Major League Soccer announced today the list of players available for selection in the 2024 Expansion Draft, where expansion side San Diego FC will have the opportunity of selecting up to five players from the eligible list on Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 9:30 PM CT.

FC Dallas Expansion Draft List

Protected (12)
Manuel ‘Show’ Cafumana, Patrickson Delgado, Marco Farfan, Logan Farrington, Sebastien Ibeagha, Bernard Kamungo, Petar Musa, Tsiki Ntsabeleng, Maarten Paes, Enes Sali, Nkosi Tafari and Alan Velasco

Automatically Protected Players (6)
Antonio Carrera, Jesús Ferreira, Nolan Norris, Paxton Pomykal, Tarik Scott and Alejandro Urzua.

Available for selection (16)
Jimmy Maurer, Amet Korça, Omar Gonzalez, Isaiah Parker, Ruan, Ema Twumasi, Geovane Jesus, Sam Junqua, Herbert Endeley, Asier Illarramendi, Liam Fraser, Carl Sainté, Sebastian Lletget, Tomas Pondeca, Eugene Ansah and Paul Arriola.

BDS Thoughts

So, it turns out I was thinking fairly similar to what the club actually ended up doing today with their protection lists. The only ones I had wrong were protecting Sebastien Ibeagha and Patrickson Delgado over Sam Junqua and Geovane Jesus.

What does this all tell us? For starters, the club is likely bringing back Delgado as a U22 signing as they look to finalize that purchase.

Second, those talks with Ruan, Asier Illarramendi and Jimmy Maurer may not be as progressed as Delgado. Though, I wouldn't have protected any of them even if they had moved as far as a re-signing here.

Next, the club likely believes the same way that I do that if San Diego wants to take someone like Paul Arriola or Sebastian Lletget off their hands through this draft, they're okay with that. Not only will they get a small allocation for that pick but it would remove a large TAM-level salary off their books for 2025. I get you'd want to recoup some additional items for one of those guys, but I think you take the risk of them being selected here.

I think Junqua is really the only player I'd worry about losing through this draft. He's versatile, fairly cheap for the salary cap, and would be a very sensible selection for San Diego. After him, I could see Endeley taken, even with the notion that he'd have to become a senior roster pick. He did earn a MVP award in the MLS NEXT Pro Cup, which could be attractive to some clubs to consider.

At the end of the day, there isn't a ton of surprise for me here. FC Dallas might still lose a guy in this draft, but they also may come out without any damage.