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Red Bulls decline options on Wright-Phillips, Robles; Atlanta does same with Pogba, Shea

Some big names were on the lists of players who won't have options picked up at some of the top clubs in Major League Soccer on Thursday.

The New York Red Bulls have declined the contract option on Luis Robles, the league's goalkeeper of the year in 2015, and longtime frontman Bradley Wright-Phillips, while Atlanta United did the same with Florentin Pogba, Justin Meram and Brek Shea. 

The LA Galaxy also announced that they are in contract talks with Romain Alessandrini, but they don't intend to keep him as one of the team's designated players.

The 35-year-old Robles completed his eighth season with a 13-14-6 record and nine shutouts. For his career, Robles has a 114-71-53 mark with 72 shutouts and a 1.29 goals-against average, while Wright-Phillips departs the club as its all-time leading scorer.

Pogba, Meram and Shea were both part of the Atlanta United team that made it to the Eastern Conference Final with Atlanta only to lose to Toronto FC with a trip to MLS Cup on the line.

Alessandrini has been a designated player for the Galaxy for the past three seasons. The 30-year-old Frenchman has been an outstanding playmaker and scorer when healthy, but he appeared in just five games last season and missed five months with a knee injury.

Jonathan Dos Santos and Cristian Pavon will fill two of the Galaxy's three designated player slots next season, and the club hopes to add a high-profile striker to replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who announced he would not return to the club last week.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.

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