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Los Angeles FC will have a couple former captains to choose from the Seattle Sounders in the Dec. 12 Expansion Draft. Free agent Brad Evans being unprotected was expected. Slightly more surprising, but not entirely unexpected as seen in this year’s protectinator results, is that Designated Player Osvaldo Alonso is also on Seattle’s unprotected list.
The complete list includes two free agents (Evans and Lamar Neagle), as well as Joevin Jones, who already transferred away on a free via pre-contract with Darmstadt.
- Tony Alfaro
- Osvaldo Alonso (DP)
- Jordy Delem (intl)
- Brad Evans (FA)
- Oniel Fisher (int’l)
- Joevin Jones (int’l, can only acquire rights)
- Calum Mallace
- Zach Mathers
- Bryan Meredith
- Tyler Miller
- Lamar Neagle (FA)
- Harry Shipp
The list means that Will Bruin was protected and that Alonso does not have a No-Trade Clause. Seattle also benefits from not having to use protection slots on all Homegrown and Generation Adidas players (though they currently have none of the latter).
President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey protected his core players, including every starter in the MLS Cup except Jones, choosing instead to ensure they retain Nouhou’s rights. Though Seattle is daring essentially LAFC to take the injured Alonso, he is also merely the forced casualty of having limited spots to protect a talented roster.
LA the Greater (we’re making that a thing) will make five selections from the league-wide unprotected lists this upcoming Tuesday. A team can only have one player, at most, selected from its unprotected list; if a player is selected the team losing the player receives additional GAM for the season.