Columbus looking to deal Kei Kamara after incident with Higuain

The Sierra Leone forward was involved in a bizarre episode with teammate Federico Higuain.

Columbus Crew SC is looking to trade star forward Kei Kamara following Saturday's penalty-kick spat with teammate Federico Higuain, SI's Grant Wahl reports.

Kamara, who was a goal shy of a hat trick, argued at length with Higuain over who would take the penalty in the 52nd minute of Columbus's 4-4 draw with the Montreal Impact. After captain Michael Parkhurst intervened, Higuain converted to put Columbus up 4-1, only for the club to implode and concede three goals, settling for the draw.

Kamara lashed out at Higuain in his post-match comments, revealing a rift that certainly appears to go deeper than one penalty episode. The Columbus Dispatch reports that the club has suspended Kamara for one game for those remarks.

“That’s selfish,” Kamara said following the match. “That’s not teammates. That’s selfishness.

“I haven’t really had to depend on [Higuain] at all. How long have I been here? How many goals have I scored? How many have come from his assists? One, maybe two. I don’t depend on him. I depend on Ethan [Finlay], I depend on my outside backs to pass me balls.”

• ABNOS: What on earth went on between Kamara and Higuain?

A sticking point in dealing Kamara is that he is a Designated Player. Teams using their full allotment of DP slots would have to use considerable targeted allocation money to buy down the budget charge of one of them or would be prohibited from trading for the 31-year-old Kamara, whose 22 goals last season were a career high and tied for the most in MLS.

Kamara also would come at a considerable cost to any club after he signed a lucrative new deal following an off-season contract dispute. He is under contract with Columbus until 2018, though the terms have not been disclosed.

Hearing Columbus is trying to trade Kei Kamara pre-deadline, but it's hard to move DPs since so many teams have the maximum 3 DPs already.

— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) May 10, 2016

MLS's primary transfer window closes on Wednesday.