Toronto FC picks up first-round draft choice in deal with Los Angeles Galaxy

Toronto FC picked up a first-round draft pick in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft in a trade Thursday with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

The Galaxy also sent the No. 2 MLS allocation ranking for 2019 to Toronto in exchange for the No. 1 MLS allocation ranking, which it then used to sign defender Giancarlo Gonzalez. That in turn moved Toronto FC back into the No. 1 spot in the allocation ranking order.

Los Angeles had previously traded the No. 11 allocation spot and US$400,000 in targeted allocation money to Orlando City for the No. 2 allocation spot.

The 31-year-old Gonzalez had been with Italy’s Bologna since 2014. The Costa Rican international has prior MLS experience with Columbus.

Major League Soccer uses the allocation process as its way of acquiring select U.S. international, elite youth U.S. internationals or former MLS players returning to the league after joining a non-MLS club for a transfer fee greater than $500,000.

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The allocation ranking is set by taking the reverse order of the club’s standings at the end of each MLS season, with the expansion clubs at the top of the order.

Once the club uses its allocation ranking to acquire a player, it drops to the bottom of the list. Teams can trade rankings, provided that part of the compensation received in return is the other club’s ranking.

The Canadian Press