This Wednesday, December 11, the 2024 MLS Expansion Draft was held for San Diego FC before the 2025 MLS Season. San Diego was able to select five players from five different teams in a draft where they were the only team selecting players.

With the first pick in the draft, SDFC selected Heine Gikling Bruseth from Orlando City. The 20-year-old midfielder has not played a single game in Major League Soccer as he was signed by Orlando but did not make a senior appearance with the club.

Gikling has only played professionally in his native Norway with Levanger FK and, most recently, with Kristiansund BK. Last season, the young midfielder played 15 games and provided two goals and an assist for Kristiansund. Gikling is more of a holding midfielder and has potential to provide stability for this SDFC team.

The second player SDFC drafted in this draft was Hamady Diop of Charlotte FC. Diop is another young player with little to no MLS Experience with just three games in Major League Soccer under his belt.

The Senegalese defender most recently played with Cukaricki in the Serbian professional league. Last season Diop started seven games in Serbia, before that Diop played in MLS Next Pro with Crown Legacy and with the Clemson Tigers in collegiate soccer. Diop’s main position is at left-back, and he has a solid physical presence for that position, standing in at 6-foot.

The final player that was actually added to San Diego’s roster from this draft was Jasper Loffelsend from Colorado Rapids. The German midfielder has MLS experience dating back to 2022, playing with Real Salt Lake as well as Colorado.

🚨 Presenting the 5 picks for @sandiegofc in the 2024 MLS Expansion Draft. pic.twitter.com/J1UOnrPXxN

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) December 12, 2024

Last season, the 27-year-old was more of a role player for the Rapids, playing in 19 games but only starting in two matches. With Salt Lake, Loffelsend had a much more consistent role, starting 15 MLS games in 2023 and 19 in 2022.

The Cologne, Germany native is a more defensive midfielder that brings in a good physical presence at 5-foot-11. Loffelsend seems like the one player from this draft almost guaranteed a starting role for San Diego FC in 2025.

The other selections in this draft were Hosei Kijima from St. Louis City and Thiago Andrade from New York City, who were both traded away. Kijima was traded to D.C. United for $400,000 in 2025 General Allocation Money. Andrade was dealt to Toronto FC for $250,000 in conditional GAM and a first-round pick (9th overall) in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft.

Apart from the Expansion Draft, SDFC had more transactions throughout the day, also acquiring CJ dos Santos from Inter Miami and Christopher McVey from D.C. United. Both players were available in the Expansion Draft, but San Diego was able to obtain them separately.

CJ dos Santos cost San Diego FC $100,000 from Inter Miami and has the potential to be the starting goalkeeper for the club in 2025. The 24-year-old shot-stopper has played in just two MLS games over the past two seasons and will be hungry for a starting role with the team next season.

McVey is a much more experienced player, as he has plenty of MLS games under his belt with both Inter Miami and D.C. United. The Swedish defender was a consistent start for the capital city team last season, with 26 starts for D.C. United in the 2024 MLS regular season.

At 6-foot-4 McVey’s physical presence is massive and has potential to make a formidable centre-back pairing with Paddy McNair.

Several players were available in this Expansion Draft with a plethora of experience and none were selected by SDFC. San Diego seems to be sticking with what they had promised and focusing more on developing a very young team from the ground up.

Francisco Velasco

Francisco, 26, Chula Vista/Tijuana. I have been a Padres fan all my life, did most of the series previews and recaps in the Padres’ 2016 season for EVT. Now I focus more on the local soccer scene. Tijuana Xolos, San Diego Loyal, San Diego Wave.