Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union announced Friday they acquired the playing rights to defender Carlos Valdes from Independiente Santa Fe of Colombia's First Division and transferred disgruntled defender Carlos Ruiz to Veracruz in Mexico's second division league, Liga de Ascensio.
Valdes, loaned this January to Philadelphia, has played in 20 games for the Union and scored his first professional goal July 17 in a 3-0 win over the New England Revolution and has led a defensiev unit that has had seven shutouts and have given up 19 goals in 21 league games.
Valdes began his pro career in 2003 at America de Cali, where he became team captain and led them to the 2008 Torneo Finalizacion before being transferred to Independiente in 2009, where he led them to the Colombian Cup that season, also as team captain.
In 2005, he led Colombia's national team to the U-20 South American Cup title and, in 2006, to the Caribbean Games crown.
He has played four times for his country's senior national team since debuting in 2008.
Ruiz came to Philadelphia February 22 on a free transfer from Aris FC of the Greek SuperLiga during the Union's preseason camp in Orlando and led the team in scoring with six goals in 14 games.
He began his MLS career in 2002 with the Los Angeles Galaxy, where he scored 24 goals, was named the league's Most Valuable Player, and led the team to an MLS Cup title.
He also played in MLS for FC Dallas and Toronto FC before leaving the league.
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