As is customary in Major League Soccer, the league requests that clubs release protected player lists at the end of each campaign, and Orlando City SC did just that today.
With the 2019 MLS Expansion Draft taking place on November 19th, new boys Inter Miami and Nashville SC start construction of their inaugural 2019 rosters, but these new franchises won’t be able to sign these 17 Lions stars.
The players on Orlando City SC‘s 2019 protected list are Tesho Akindele, Josué Colmán, Dom Dwyer, Robin Jansson, Jhegson Méndez, Kamal Miller, Chris Mueller, Nani, Mauricio Pereyra, Uri Rosell, Ruan, and Santiago Patiño.
Automatically protected are Danilo Acosta, Cam Lindley, Benji Michel, João Moutinho, and Mason Stajduhar who count as either a Homegrown Player or Generation Adidas Player.
That leaves Carlos Ascues, Alex De John, Adam Grinwis, Will Johnson, Shane O’Neill, Dillon Powers, Greg Ranjitsingh, Robinho, Brian Rowe, Lamine Sané, and Kyle Smith unprotected.
Also unprotected are Cristian Higuita – the Lions’ record appearance holder in MLS – as well as former captain Sacha Kljestan.
Both the latter players were left unprotected at the end of 2018 too.
Orlando City UK handpicked some of the best tweets following today’s club announcement.
Most disappointed to see Sane on the list. I was really pleased with his performance this season and he’s an integral part of the team’s connection with the fans.
— Scott (@Sc0ttDoesntKnow) November 16, 2019
If Higuita gets taken I’ll lose all faith in this club
— Vipez🦁⚽️ (@VipezEk) November 16, 2019
Cool now announce a head coach
— Brian (@ORLtragic) November 16, 2019
These teams would be silly to not take higuita
— hopeful bucs fan (@Zachpavao) November 16, 2019
He's about to be 33 and on a 900k salary. Doubt anyone is going to take him.
— Graham (@Graham_FL) November 16, 2019
Dang. No Higuita?
— Daniel Cluley (@DanielCluley) November 16, 2019
Higuita 😭 https://t.co/TvvP40cqkl
— Charlotte (@KirbyHazard) November 16, 2019
The only real surprise here would obviously be leaving Higuita, out-of-contract, unprotected for a team like Miami, who's head of soccer brought the Colombian to Orlando in 2015.
As always, these expansion drafts rarely fit the narratives we believe, but wouldn't surprise me.
— Gavin Ewbank (@GavinEwbank) November 16, 2019
the absolute disrespect shown to higuita is unreal to me.
— The Czar (@TheCzar_BK) November 16, 2019
People who get upset don’t seem to understand salary implications. All things equal I’m sure we’d be protecting Sane and Higuita but we need to either renegotiate pay or let them go.
— Orlando City Toffee (@OrlandoToffee) November 16, 2019
Pretty accurate to what I thought, not sure about Higuita, I guess they're really not planning on extending his contract. I would not want to see him in Miami though.
— Moraima (@Moraima_4) November 16, 2019
Hmmm. Not protecting Higuita ahead of Rosell may definitely touch a few OCSC Nation nerves. But NOT protecting Rowe and Sane. Yikes. #OCSC #VamosOrlando https://t.co/ZnMphq5Rqv
— VenessTravelMedia (@VenessTravelMe1) November 16, 2019