Loons’ Wil Trapp says Hassani Dotson’s trade request has not been a distraction

Wil Trapp and Hassani Dotson have been in a similar predicament, but the midfielders have gone about it differently. Trapp wanted to leave Columbus Crew in 2019; Dotson said via a statement in January that he wants to be traded from Minnesota United. ADVERTISEMENT Trapp left in a move to Inter Miami in 2020 before coming to MNUFC in 2021.

Dotson has thus far remained a member of the Loons with a contract that expires at the end of 2025. This week, Trapp spoke about his own situation and what he has seen from Dotson over the past month. MNUFC has not met Pioneer Press requests to speak with Dotson during preseason.



One apprehension on Dotson’s situation is it could become a distraction with the season opening Saturday at Los Angeles FC, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. After his agent made the trade request, Dotson went back to work. He was one of the top finishers in the “beep” fitness test, has maintained his starting central midfield spot during preseason friendlies and presumably will begin 2025 in that key role at LAFC.

On Tuesday, Dotson and goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair — another Loons player on an expiring contract — coached up second-year center back Morris Duggan during a pause in the training session in Blaine. “It’s not an easy situation to handle,” Trapp said, “and (Dotson’s) been unbelievable.

Like, you would never know. It’s a huge testament. (Head coach Eric Ramsay) and I were talking about it, his level of professionalism, his commitment to better himself and better the group.

” Ramsay said in late January he is focusing on his working relationship with Dotson. Chief Soccer Officer Khaled El-Ahmad said in early February that it’s “all calm, good conversations” on the Dotson situation. ADVERTISEMENT Dotson’s view was made public, and that appears to be it — for now at least.

Trapp used a different tactic in Columbus; he kept his stance internal. “I was just ready to go,” Trapp recalled Tuesday. “It was tough.

You have to do things that you potentially don’t want to do, sit out a training or make yourself (an outsider).” During one practice in Columbus, Trapp said, he didn’t try during a drill and Crew assistant coach Ezra Hendrickson, who later was head coach of the Chicago Fire, got on him. “He was like, ‘Wil, I don’t know what is going on in your contract situation, but you are (messing) up my drill, dude,’ ” Trapp recalled with a laugh.

It wasn’t funny in the moment. “I came off the field and I was crying,” Trapp said. “It was the worst feeling I’ve ever felt on the field.

” A lack of effort is the antithesis of Trapp’s set-the-example reputation — one backed in captaincies in Columbus, Minnesota and with the U.S. men’s national team.

But Trapp felt the need to take a stand in Columbus. ADVERTISEMENT “I needed them to see that we are at that point,” Trapp said. “I would never do that again.

That was terrible.” Yet Trapp is respectful of Dotson’s specific situation. “There are so many more layers to it than we know,” he said, “but from what we see as a teammate, or as a partner, amazing.

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