2025 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread

[gbservis]

There is an argument to be made that, pound for pound, David Lee has been the worst talent evaluator and the worst sporting director in MLS over the last three seasons.

David Lee has done okay with Superdraft picks, MLS acquisitions, and players we have gotten without paying a fee (Wolf, Martinez, etc.), but he has an abysmal record for any players he actually pays a fee for. Full details are below but Lee has spent a total of $47.8M in transfer fees (Claudio spent $13.5M).

• $5.5M - Profit from Sales (Gabby and Acevedo)
• -$2.6M - Loss from player sold for less than acquisition or lost for near nothing (Amundsen and Andrade)
• $16.2M - Players currently on loan providing no value to the club (Magno and Jovan)
• $3M - Started a 2024 playoff game (Freese, Risa, Illenic, Perea, Santi)
• $14.4M - 2024 Playoff benchwarmers still on the roster (Tanasijevic, Ojeda, Fernandez)

$47.8M was spent and $3M of that money resulted in players that started a playoff game in 2024.

Lees' entire paid transfer fee record for reference

2023/24

• Mijatovic - $8.7M (gone, no $ return yet)
• Ojeda - $7M
• Perea - $600K
• Tanasijevic - $400K

2022/23

• Illenic - $1M
• Freese - $400K
• Fernandez - $5M
• Bakrar - $2M
• Risa - $1M
• Santi- ? (fee not reported)

2021/22

• Pereira - $5M (sold for $10M)
• Thiago Martins - $3.8M

2020/21

• Talles Magno - $7.5M (gone, no $ return yet)
• Thiago Andrade - $1.60M (lost for a small amount of GAM in the super draft)
• Malte Amundsen - $1.4M (transferred out for $400K GAM, $1M Loss)
• Alfredo Morales - $100K
• Acevado - $2.3M ( Sold for $2.85M)

 

[ZYanksRule]

If we have a disappointing season, I think Lee being on the chopping block is a very real possibility