FC Dallas has announced the return of defender Shaquell "Shaq" Moore from Nashville SC in exchange for $50,000 in 2025 General Allocation Money (GAM) and up to $100,000 in incentive-based GAM.
Moore signs with Dallas on a two-year deal with a one-year club option. Nashville retains a sell-on percentage of any future transfer of the player outside of MLS.
The 28-year old returns to Dallas after joining the FC Dallas Academy in 2014 before departing for Europe in 2015. Moore played for CD Tenerife in LaLiga2, where he made 101 appearances across all competitions from 2019 to 2022. He made his professional debut with CF Huracán Moncada at 18 years old and went on to play 174 times over eight seasons with Spanish sides Atlético Levante UD and CF Reus Deportiu.
Moore made his MLS debut with Nashville SC in July 2022 and has tallied 82 appearances across the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, Concacaf Champions Cup, and Leagues Cup.
A U.S. international, Moore has made 19 appearances since his debut in 2018. He featured in the U.S. men's national team's draw with England and victory over Iran during the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ in Qatar. Moore also represented the U.S. in the 2024 Copa América.
BDS Take
I remember when Moore was returning to the US after a few seasons in Europe back in 2022. At the time, I was hopeful FC Dallas was able to land him but it turns out we had to wait a couple of seasons to see him return to Frisco.
The big question will now become, how much is FC Dallas actually spending on Moore? The GAM in the trade makes it seem like they got a nice deal with Nashville, who had paid a hefty $2 million transfer fee to obtain him in 2022. In 2024, Moore made $800k according to the MLSPA’s salary guide. His cap hit was hefty and due to that transfer fee.
The new two-year deal with club option tells me he’s not going to be earning quite that much in 2025, but we honestly won’t know until the salary guide comes out in the spring.
I hope the club is able to bring a bit of that annual salary down a bit since they won’t be taking on the transfer fee hit that Nashville was dealing with these last two seasons.
Aside from that, Moore adds some quality to the right-back slot. While folks believe he never lived up to the hype in Nashville (which, for the money they spent on him, he didn’t), 12 assists in three seasons isn’t terrible. He is also in his prime at 28 years old, and he brings a nice bit of athleticism to the defense.
This move also tells me a couple of other things. For starters, you can’t put to rest any talk of Ruan returning to Frisco in 2025. He was a rental for those final few games of the season and nothing more. Plus, there are talks of him going back to Brazil in January when he officially becomes a free agent.
Second, this also kind of tells me that the club doesn’t have high hopes for Geovane Jesus returning anytime soon to start 2025. I find it hard to think that they’d go trade for a new starting right back if they knew Jesus was going to be fit come preseason.
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