Neil Pierre signed a new deal with the Union into 2031. Don’t expect him to be here for all of it.
Pierre is still likely going to make a big-money move to Europe in the future. For now, the Union were happy to give him a raise.
The Union announced Thursday morning that they agreed to a new contract with prized centerback Neil Pierre, guaranteed through the summer of 2031 with a team option for the 2031-32 season.
It’s not that the Union felt the need to sign Pierre, who turned 19 on Monday, because he’s itching to leave. He isn’t, even though everyone knows his time will come soon enough — and when it does, should he stay on his current trajectory, there should be a large number in the headline.
Conversely, the Union aren’t in any haste to cash in. They’d like to keep him at least through the “sprint season” in the first half of 2027 that will start Major League Soccer’s transition to a fall-to-spring calendar. Along with improving the odds of winning, it will let Pierre play with Mark McKenzie, who will join the team in January. That should look good on the field, and the club’s marketing department likely won’t mind either.
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In fact, the eye-catching thing was the length of the new deal. Pierre was already signed through 2029, with a team option into 2030, and no one expects him to be in town that long. So why agree to something even longer?
The answer is that it doesn’t change any timeline. He should still be here into next summer, then bidders can line up and we’ll see what happens.
What does change is that the runway is now a little longer. And Pierre gets a raise, a source with knowledge of the matter said, which the club was happy to provide. His guaranteed salary this year is $129,798, according to the MLS Players Association, which these days in MLS is at the lower end of the scale.
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“Neil is one of the brightest young center backs in our league, and he has consistently made the most of the opportunities he’s earned throughout his development within our club,” Union sporting director Jon Scheer said in a statement. “He has taken significant steps forward this season, and his progression is another example of the pathway we’ve established from our Academy through Union II to the first team. We’re excited to extend his future with the club and look forward to supporting his continued development and growth.”
Interim manager Ryan Richter held his weekly news conference a few hours after the deal was announced, and spoke of his satisfaction.
“He deserves some of the guarantees that come with the new contract,” he said. “I think his play and his performance, he’s been rewarded for that and he deserves that. And then there’s good faith on both sides that when that time eventually does come [for a sale], we’ll make sure the club and Neil and his group are all on the same page.”
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