Why hasn’t Union’s Andres Perea been selected or subbed in recently?

The Philadelphia Union have been playing a lot of soccer over the last couple of weeks. There have been a few variations of the Starting XI that Jim Curtin has played, but the offensive threat in Andrés Perea has been benched since his last appearance against his former team, Orlando City SC. Perea was traded to the Union for General Allocation Money back in December. The 22-year-old was a really nice piece for Orlando City and even helped them win the U.S. Open Cup last season. Trading for a player like Perea means that Union Sporting Director, Ernst Tanner, sees something in him to help give this roster depth.

Perea has been a nice depth piece for Curtin and this Union squad. This team has had issues scoring goals this season. Goal scoring has been extremely difficult for this club this season. The Union clearly were looking for Chris Donovan to be able to replace the energy that Sergio Santos and Corey Burke brought off the bench, but his play mixed in with Mikael Uhre has been underwhelming. While Perea is a midfielder, having him coming into maybe replace Uhre, moving Gazdag next to Carranza or when Bedoya needs a rest. Perea should be seeing minutes with his 3 goals this season across all competitions.

In both the Orlando and Alianza F.C. match, Perea had confidence and created chances. Perea was not afraid to shoot the ball or get into the areas to do the dirty work. As Curtin has said before, confidence is contagious, and it seems like Perea could be a leading cause to an outbreak. Hopefully we see Perea in a match soon because it has been some time since we saw Perea be selected.

Perea hasn’t seen the pitch since scoring a goal against his former club. Jim Curtin has been asked about Perea a few times in separate press conferences and his answers were pretty similar.

“Yeah, we discussed a lot of different formations and different changes. He (Perea) has been unfortunate to not be selected recently. A good young player that we have a lot of confidence in. He is still learning a lot about the defensive side of the ball in our system. I think he is a player who will get better over time here. Certainly, a good player.” Jim Curtin remarking on why Perea wasn’t played during the loss to Cincinnati when the starting lineup had so many changes in the starting lineup. Perea could have been the offensive spark they were looking for in that loss.

Curtin needs to find ways to get Perea into games. Curtin needs to find his go to guy off the bench who can create a spark and bring energy. Right now, with Jack McGlynn starting due to Leon Flach having an injury, Quinn Sullivan has been the first sub off the bench for the Union. Jesús Bueno hasn’t been great for the Union and has been pretty passive on the defensive side of the ball. Joaquin Torres has been okay, but he has held on to the ball too much. Torres has clearly been trying too much to make things happen. Obviously when Flach is back, McGlynn will be back on the bench, unless he continues to play this way.

“We know Andrés both from our league as well as various international tournaments and were immediately impressed with his ability and tenacity. Andrés is a versatile player who can play multiple positions in our system. We believe he is ready to take the next step in his development and will challenge for a significant role as he learns our style of play and integrates into the team.” Ernst Tanner said in a release after acquiring Perea.

Hopefully Perea will be selected soon and will get his chance to shine. There is a decent amount of room at Midfield, but a player can earn his way into more minutes. As the season progresses, I wouldn’t be surprised to see other players become go to guys for Curtin. Perea is signed here through 2025 with a club option in 2026 and will get more chances to prove his worth.