After a month of waiting, FC Dallas has officially traded veteran midfielder Paul Arriola to the Seattle Sounders for up to $300,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) if certain performance-based metrics are hit and the Sounders’ 2026 first round MLS SuperDraft Pick.

FC Dallas will retain a portion of Arriola’s salary budget charge in 2025*.

FC Dallas brought Arriola to the team ahead of the 2022 season on what was the largest trade involving GAM in league history. The deal with D.C. United was worth $2 million in GAM up front, as well as a potential additional $300,000 GAM in performance-based incentives.

Arriola ends his time with FC Dallas with 85 regular season appearances, with 77 starts. He was a relatively productive player during his time in North Texas. Playing mostly as a full-back and wing-back, he had five goals and seven assists in 2024. He spent part of 2023 injured (only two goals and four assists), while in 2022, he had 10 goals and seven assists while playing more as a winger.

Arriola is a United States international and has made 50 appearances for the USMNT since making his debut in 2016. He won the Gold Cup with the U.S. in 2017 and 2021.


BDS Take

This one, like the Jesus Ferreira deal, have been in the works for a month now. While the Ferreira deal felt weird and odd, this one seems way more along the lines of a pure salary dump by the club for the upcoming season.

Getting a small hit of GAM and a SuperDraft pick back is the detail we didn't know about in this deal. In all honesty, the GAM back just shows how desperate the club probably was to shed Arriola’s salary from the roster this season.

Losing Arriola is going to hurt more in the locker room and training fields than it will on the field for 34 games. I've enjoyed seeing what Arriola brought to this team these last few years, but his production outside the 2022 season never matched what his TAM/DP level of salary was at for the club.

* There was a previous report that FC Dallas would be on the hook for up to $1m in salary for Arriola in 2025.