Tag: SanDiego.Futbol

Last week, San Diego FC players returned for their first week of training for the 2026 season. Friday’s press session kicked off with a banger of an announcement as Sporting Director Tyler Heaps stated that Hirving “Chucky” Lozano “…will not be part of the sporting plans moving forward.” This is a huge announcement: one of your Designated Players will no longer be playing for the team. Heaps later explained that the team is looking at all possibilities, whether to sell or loan the player, but in Heaps’ view, a sale made the most sense.

Lozano was acquired for a reported $12 million transfer from PSV Eindhoven and was in the first year of a contract that ran through the end of the 2028 season, with two option years following. There was plenty of pomp and circumstance that followed right after Lozano was signed for San Diego. As a Mexican national player who had played big matches for El Tri, he was a player of immense significance for all fans of the Mexican national team. Fans in San Diego knew the name Hirving Lozano.

More specifically, this acquisition was right out of CEO Tom Penn’s playbook from when he first arrived at LAFC. LAFC signed Carlos Vela as a Designated Player in their first year as a club; Penn, like others, knew that if you bring a Mexican national player to a heavily Mexican-American market, you will get fans out to your matches. The same logic applied in San Diego. Bringing in Lozano was part of their marketing. Crucially, SDFC technically signed Lozano before Tyler Heaps was even named Sporting Director, highlighting a potential disconnect between brand building and roster building.

On the very final episode of the Behind the Flow podcast, Penn himself said he was excited to see what could happen in season two with Chucky Lozano. Penn noted, “his (Lozano) year two may be better than his year one,” even referencing Carlos Vela in that quote—Vela had 34 goals and 10 assists for LAFC in his second season.

As Penn was saying this on a podcast released on December 11th, it sounded as though Heaps and company had already made up their mind on Lozano and were planning to sell his contract in the off-season. This was discussed on the Chromaniac Emergency Podcast from Friday. Heaps stated on Friday that the decision was aligned from ownership to leadership and down to the coaching and player level. However, if no one told Penn what was going on back in December, that makes it seem like you’re promoting a player who isn’t in the team’s plans—a move that doesn’t look like alignment from the top down.

Regardless of what is going on in the C-Suite, Hirving Lozano has overstayed his welcome in San Diego. It doesn’t sound like it was just one thing, like the heated argument for being taken out in Houston towards the end of last season. It was likely a culmination of things throughout the 2025 season that led Heaps and head coach Mikey Varas to kick Lozano off the team.

Heaps now has a very difficult job: getting rid of a player that everyone knows you don’t want. This transparency will absolutely lower any chance of breaking even on a deal, and San Diego will have to take a loss on the contract. If the rumor that Heaps has been looking to sell Chucky since the start of the off-season is true, they have had over a month to find another team with no takers. The Liga MX season started this weekend and their transfer window closes on February 9th.

Could an internal league trade happen? Designated Players aren’t traded often, but it does happen. Last season, the Philadelphia Union traded Daniel Gazdag for $4.5 million to the Columbus Crew. A cash-for-player deal could happen, but that might be another tough pill for the San Diego fanbase to swallow—seeing Lozano still playing in this league for a rival.

The other part of this equation for Tyler Heaps is bringing another Designated Player in. What you’re losing in Lozano is 9 goals and 8 assists in the regular season (and 2 goals/1 assist in the playoffs). Lozano also loved getting the ball and was a player who didn’t back down when opposing fans tried to get in his head.

Lozano is a player of high quality, and replacing that is difficult. European teams are in the middle of their seasons and are looking to retool rather than sell. Potentially, asking the sister club for a player might be the best option. FC Nordsjælland has a dynamic 18-year-old left winger, Prince Amoako Jr., who currently sits on 5 goals and 4 assists this season.

Some may think an 18-year-old DP is risky, but the Young Designated Player status is a major advantage. This designation allows a club to give a player 20 years old or younger a budget charge (salary cap number) of only $150,000. Regular Designated Players like Lozano or Anders Dreyer carry a league maximum charge of $803,125 in 2026. Adding Prince Jr. would give Heaps significantly more roster flexibility, potentially allowing the club to keep three U-22 Initiative players while still bringing in another DP in the summer.

Final Thoughts on the Lozano Legacy

Lastly, Hirving Lozano came to San Diego FC and got a brand new fan base excited about MLS. The player was marketable and effective on the pitch when healthy. It’s hard to call him a “failure” or a “bust,” but ultimately, the player didn’t fit the system. Heaps and Varas clearly don’t want to force someone that shouldn’t be on the team any longer.

This isn’t the first time a team dumped a DP after one season—the Vancouver Whitecaps terminated Mustapha Jarju’s contract after just a few months in 2011. Something similar might happen here if a deal isn’t struck soon.

Other Roster News: Bruseth and Søe

Another player no longer in the plans is Heine Gikling Bruseth. Originally a U-22 player for Orlando City who never saw minutes, he was selected in the 2024 expansion draft but didn’t play for San Diego either. After a loan to Sarpsborg 08, San Diego announced his permanent transfer to Kristiansund BK for a reported $900k.

Since Bruseth occupied a U-22 slot, this move cleared the way for Friday’s announcement: the transfer of Osvald Søe from Danish side B.93. Søe is 20, and while not officially reported, he will likely occupy the U-22 and International slots Bruseth left behind. His contract runs through 2027-2028 with a reported fee of $500k.

Søe is a 6’2’’ center back who has already played 1,440 minutes this season for his former club. His strengths include tackling, aerial ability, and recoveries. On the attack, he completes a high rate of passes and receives the ball regularly. This fits the San Diego system perfectly, where center backs are expected to play a role in possession. We should see plenty of Søe this season, especially with rumors that Paddy McNair might be on his way to Oxford.