017 season to New Zealand international Stefan Marinovic.

After the Whitecaps were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Seattle Sounders, Ousted said he was told in June that Vancouver wouldn’t be picking up the option on his contract following his refusal to take a pay cut on his salary of nearly US$380,000.

“I’m disappointed, especially with the last couple of months,” Ousted said in November. “It’s the business part of this game.”

The Whitecaps said that should Ousted be traded to another MLS team prior to the 2018 roster freeze, they will receive $100,000 in general allocation money.

Vancouver also gets 50 per cent of any future transfer fees.