The internal cash transfer market is working as intended

The Galaxy had to trade Joveljic; the Union were right to trade McGlynn

Photo Couresty of Philadelphia Union

I had a chance to go on Nos Audietis on Thursday, chatting with my good buddy Jeremiah Oshan (who is clearly going to be the next Seattle tech billionaire now that he’s got the Sounder at Heart podcast network humming).

We spent an hour-and-a-half going through the Western Conference offseason, team by team. If you’re missing ETR, this will probably scratch some of your itch.

I embedded that link so if you click it, it’ll play on the part right where we discuss former Galaxy, soon-to-be-announced Sporting KC striker Dejan Joveljic, who was the first-ever MLS player to be sold for cash in an intra-league move.

There’s been speculation that this was another salary budget-crunch enforced move, given that Joveljic aged out of his U22 designation this offseason. Remember, a U22 can be paid up to a max roster charge (that’ll be $743k in 2025), but only hits the cap at $200k. So it’s a big jump – a significant part of the cap – even if there’s no MLS Cup-winning bonus on top of what he’s slated to earn as per MLS PA data.

However, I’ve looked at the numbers and am pretty sure the Galaxy were going to be fine keeping Joveljic this year. They’ve done enough wheeling and dealing (Jalen Neal and Mark Delgado out, $650k of 2025 GAM in; Gaston Brugman out, Sean Davis in; and a bunch of expensive contracts with options declined) to have a pretty clean cap sheet.

Nonetheless, this was a move the Galaxy absolutely had to make.

1. They’re selling Joveljic at a high point, coming off the postseason he had. That’s always good business.

2. Doing that nets them more GAM (we don’t know exactly how much yet), which provides budget flexibility this year and next.

3. If they didn’t sell him this year, they were 100% going to lose him for free after the season, because he 100% was going to look for a DP deal in 2026. The Galaxy are pot-committed to Gabriel Pec, Joseph Paintsil and Riqui Puig as their DP trio for the next few years, which means they had no way to re-sign him.

4. They have two open U22 initiative slots right now to go out and find the next Joveljic. Whoever they sign will hit the cap at $200k (at most), which then gives them flexibility to go out and add another veteran at mid-season (anyone else remember Billy Sharpe?).

There’s a reason why Brian McKay over at Backheeled called this one a week ago: the Galaxy had every incentive to make a profit off a player they’d identified and developed, and to get started on making the next one. And to be clear, I think any ambulatory human could score a dozen goals if they’re playing alongside Pec, Paintsil and Marco Reus in attack, so my prediction is whatever U22 striker they’re about to sign will see his value appreciate much more quickly than Joveljic’s did.

Bottom line: well done to Will Kuntz & Co.

I’m less enamored of this move from Sporting’s perspective, as I’m not entirely sold on Joveljic being an upgrade over Willy Agada:

It feels marginal to me. I think there were greater gains to be had in finding an elite, DP d-mid, but Sporting’s center forward depth chart is now, at least, one of the prettiest in the league. (And Agada suddenly becomes one of the more intriguing names potentially available, be it via trader or intra-league transfer).

As for the Jack McGlynn sale to the Houston Dynamo, which came through on Saturday morning (still not official as I type this, but Dynamo CSO Pat Onstad spilled the beans at ASI on Friday night), this is one makes sense for everybody involved:

• McGlynn was bad last year for Philly. Full stop. But I think a huge part of that is that he’s not meant for the Union’s murderball game model, which is going to get only more murder-y under new head coach Bradley Carnell. So moving him on for cash and, presumably¹, a sell-on fee 1) makes a profit on one academy product and 2) opens up playing time for another academy product. Buy your CJ Olney stock now, folks.

Keeping that homegrown pipeline wrenched wide open is CSO Ernst Tanner’s No. 1 goal in Chester. He’s done that with this move, even if it’s ultimately a little disappointing given what their expectations for a McGlynn move were a few years back.

• McGlynn himself walks into a starting job as a No. 8 with a 50-point team whose game model he perfectly suits (I’m going to make Jogo Benny-to happen). He’s replacing Hector Herrera, who is like the gold-plated, 100th percentile outcome for what McGlynn could possibly develop into.

If he’s healthy he’ll play 3000 minutes across all competitions and will be second in the league in touches per 90 behind Sergio Busquets. And he’ll have pressure to be *good*. No more of this bullshit:

You could not ask for a better situation for this kid to develop into the central midfielder we all want him to be. (And a bonus for USMNT sickos: Between McGlynn and Brooklyn Raines, there’s now a big reason to add the Dynamo to your watch list!).

• The Dynamo get an MLS-experienced No. 8 with exceptional passing range to slot into their position of greatest need, and get him on the relative cheap relative to his upside. They’ve removed basically all of the usual “will he adjust to a new league and a new culture?” doubt with this one.

He also fits into a U22 slot, which they have open. I haven’t seen that he’ll be officially tagged with that roster designation, but it makes a ton of sense to lock him into a deal that pays him commensurate with his responsibilities, but keeps his cap hit nice and low.

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It took a minute, but the new transfer rules are working as intended: teams are willing to pay to keep exciting, young players in the league, which just adds more incentives to everyone in MLS to develop more players, foreign and domestic.

Good stuff.

1. We don’t have to presume! As per Jonathan Tannenwald, it’s over $2 million cash, plus bonuses, plus 50% sell-on. I like all of that for both teams, though I do wonder if the 50% sell-on would make the Dynamo reluctant to ever sell the kid.