D.C. United completed the acquisition of striker Deshorn Brown on Tuesday, swinging a trade with the Houston Dynamo to move up to the No. 1 spot in the MLS Allocation Ranking and sign the Jamaican international from the USL’s Tampa Bay Rowdies.
D.C. sent $100,000 in General Allocation Money, $75,000 in Targeted Allocation Money and a 2018 international roster spot to the Dynamo in exchange for the top allocation spot, and Houston also received United’s No. 9 spot in the ranking order in the deal.
“Deshorn is an athletic forward with proven technical ability who has scored goals everywhere he has been,” said D.C. general manager and VP of soccer operations Dave Kasper in a club release. “We are excited to welcome him to D.C. and look forward to his immediate contributions.”
Because Brown was playing with the Rowdies, U.S. Soccer holds his International Transfer Certificate, allowing D.C. to sign him outside the international transfer window, which opens later this summer.
A native of Manchester, Jamaica, Brown rose to prominence as an NCAA standout at the University of Central Florida and was selected by the Colorado Rapids with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft. He scored 20 goals and four assists in 62 games (50 starts) over two-plus seasons with the Rapids, and finished second in the 2013 MLS Rookie of the Year vote behind then-teammate Dillon Powers. He has 14 caps with the Jamaican national team.
Brown, 26, transferred from Colorado to Norwegian side Valerenga in March 2015 and moved to Chinese side Shenzhen FC a little over a year later for a transfer fee reported to be over $1 million. He bagged seven goals in 14 matches in China’s second division before a coaching change saw him slip down the pecking order at Shenzhen, and last winter he joined the Rowdies on what was reported at the time to be a short-term deal.
The Washington Post reported that Brown trained with D.C. United on Tuesday and that Black-and-Red head coach Ben Olsen said he’d be eligible for Wednesday’s visit from Atlanta United (7:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE).
