The wait is over: New York City FC released the list of the nine players they will leave unprotected for the 2024 MLS Expansion Draft. It includes two strikers in Mounsef Bakrar and Jovan Mijatović, playmaker Maxi Moralez, and all three center-backs in Birk Risa, Strahinja Tanasijević, and Thiago Martins.
That’s a lot of talent to leave exposed to San Diego FC, the Major League Soccer expansion team that will start playing next year. The 2024 MLS Expansion Draft will take be streamed live tomorrow, December 11 at 10:30 pm ET. San Diego are allowed five selections in total, and may only pick one player per team.
2024 MLS Expansion Draft
New York City FC | Exposed Players
| Player | |
|---|---|
| 1. | Thiago Andrade |
| 2. | Mounsef Bakrar |
| 3. | Rio Hope Gund |
| 4. | Jovan Mijatović |
| 5. | Maxi Moralez |
| 6. | Birk Risa |
| 7. | Tomás Romero |
| 8. | Strahinja Tanasijević |
| 9. | Thiago Martins |
Some of the names on the list come as a surprise. Mijatović didn’t make a strong impression in his debut season for New York City, but the 19-year-old is a highly-regarded prospect who reportedly cost $8.6 million to sign — although Tom Bogert reports that the fee is being paid in installments, and it could be that if San Diego choose him they’ll be on the hook for 75% of that sum. Likewise, Bakrar disappointed in 2024, failing to make the starting position his, but the 23-year-old does everything you could ask of a striker except score, and reportedly cost the club $2 million to sign.
Exposing Moralez is a safe bet. The 37-year-old is currently negotiating his contract with NYCFC, and San Diego are unlikely to use one of their five choices on an aging playmaker who may simply opt not to return to MLS.
Leaving the team’s three center-backs exposed – including Designated Player and team captain Thiago Martins – feels like a calculated gamble. One of the few players already with San Diego is Paddy McNair, a 29-year-old center-back signed from Middlesbrough FC and currently on loan to West Bromwich Albion in the Championship. San Diego is in the market for a partner for McNair, and New York City knew they were going to expose at least one center-back who stands a good chance of being picked. Thiago Martins might be the best of the three but he is the least likely to be selected because he’s a DP, and would require a San Diego that already signed Hirving “Chucky” Lozano as the team’s first Designated Player to dedicate a slot to a defender.
John Baney
2024 MLS Expansion Draft
New York City FC | Protected Players*
| Player | |
|---|---|
| 1. | Julián Fernández |
| 2. | Matt Freese |
| 3. | Mitja Ilenič |
| 4. | Malachi Jones |
| 5. | Alonso Martínez |
| 6. | Agustín Ojeda |
| 7. | Kevin O’Toole |
| 8. | Keaton Parks |
| 9. | Andrés Perea |
| 10. | Santiago Rodríguez |
| 11. | Talles Magno |
| 12. | Hannes Wolf |
* Based on the roster released on December 5, 2024
Each MLS club is allowed to protect 12 players from the 2024 MLS Expansion Draft. In addition, Homegrown and Generation adidas players who are 25 years of age or under are automatically protected from the draft.
As MLS releases the names of the players left exposed, and not the players who are protected, it creates a bit of mystery around Nicolás Acevedo. The 25-year-old midfielder is currently on loan to Esporte Club Bahia but remained on New York City’s roster as of last week. That means he is either on the protected list, or, if the recent rumor is true, he joined Bahia permanently.
2024 MLS Expansion Draft
New York City FC | Automatically Protected Players
| Player | |
|---|---|
| 1. | Maximo Carrizo |
| 2. | Andrew Baiera |
| 3. | Tayvon Gray |
| 4. | Justin Haak |
| 5. | Christian McFarlane |
| 6. | Alex Rando |
| 7. | James Sands |
| 8. | Jonathan Shore |
Hudson River Blue Staff
the HRB panel’s prediction was spot on! 🙂 looks like Bakrar or Romero can be pretty attractive choice for SD, no?
Looks that way. Although there’s a lot of solid players available, a surprising number really. Guess I know what I’m doing tomorrow at 10:30 pm.
waht really matters will be the price tag, no? $$$
So Talles Magno was protected… how should we interpret that? Is that just a move that ensures the club retains the possible future compensation from Corinthians if the loan becomes permanent? Or might the club be considering bringing him back?Feels like we could be losing Mijatović tomorrow night, but maybe not. If SD wants to go with experience over youthful potential, there are a few unprotected older goal scorers – Josef Martinez?
Or could be Talles Magno has a no-trade clause in his contract that NYCFC must honor – those details aren’t disclosed to us.There’s a lot of talent on the table across the league tbh. Wonder if NYCFC will dodge this bullet?
Considering they only get five picks, we may indeed dodge a bullet, although I wouldn’t be shocked if they were to take Birk Risa given the fact McNair is right-footed. But that’s assuming they want to be viable defensively first. And there might be less expensive options out there.One of the Forum members brought up the possibility of them taking Jovan and flipping him to Europe for a quick buck. That wouldn’t shock me, either. Especially if they already have a striker in mind and don’t need the draft process to land him. I don’t think it’s a very high probability, but it could happen.
@Kevin J. Rogers – wow, if SD is able to take Jovan and then flip him for profit, I must really be missing something about the mechanics of all of this… because that would seem like one of the worst NYCFC financial moves possible. Pay $8.6 million for a young player with a high ceiling, play him sparingly in one season (understandably so, as he has much growth to do), then leave him unprotected for an expansion club to swoop in and cash him in. I really hope there is a clever strategy going on here!
Yeah, it would mean Jovan is a total bust. That’s one of the reasons I thought David would protect him. But the slot went to Talles Magno, which may have been contractually required.I thought maybe Hannes would be left off since we have so many forwards, and he’s been pretty vocal about returning to Europe. But he’s still in the plan. And I like it. The next gaffer (I’m looking at you, Carlos Vicens) is going to be glad to have him, especially with Malachi back and healthy on the other side. Anyway, it’s entirely possible Jovan is a calculated risk. According to Transfermarkt, his market value has stayed level at €6 million, which is double where he was just before coming over from Red Star (and, it’s worth noting, is less than we paid for him). Considering the fact he didn’t play, San Diego may determine they can only get something close to where he was with Red Star in Dec. 2023, €3 million, which may make the math a wash.
@Kevin J. Rogers – regarding Jovan, I clicked through to the Tom Bogert article referenced above in the HRB post, and it was an excellent and eye opening article. It talks about the likelihood that NYCFC is paying the Jovan transfer fee in installments, which would make it a far more expensive selection for SD (and thus nullifying my concern that this would be as horrific a financial move by NYCFC as I feared). In other words, leaving Jovan unprotected more likely means that we don’t think SD would be willing to spend the remaining transfer fee it would take to pick him. Bogert’s article goes into other interesting details about the expansion draft, such as “handshake agreements” – I highly recommend giving it a read.
Ahh, good point – I didn’t think about the no trade clause. Wonder if that still applies to an expansion draft? We very well might dodge the bullet. It’s all kind of intriguing. I understood the points made on the HRB podcast about expansion drafts being silly and unnecessary in the MLS… but I think I’ll be glued in at 10:30pm tomorrow as well!
The no trade clause does apply — the club have an obligation to protect the player. Crazy rules, best thing is to burn the whole thing down and get rid of the Expansion Draft.
Whew! That could have gone much worse. I can sleep now!