Yesterday, Real Salt Lake traded Abdoulie Mansally to Houston Dynamo. The response from vast swathes of fans was quick, and it was unhappy.
This is not because Mansally was a team star, and it was not because he was a valued youngster who could go on to become a top-notch figure on the team. It was also not entirely because of his play, which had improved tenfold from the time he arrived in the team.
Some worried about the team's depth without him, and this was certainly a justifiable concern. Mansally was a rare bright spot in a team that struggled for consistency, starting matches with regularity when purported first-choice left back Demar Phillips was absent, either through injury or through international duty.