Oakland Roots announced they’ve released strikers Dom Dwyer and Miche-Naider Chéry from their contracts on Thursday.
It’s a surprising move from Oakland, parting ways with two center forwards as they begin preseason training.
Team sources have previously indicated that Dwyer was the highest-paid player on the team. With a lot of money off the books and two attacking roles vacated, it intimates that significant additions are incoming.
Dwyer struggled to see the field after his arrival in April, accumulating just 14 appearances and four starts for 452 minutes and one goal. As the 2024 season waged on, Oakland hoped Dwyer would make more of an impact closer to the playoffs. He wound up coming off the bench as a substitute in Roots’ 2-nil loss to Colorado Springs in the first round of the postseason.
As for Chéry, he never emerged as more than a depth option for Roots and slid behind Dwyer on the depth chart upon his arrival. With Project 51O striker Luis Saldaña fully recovered from a knee injury, Chéry was in a volatile spot for playing time.
At that point, it made more sense for Oakland to ship away Chéry on loan to gain playing time. Being 27 years old, it made less sense for Chéry to continue holding a roster spot.
Now, Oakland begins their ramp-up period with just Johnny Rodriguez as its only center forward currently on the roster. Roots have been clear about their intention to compete in 2025, meaning final signings should be on the way.
Dwyer, 34, is an 11-year veteran with a decade of experience in the MLS, including one-year with Orlando City when they were in USL Pro in 2013. He’s a Sporting KC legend from 2012-2017 with 128 appearances and 58 goals for the MLS side, winning two U.S. Open Cup titles and an MLS Cup Championship.
He spent 2017-2020 with Orlando City, scoring 24 goals and eight assists in 67 appearances and 54 starts. Toronto FC signed him in 2021-2022, recording one assist. Atlanta United signed him to a one-year deal in 2022.
Dwyer also has made four appearances with the United States National Team, scoring twice. He was a member of their 2017 Gold Cup title.
Chéry, 27, came from Violette A.C. of Port-au-Price in Haiti’s top-division, Ligue Haïtienne. He’s most known for leading Le Vieux Tigre to a 3-2 aggregate win over Austin FC in the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League Round of 16–where he scored twice in Violette’s 3-0 win back in March.
He finishes his time in Oakland with 30 appearances and 11 starts for 1,108 minutes, two goals, and one assist.
Makes sense to me. Given his age and lack of recent playing time, I think Dwyer was a bust from the beginning. I was more hopeful about Chéry. I watched the game against Austin and thought that he might be able to replicate that form with the Roots. He never seemed quite up to speed but hopefully he can find a team that makes good use of his talents. Hopefully there’s a large holding forward in the mold of Chèry or Karlsson that’s signable.