Eloy Room’s departure from the Crew is awaiting MLS approval.
According to a source close to the situation, the club and veteran goalkeeper have mutually agreed to terminate the remainder of his contract pending the league’s rubber stamp. Room, 34, will become a free agent once the agreement is greenlighted, which is expected to happen soon.
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No transfer fee will be involved and Room is expected to sign with Vitesse of the Dutch Eredivisie, according to Dutch newspaper de Gelderlander. Vitesse, where Room began his professional career, opens training camp July 20 and is searching for a goalkeeper.
Crew president and general manager Tim Bezbatchenko briefly addressed Room’s situation before the team’s training session Thursday at Ohio Health Performance Center. He didn’t get into specifics, but it was clear the goalkeeper had expressed displeasure with his usage.
“First and foremost, Eloy’s been fantastic for this club,” Bezbatchenko said. “Great person. Great leader. Won a championship here. That said, a player of his caliber probably isn’t happy they’re not starting. But frankly, that’s similar to a lot of players on our roster. I’ll kind of leave it at that.”
According to the MLS Players’ Association, Room’s guaranteed salary was $898,000 for this season and he’ll leave roughly half on the table. The Crew has agreed to give up its club option for next season.
The situation got to this point after Room missed time to start the season. He missed the season-opener after attempting to secure a green card in the Netherlands and also missed a March 25 match against Atlanta United while playing internationally for Curaçao. That preceded a knee injury in early April, which cleared a path to the starting role for rookie Patrick Schulte.
Room, who arrived in July 2019 and backstopped the Crew to the 2020 MLS Cup championship, was not content merely providing depth.
“Given Eloy’s background and, frankly, his ambition and what he wants to do in his career, we’re open to talking to him about options,” Bezbatchenko said. “We want to respect him. He has done so much for this club. He’s been a leader. He’s won a championship. One of our rings and our stars in our crest are because of him, so we want to make sure that we do right by our players.”
That includes Schulte, who earned Goalkeeper of the Year honors last season for Crew 2 in the MLS Next Pro series. First year Crew coach Wilfried Nancy used Room’s early absences to give Schulte an opportunity. He seized it and has since proven to be a better fit for the club’s possession-based attack, including slick footwork plus an aggressive vertical passing game that can break forwards free downfield for scoring opportunities.
Look no further for Schulte’s importance than his role in a 1-1 draw last week against New York City FC. He made several key stops to keep the game 0-0 and then held NYCFC’s lead at 1-0 late in the match while Columbus sought an equalizer playing down a man, and without Nancy (red card), in added time.
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Room didn’t dress for the match and missed Crew training sessions Wednesday and Thursday, which Bezbatchenko attributed to illness. The decision to terminate his contract was agreed to Thursday, as the Crew left for Portland looking to extend an eight-game unbeaten streak on Saturday against the Portland Timbers.
“The system is created this way, where at some point in your career … we all have physical limits,” Bezbatchenko said. “We have to plan, not just for the team now but for the team in the future. You have to give young players the opportunity to play and that’s part of the identity and fabric of this club now.”
bhedger@dispatch.com
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Eloy Room’s run with Columbus Crew ending with contract termination