Sporting Kansas City announced on Friday that the club has acquired allocation money from Toronto FC in exchange for Herculez Gomez’s right of first refusal within MLS.
Gomez, 33, concluded a six-season stint in Major League Soccer by playing in Kansas City from 2008-2009 with one goal and five assists in 40 appearances across all competitions. Gomez, a 2010 FIFA World Cup veteran who has six goals in 24 caps for the U.S. MNT, has since played for six teams in Liga MX over the past six years.
Per MLS roster rules and regulations, allocation money is money that is available to a club in addition to its salary budget.
“Allocation money can be used to buy-down a player’s salary budget charge as part of managing a team’s roster, including buying a salary budget charge below the League maximum of $436,250. For example, a team may buy down a player earning $450,000 to a budget charge of $250,000 by using $200,000 of allocation money.”
Allocation money can also be applied in the following circumstances:
- To sign players new to MLS (that is, a player who did not play in MLS during the previous season).
- To re-sign an existing MLS player.
- In connection with the exercise of an option to purchase a player’s rights or the extension of a player’s contract for the second year provided the player was new to MLS in the immediately prior year.
Thursday marked the closing of Major League Soccer's secondary transfer window, which allowed teams to sign players under contract in another country or complete trades within MLS that involve players. Sporting KC acquired Amobi Okugo from Orlando City SC in a trade last month and added 21-year-old midfielder Jordi Quintilla this week.
