In 2025, San Diego FC will play their inaugural season in Major League Soccer, but before that can take place they have to finalize their roster under new head coach Mikey Varas. While some signings such as Hirving Lozano and Paddy McNair have already been finalized to join the expansion side, one way that the new side can add talent is via the MLS Expansion draft which will take place at 7:30 p.m. ET Wednesday on the club’s website.
The club will have a chance to select up to five players from the eligible player list, but no more than one player can be taken from any club. Each club had a chance to protect 12 eligible players and there are further protections for Home Grown or Generation Adidas players who are automatically protected. Any club to have a player selected will also receive $50,000 in General Allocation Money. While no trades are permitted during the draft, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be ones after but let’s take a look at the list of players eligible for San Diego to select:
One notable player not on this list is While Lorenzo Insigne was left unprotected by Toronto FC, that’s a player who wouldn’t be expected to move due to his salary. As of September, he was due a base salary of $7.5 million, which is the third highest in the league behind Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets. San Diego may have had rumors swirling around Kevin De Bruyne, but selecting Insigne would cause a headache that isn’t worth it.
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