Nashville SC deals Dylan Nealis to his hometown club

“Hometown” here encompassing “basically the entire tri-state area. Photo courtesy Nashville SC

On a day that’s mostly about players (or assets) incoming for Nashville SC, we have a personnel departure. After just one year in Music City, defender Dylan Nealis has been dealt to New York Red Bulls.

From Red Bulls release:

HARRISON, N.J (December 16, 2021) – The New York Red Bulls have acquired Long Island right back Dylan Nealis from Nashville SC in exchanged for $125,000 in General Allocation Money, the club announced today. New York could send an additional $75,000 in GAM to Nashville SC if specific performance conditions are reached.

TRANSACTION: The New York Red Bulls have acquired Long Island right back Dylan Nealis from Nashville SC in exchanged for $125,000 in General Allocation Money on December 15, 2021. New York could send an additional $75,000 in GAM to Nashville SC if specific performance conditions are reached.

Red Bulls release

Nealis joins his older brother, Sean, with the Red Bulls. The Long Island natives can line up next to each other – something they haven’t done since high school – in New Jersey.

Nealis joined NSC in a trade from Inter Miami in exchange for $175k in General Allocation Money (plus performance incentives that he likely didn’t hit with just 175 total minutes for the Boys in Gold this season) back in April. The Herons had drafted him No. 3 overall out of Georgetown University the previous year, and he played around 1200 minutes as a rookie. In his time with NSC, he took one shot, and assisted on Brian Anunga’s only goal of the year.

As noted in the preview of today Sunday’s action, NSC has a glut of RB/CB hybrid players, and getting rid of the one that hits the sweet spot of “we won’t use him, but other teams will” (obviously Alistair Johnston violates the former principle, Eric Miller likely the latter) is smart use of roster-building. The delay in completing the deal is most likely because Red Bulls were not protected in the Charlotte FC Expansion Draft, and wanted him to be safely harbored on Nashville’s (fully protected) roster until after that event.