Ahead of LAFC’s expansion draft, D.C. United has released their list of protected players. As per MLS rules, all MLS clubs are allowed to protect eleven players, and LAFC may only select one player from a given team. Teams who lose a player via the expansion draft are given $50,000 in general allocation money (GAM) by the league.
United’s list of eleven is as follows:
- Zoltan Stieber (international)
The major news item here is that United is not protecting Bill Hamid. For MLS’s purposes, Hamid is still a United player until his contract actually ends at the end of 2017, and theoretically LAFC could pick him, which would give them his future MLS rights (which United currently hold, as they made a bona fide offer before he opted to sign a pre-contract deal with FC Midtjylland).