SAN JOSE –– With St. Louis City SC joining MLS next season, the league will hold an expansion draft Friday afternoon. The San Jose Earthquakes have left nine players unprotected, including their inaugural homegrown signing and a former second overall pick.
Tommy Thompson, San Jose’s first homegrown player, has been with the club since 2014. The 27-year-old defender has played 20 or more games in three out of the past four seasons. Toward the end of the 2022 season, he was starting in most of the Quakes’ games but had been mainly coming off the bench before that. Seven of San Jose’s players protected from the draft are defenders, signifying that San Jose could be ready to move on from a fan favorite.
Siad Haji, 22, is another noteworthy player who the Quakes left unprotected. He has only played 13 minutes with the team since San Jose took him No. 2 overall in the 2019 draft out of Virginia Commonwealth University. He played with various United States national soccer youth teams and recently clocked in with Somalia’s national team, but has never really been able to get minutes in San Jose because of the veteran-heavy midfield room. A start at a new club could see him reach his untapped potential.
Another player left unprotected was Shea Salinas, although he announced his retirement from soccer this past season.
St. Louis City SC will become the 29th member of MLS in 2023, the 11th MLS expansion team in the past eight years. It will have the opportunity to select up to five players from the eligible pool and can only claim a single player from each club. Austin FC, Atlanta United FC, D.C. United, LAFC, and New York City FC are exempt after losing a player to Charlotte FC in the 2021 Expansion Draft.
If the Earthquakes have a player taken, they will receive $50,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) as compensation.
Other players available for selection are:
GK – Matt BersanoD – Oskar ÅgrenM – George AsomaniM – Jan GregusM – Eric RemediM – Jack Skahan
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