European correspondent: Shevchenko moving to D.C. United

Ashley Gray works the European football content world out of Latvia. You see his work in the UK’s MailOnline. So, presumably, he knows the movers and shakers of Eastern European soccer – some of them, at least. Safe to say, he knows more of them than most of us in the States.

So perhaps he knows something we don’t. Because he says this morning via Twitter that Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko is heading to D.C. United.

We told you last week why rumors of “Sheva’s” move to the States shouldn’t be dismissed as another self-serving, agent-planted tale.

Here’s the thing: last week D.C. United officials told us they wanted to keep midfielder Branko Boskovic. Assuming they can, they are all full up on DPs (three max under league guidelines). Perhaps the caveat here is that they hope to keep Boskovic on a lesser salary, one that drops him below DP designation. Even in that case, officials around RFK would have to find the salary cap room – which seems like a quite a stretch at this point.

(Update and clarification: From what I understand now, the vagaries of the Designated Player rule may be such that De Rosario’s deal doesn’t actually constitute a DP designation. Therefore, Shevchenko — or anyone, for that matter — could be added at a DP salary, which he would almost certainly fetch. Again, the money must be found under the salary cap, so nothing changes there.)