SAY THIS FOR ALI CURTIS and Jesse Marsch—the New York Red Bulls technical staff are aren’t trigger shy and the duo appear determined to transform a squad two months removed from the Eastern Conference finals.

Tuesday the team’s new general manager and head coach pulled off a substantial trade with the Montreal Impact, sending starting midfielder Eric Alexander and Cameroonian international Ambroise Oyongo to Quebec in exchange for Brazilian midfielder Felipe Martins and the top spot in the allocation order Major League Soccer uses for certain American players coming to the league from abroad.

Several league sources confirmed to American Soccer Now that the Red Bulls will use that allocation spot on United States national team midfielder Sacha Kljestan, who has been with Belgian power Anderlecht since 2010. That deal is not yet completed “but it’s very close,” said one person close to the negotiations.

Kljestan, 29, has won three straight Belgian league titles with Anderlecht and regularly featured for the club in the UEFA Champions’ League. But despite that, and U.S. national team coach Jurgen Klinsman’s stated preference for players challenging themselves at a high level abroad, Kljestan has been an afterthought for the national team of late, earning only one of his 46 caps since 2013.

Though he was born and raised in Southern California and began his pro career with Chivas USA, signing with Red Bull is a homecoming of sorts for Kljestan, who played three seasons of college soccer at Seton Hall, located about 15 minutes from Red Bull Arena, before being taken 5th overall in 2006.

At Chivas USA, Kljestan was mentored by Marsch, who was then one of the team’s sage veterans—so the pair obviously have a history together.

The same can be said for Martins and Marsch, who brought the midfielder to MLS in 2012 when he was Impact head coach. In three seasons with Montreal, Martins, 24, started 86 games and scored 12 goals to go with 24 assists.

Earlier this month the Red Bulls pulled off a draft day coup when it picked Hermann Trophy winner Leo Stolz from UCLA 18th overall. Stolz, Kljestan, and Martins will be central components of a revamped Red Bulls attack that will look to replace French icon Thierry Henry, arguably the most-accomplished player in MLS history, who retired at the end of last season.

But while Henry’s skill will be missed, the team may find Alexander, 26, just as hard to replace. Last fall then-head coach Mike Petke moved Alexander from the flank and paired him with Dax McCarty as dual defensive midfielders—and the Red Bulls suddenly began to reach their vast potential, finishing the regular season on a 6-2-1 run before eliminating reigning champions Sporting Kansas City in the first round and top-seeded D.C. United in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Alexander will now bring that same workrate and versatility to an Impact side that could use a defensive upgrade after giving up 58 goals—third-most in MLS—a season ago. The Impact’s midfield doesn’t lack creativity with the likes of Americans Justin Mapp and Dilly Duka, but Alexander’s bite and willingness to do the grunt work should make him a nice fit for Frank Klopas’ team.

Meanwhile in Oyongo, 23, Les Impact get a French-speaking player currently starring for Cameroon in the African Nations Cup. Capable of playing either left back or left midfield, Oyongo’s stock appears to be on the rise after scoring Cameroon’s only goal in a 1-1 draw with Mali last week.

He joined Red Bull midway through last season and started 11 of the 13 games he played, mostly in midfield, with three assists. In the playoffs he came off the bench to assist a Bradley Wright-Phillips goal in the first round against Kansas City. When left back Roy Miller was suspended Oyongo started both games at left back against New England in the conference finals.

In addition to the trade and the negotiations with Kljestan, the Red Bulls made a series of smaller signings, adding defenders Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Damien Perrinelle, and Ronald Zubar.

Of the three, Jean-Baptiste, 23, may have the biggest upside. A native of Long Island who played two season at Connecticut, the six-foot-two center back was taken 8th overall by Portland in the 2012 SuperDraft and started 26 games in two seasons before being traded to Chivas USA a year ago. He started eight games last year then went unclaimed in the dispersal draft after MLS folded Los Angeles’ other club.

What do you think of this move? Good for the Red Bulls? Good for the Impact? Share your take below.

Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.