FC Dallas has traded center back Nkosi Tafari to LAFC for $300,000 in 2026 General Allocation Money (GAM) and a 2026 international spot.
In 5 seasons at FC Dallas, Tafari started 84 of the 107 regular season games he in played with 7 goals and 6 assists. He played in 121 games across all competitions. Tafari played for North Texas SC from 2020-21 before breaking in with the first team full-time.
Tafari was the 14th overall pick in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft. He played collegiately at Seattle University and the University of Connecticut.
3rd Degree’s Take
3rd Degree is kind of a mixed bag of reactions on this one. I can’t stand this trade both in terms of the return and the loss of the player. I’ll let the other guys speak for themselves on the podcast.
Tafari could be hard to handle with a culture, style, and attitude many coaches aren’t used to. Imagine the reaction to a coach in another major US sport not being able to handle a player because of these factors. Tafari isn’t even extreme by most standards.
FC Dallas has been shopping Tafari all winter and we’ve heard on a couple of occasions he wanted out of Dallas. The club vastly underpaid him compared to other defenders. So it was only a matter of time before he went. Ok, fair enough.
But Tafari was entering the prime of his career. Yes, he did make mistakes but every player at this level is flawed. But unlike other center backs around here, Tafari has the pace and athleticism to recover. Plus he is cheaper, younger, and the best passer of the group.
It’s no surprise LAFC, with an ingrained culture and ability to handle much more entitled and/or difficult players, has snapped Tafari up on the cheap as FCD has given the player away for a pittance. The club had an option for 2026 and there’s nothing in return this season and just the value of something like a pick swap in 2026.
In my view, FCD just traded away their best center back, a position that is a serious problem, for a pittance.
I really disliked this trade. I never understood why he was being blamed for the teams defensive failures last season.
There were 3 to 4 other defenders on the field as well but he was the one getting subbed out or benched.
I wouldn’t waste any tears over this trade. We were one of the worst defensive teams in the league and perhaps the worst at handling crosses. If he was our best CB, then perhaps we need an upgrade. Quill said that there will be more players added to the roster. We need to let this play out. This smacks of the Jesus trade; addition by subtraction.
Respectfully, I vehemently disagree with the comparison. This is subtraction by subtraction. In the Jesus trade, we have Logan who gives you a great quality piece at an unbelievable price to backfill. In this trade, you further weaken an already weak position less than a month before starting meaningful soccer. We are one bad tackle away from a catastrophic situation at CB for compensation we won’t see for 12 months. LA would’ve been just as happy to make this deal in July once we had some depth in place. No viable replacement, no cap relief this year, no compensation until next year; it is baffling this was signed off on.
And Kosi was strong in the air and had pace to spare in recovery. He has fight and a competitive streak the likes of which we haven’t seen at CB since Walker and Hedges. He’s light years better than any other CB on the roster.
Where did this narrative that Tafari is difficult or has an attitude problem come from? As far as I could tell, he always played with intensity and showed love to the fans. Is it just because he comes off a bit eccentric?
From our watching training and being around the team, his protests, the way coaches treat him. To be clear, WE don’t think he’s difficult, We think the club thinks he’s difficult.
So any insight from the club on what the plan is here? Did they already have CB targets lined up to replace?
I am hoping they do actually get a quality 10 and some centerbacks…but it is hard not to worry that this is all just loading up on GAM to ride out reduced revenue during stadium construction improvements the next 3 seasons.
All the chatter is a CB is lined up. We’ll see when the window opens I think.
The 10 will take a bit longer.
If I were Quill I’d be double checking the termination clauses in my contract; both ways. This is going to be a huge roster rebuild that will take multiple years the way the Hunts operate. Can he bail because the situation is too dire? Will the Hunts turn on him before they actually give him a competitive roster?
The Hunt family has never done anything but sell,sell,sell. Look at all the players that roll through,do well and are then sold for more money and nothing else.You’d think FCD would have a few more trophies if not for all the lost quality players.
I’m usually a “talent trumps all” kind of guy, but all three coaches he played for benched him at one point or the other and chose to utilize a clearly inferior CB in his place. To me that speaks volumes. I don’t pretend to know all of the reasons for each of those benchings but it was clear from his play on the field he was prone to undisciplined and risky behavior so i imagine that was a big part of it. There have been countless examples of very talented players that were net detriments to a team because they simply couldn’t or wouldn’t fit into the team concept. Replacing those players with less talented, but better integrated players makes sense.
My guess is that Dallas is bringing in an international CB who should be a starter. They will probably use Jesus’ international slot this year and the slot they acquired in the Tafari trade next year to cover for this new CB. That should give them three MLS level CBs for a two CB system. That’s generally enough. A fourth MLS caliber CB would be nice but it’s not necessary. Most MLS teams don’t carry four quality CBs, they use the fourth spot on a young CB prospect or college draftee.