Toronto FC acquired US$200,000 in general allocation money Tuesday from Orlando City SC in exchange for an international roster spot.
It marks the second time in seven days that TFC has traded away an international slot. On April 20, it sent one to FC Dallas for $225,000 in general allocation money.
In 2021, Major League Soccer has a total of 216 international roster slots divided among its 27 clubs. The roster slots are tradable, with no limit on the number of international slots a team can have.
Toronto currently has seven international players — Ifunanyachi Achara (Nigeria), Auro (Brazil), Tsubasa Endoh (Japan), Yeferson Soteldo and Erickson Gallardo (Venezuela), Chris Mavinga (France) and Alejandro Pozuelo (Spain) — on its first-team roster.
But players on injured reserve do not occupy a roster slot so the team is currently only using five of its seven international slots — with Achara and Gallardo on injured reserve.
Allocation money is money available to a club in addition to its salary budget. It can be used to ``buy down'' a player's salary budget charge, sign a player or off-set player acquisition costs, among other things.
GM Ali Curtis said the allocation money obtained in the recent trades is "somewhat related and helpful" to the acquisition of Soteldo. TFC may make one or two more transactions in the next week or so, he added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2021
The Canadian Press