The Chicago Fire have acquired New York Red Bulls captain Dax McCarty in a trade for general allocation money, the teams announced on Monday night.
The Fire will pay the Red Bulls $400,000 over the next two seasons in exchange for the midfielder.
"Since the middle of 2016, we made acquiring Dax our No. 1 priority," Fire general manager Nelson Rodriguez said in a club statement. "In order to do so, we had to exchange worthy and appropriate compensation.
"We believe adding his character and leadership in the locker room, as well as his exceptional soccer abilities on the field, dramatically improves our team."
NEWS | #cf97 Acquire Midfielder @DaxMcCarty11 in trade with @NewYorkRedBulls
Welcome to Chicago, Dax!
�� ➡️ https://t.co/Kzqx0wIbFm pic.twitter.com/IEooq1O3rS
- Chicago Fire (@ChicagoFire) January 17, 2017
Earlier this month, McCarty was called into the United States national team's January training camp for the first time in five years.
However, he was given permission to join up with the squad late after he was married this past weekend.
McCarty has become a key piece of the Red Bulls midfield since being traded there from D.C. United in 2011. He played a total of 14,381 minutes for the Red Bulls, a club record.
"We thank Dax for his service to the club," Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch said in a statement. "He will go down as one of the best players and captains in franchise history. At this point in time, we felt that this was the right move to put our team in the best position to succeed both now and for years to come."
McCarty joins a Chicago team that finished with the worst record in MLS last season, but which has already taken steps to improve this offseason by signing striker Nemanja Nikolic from Legia Warsaw former LA Galaxy midfielder Juninho on loan from Tijuana.
The Fire will be available to pay off a large portion of the McCarty trade with the $250,000 in general allocation money they received from New York City FC in exchange for the No. 3 pick at the MLS SuperDraft on Friday.