Metro history is peppered with idiotic trades, especially in the league's early years (heck, it pretty much started with one when Metro gave up a draft pick that became Eddie Pope for one that became Nicola Caricola). As MLS left its nascence, trades became less and less common, but it still didn't stop Metro from making one of the most stupid ones in 2012. Two of them, in fact, and they both involved Sebastien Le Poox... errr, Le Toux.

Philadelphia might have risen to MLS relevance over the last couple of years, but a decade ago it was just a middling expansion team. Its most prominent player was Sebastien Le Toux, a French striker who actually started with Seattle's USL's team before moving up to the big club. Philly took him in the expansion draft, and he immediately became the club's best performer (that's like being the tallest midget, but whatever), tallying 25 goals in two seasons (second best was 12).

After 2011, Philly was working on a deal to sell Le Toux to Bolton, but it fell through. Instead, they shipped him within MLS, to Vancouver for an unknown amount of allocation money. (Nick Sakiewicz was probably too cheap to pay his best player.) Le Poox called it "the saddest day". We'll get back to that.

As the 2012 season was chugging along, Metro was relying on the attacking combination of Titi Henry and Kenny Cooper, but the results were not there. One of the problems was Dane Richards, the dynamic winger who was having a bad season, with just a goal and two assists to his name in early July. Richards was also out of contract after the year, and made his desire to go to Europe known. So, facing with losing him for nothing, the Metro brass shipped him to Vancouver for Le Toux. Some allocation money was even thrown in.

Le Poox didn't exactly burn in up in Canada, with four goals in 19 games, but "Clever" Hans Backe gave him a start just two days after he was acquired. He was repaid immediately, as the Frenchman scored 24 minutes into the match, and Metro ended up drawing Seattle. Could he team up with Henry to form the French Connection? Could he spell Cooper to give Metro a change of pace?

In short: he couldn't. Le Poox never scored for Metro again in the 14 matches that followed. Assists weren't there either, as he only tallied one. Le Toux played like he did not want to be here; for long stretches, he was simply invisible on the field. By the time the playoffs rolled around, there were rumors that he was unhappy and wanted back to Philadelphia. Let's repeat: the season was not over at that point.

And then, "Clever" Hans outsmarted himself, starting Le Poox over Cooper in the playoff opener against DC. He was absolutely atrocious, and didn't make it off the bench in the return leg. (Let's not talk about the return leg.) Now, with the season over, the path was open for Le Toux to come back to Philly. "Sebastien indicated to us at the end of the season that he wanted to return to Philadelphia and we respected his request," new Metro Sporting Director Andy Roxburgh said. In return, Metro got allocation money and a striker named Josue Martinez, who scored a single goal in 18 games for the Worms. "The only team I wanted to play for was Philadelphia," Le Poox said at the time. Good riddance.

It was nice for Roxburgh to respect Le Poox's wishes, but it probably wasn't the best choice. (Although Metro did win the Shield next year, so it sort of worked out.) Martinez played just 11 minutes for Metro before being cut. Comparing that to Le Toux starting for the Worms for the next four years, doesn't make it exactly the best trade. Le Poox then went on to play for Colorado and DC, so perhaps Philly wasn't the only team he was willing to play for...

As for Richards, he finished out the year with Vancouver, scored three, then made on his promise to go to Europe. A short sting in England was followed by a year in Norway, when he was coached by large-nosed former Metro assistant Jan Halvor Halvorsen. By 2015, Richards came back to Metro, but that burst of speed was long gone. Still, one has to wonder what would have happened in 2012 if the trade was never made...