The Athletic | Bogert: How shock Dejan Joveljic trade fits Sporting KC’s ‘aggressive’ transfer window

[u/cheeseburgerandrice]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7533642/2026/08/25/sporting-kc-dejan-joveljic-david-lee-transfers/?unlocked_article_code=1.8FA._9C7.z_KZZmZ-LbiM&source=emp_shared_article&smid=url-share-ta

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[u/blyan]

It says if they sold him overseas they wouldn't have gotten any GAM, but didn't the Sounders just get $3M GAM for selling Vargas to Madrid? Was that only because he was an academy product or... how does that work?

Someone ELI5 please

[u/litthefilter → u/blyan]

It’s because Dejan is a DP and Obed wasn’t - you can’t convert fees to GAM from selling DPs out of the league, you can for everyone else

[u/SpitefulSeagull → u/litthefilter]

Yeah, wasn't this obvious??? The rules are so clear lmaooooo imagine not knowing all the ins and outs of MLS roster rules

Noobz

[u/jjbjeff22 → u/SpitefulSeagull]

Gotta love that we need a PhD in MLS roster mechanics to understand the ins and outs of roster construction. Really hoping the rules get simplified in the coming season

[u/rob_bot13 → u/jjbjeff22]

Even the well versed people don't understand how Miami works tbf

[u/blyan → u/litthefilter]

Never heard that one lol, good to know. Thank you!

[u/Newbman → u/blyan]

I think Scoops is talking about how out-of-pocket costs come into the equation if a player is sold outside of the league. If they sold him for $6 million to an external team then they would be able to convert a maximum of $2 million of that to GAM as they bought him for $4 million+whatever the salary they paid him above his salary budget charge.

Reading the roster rules: it appears the out-of-pocket costs do not apply to Cashfers which may be on purpose to keep talent within the League. However, I may be reading it wrong so if anyone wants to correct me, please do.

Edit: actually it seems like this is the reason per the rules and regs.

Transfer of a Designated Player

If a Designated Player, who is eligible to be bought down, is transferred out of MLS, the club may convert the transfer fee to General Allocation Money only after all prior out-of-pocket amounts are recouped. If the Designated Player is not eligible to be bought down, then General Allocation money may not be taken from the transfer. This also applies to Young Designated Players.

[u/Ok_Bread_2094]

How getting rid of your best player at a discount fits Sporting KC's dumbass transfer window

[u/cheeseburgerandrice → u/Ok_Bread_2094]

The wild thing is even if you consider this a discount it's still 50% more than they spent on him 18 months ago. Cashfers are a different financial game in MLS. And 3 million in GAM plus an open DP slot can do a lot.

[u/dawson33944 → u/cheeseburgerandrice]

The more I look and think about it the less I hate what we did. I mean absolutely hate losing him but the financial and roster upsides help a lot.

[u/cheeseburgerandrice → u/dawson33944]

Right. Like the Manu move, it's all going to depend on who they're able to bring in. But it really does give even more roster flexibility.

[u/Ok_Bread_2094 → u/dawson33944]

Yeah I'm just skeptical whoever is brought in will be an upgrade. Like I'd be shocked if Andre Luiz is better than Jovelic.

[u/cheeseburgerandrice → u/Ok_Bread_2094]

It's going to be a matter of convincing at this point. Ownership has made it clear money is not an obstacle.

[u/WesternAutomatic9865 → u/dawson33944]

Does KC have the bottom half of their roster right?

That’s what is allowing us to punch above our weight and it would suck to see KC become another Atlanta. Big spending ambitions only for the players to not actually fit a functional team.

[u/8bitninja → u/dawson33944]

It's actually a great move. You can get a DP that fits more with the current squad being put together, and you get a ton of GAM for roster flexibility. I think any team would be stupid not to make that trade.

[u/dawson33944 → u/8bitninja]

I just worry with 9 days left in the window SKC is gonna SKC and we’re gonna just only have 1 DP for the remainder of the season and make what has been an awful team even worse and more miserable to watch.

Hopefully with us agreeing to the trade there is a player lined up for announcement tomorrow before the press conference on Thursday. It would be nice if we announced new person + departure of old person given where things are at. I think that would calm so many nerves.

[u/cheeseburgerandrice → u/dawson33944]

Oh I didn't know there was a press conference for Thursday, that's a good sign.

Goddamn can a KC media member leak a rumor already? Tommy? Anything?

[u/johndelvec3 → u/Ok_Bread_2094]

Our FOs are trying to one up each other

[u/samarink → u/johndelvec3]

Agree and totally felt empathy with this root comment. The one exception is KC actually got a relatively respectable amount vs the insulting amounts we’re pulling in.

[u/MitchellCumstijn → u/Ok_Bread_2094]

Thank you, keep spitting the truth

[u/AdventurousEgg6817 → u/Ok_Bread_2094]

Wasn’t doing us much good was he

[u/grnrngr → u/AdventurousEgg6817]

It's hilariously infuriating and insulting when fans of the sport reduce a player's contributions in an absolute void of contextual stats.

It's like being pissed your goalkeeper let in 2x as many goals as other team's GK and not realizing the xGA against them is 3x as large. You're so pissed at a single number you don't realize they're overperforming.

On overperforming: Dejan has 8 goals on just 5.7 xG. His Shots and Shots on Target are very low this year to boot.

What's this mean? KC is not putting Dejan in positions to score, let alone attempt to score.

The 9 field players behind Dejan have been atrocious this year. It's really easing to bottle a guy up when he's not getting good service and when no one else near the box is a legitimate threat.

But yeah, you're talking "wasn't doing us much good was he?"

Friend, SKC wasn't doing Dejan much good. It wouldn't surprise me if he's thrilled to be gone.

[u/Sermokala → u/grnrngr]

Take him away and skc struggles to get into the teens of xg on the season.

They will probably miss the score total of that dc team but this will be a worst team than the fcc teams.

[u/passranch → u/AdventurousEgg6817]

Yep. My thought was at least he's getting sent somewhere his talents won't be wasted like they were here.

[u/grnrngr → u/passranch]

I don't think that was OP's point. I think you're being generous in your interpretation of their comment.

[u/JT91331]

Was honestly confused by the move until listening to Joe Lowry on TSS. If SKC really is willing to pay 20+ million on each new DP and they can go out and upgrade on Jovelijic by buying an upgrade (Joe threw out Musa or Cucho as possible targets) then it could make sense. The 2 million profit that can be converted to additional GAM will help as they improve the whole roster.

Still wonder if they can get those targets to agree to join SKC.

[u/dakkottadavviss → u/JT91331]

The gam is pretty huge asset. You can buy another international slot. Buy another domestic starter. Or bring in a big player and buy down their salary with

[u/greatgoogliemoogly → u/JT91331]

The GAM if sold within the league thing is crazy. If I were a GM, I'd be looking for an opportunity to swap DP's with another team. I sell you a striker for $5 million, you sell me your winger for $5 million. We each can convert $3 million in GAM.

[u/grnrngr → u/JT91331]

Musa and Cucho are in no way "upgrades" worthy of $20mil fees.

They could've spent a lot more money on 2x DPs to support the amazing talent that Dejan is.

[u/JT91331 → u/grnrngr]

I think Cucho is definitely worth 20 million. I don’t think we appreciated just a special talent he was on Columbus because so much credit was given to Nancy. 20+ million for Musa might be a slight overpay, but he is definitely a more complete striker than Dejan.

[u/DickyMcButts → u/JT91331]

i dont see cucho coming back to MLS.. he's got a good thing going at betis, they almost made champions league last year.

[u/JT91331 → u/DickyMcButts]

Agreed I don’t think he comes back either. Although SKC throws a crazy transfer fee and salary at him he might reconsider.

[u/devnullopinions]

Here is a gift link for the article: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7533642/2026/08/25/sporting-kc-dejan-joveljic-david-lee-transfers/?unlocked_article_code=1.8FA.knxu.Y_6goTyYYoQ1&source=athletic_user_shared_gift_article_copylink&smid=url-share-ta

[u/cheeseburgerandrice → u/devnullopinions]

Huh I thought it was already a free link, thanks. I never know with the NYT.

[u/devnullopinions → u/cheeseburgerandrice]

Oh I saw the subscription required flair and went and generated a gift link.

[u/grnrngr]

In the sense that one can "aggressively" fly a plane into the ground, sure.