Revs Officially Trade Parkhurst's Rights to Columbus Crew

In case you missed Jake's post from this morning, we can now officially confirm that The New England Revolution has acquired the fourth overall pick in Thursday's 2014 MLS SuperDraft and allocation money from the Columbus Crew in exchange for the rights to defender Michael Parkhurst.

With the fourth overall selection, the Revolution now holds three first-round picks in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft - No. 4, No. 12 and No. 19 - as well as one second-round pick and one third-round pick.

"We certainly value Michael as a player having had him with us six seasons ago, but this trade provided us too much to pass up," Revolution general manager Michael Burns said. "This deal provides us with a significant amount of flexibility, both for our salary cap and our roster, and allows us to make additional moves to continue improving our roster."

Parkhurst, who was a member of the Revolution from 2005 through 2008, appeared in 115 games for the Revs during his four years in Foxborough. The Cranston, R.I., native was the 2005 MLS rookie of the year and the 2007 MLS defender of the year before joining Danish Superliga club Nordsjælland in December 2008. A year ago, he moved to German Bundesliga side FC Augsburg. Parkhurst also has earned 23 caps with the U.S. National Team.

I'd be willing to bet that the amount of Allocation money that Columbus forked over was fairly significant. And I feel that the words in Mike Burns' statement above were carefully chosen. A "significant amount of flexibility" could mean that the allocation money they acquired now allows them to pursue an international signing or two with less worry over budget considerations. Or perhaps that's just wishful thinking.

The Revs could be looking to add depth to their roster with all five of their SuperDraft picks this year, but it also would not surprise me if they put together a package of some of them for a better deal with a different team. Either way, we should know more about the Revolution's roster building plans throughout the week, especially if you consider Jeff Lemieux's comments on twitter yesterday to have some degree of knowledge behind them.

It's getting exciting now, guys.

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UPDATE: Further information on this deal was revealed this morning as ESPN's Jeff Carlisle tweeted that Parkhurst's salary will be more than $300,000 and that the Revs received "just over" $100,000 in allocation money. If this is true, then it would further reinforce this move as being a smart piece of business on behalf of New England. In all likelihood, if the Revs keep all 5 draft picks, then those 5 players combined would likely command a salary less than $300K.

And the $100,000 in allocation is a good chunk of change for the Revs to play with as they look abroad for an impact player, likely a striker, to bring in for the 2014 campaign. It's also helpful to keep in mind that New England shedded some big salaries this offseason as well, getting rid of Juan Toja and Chad Barret, who earned around $300,000 combined. And then of course Kalifa Cisse, who earned just shy of DP-level compensation, is off the books as well.

Financially, the Revs have a lot of wiggle room now. All that's left is to see what they can do with it.