FC Dallas has today announced the long-reported trade of Jesus Ferreira to the Seattle Sounders. In exchange, FCD received winger Léo Chú, $1 million in 2025 General Allocation Money (GAM), $500k in 2026 GAM, an additional $800k GAM if certain performance metrics are met, and a 2025 International Roster Slot. FC Dallas also retains a percentage of a future transfer fee if Ferreira is moved outside of MLS or within the league.
Ferreira who has been with FC Dallas since he was 8 years old and his father played for the team, leaves the club with 163 MLS regular season appearances, 53 goals (2nd in club history), and 34 assists (tied for 7th in club history with Bobby Rhine).
“On behalf of everyone at FC Dallas, I want to thank Jesús Ferreira for his contributions to our club. From his time in our Academy to becoming one of the top players in MLS, Jesús has made a tremendous impact on our organization. His dedication and goal-scoring prowess will always be an important part of our history. On a personal level, I’ve really enjoyed the relationship I’ve had with both him and his father, David, who is one of the greatest players to ever play for FC Dallas. Jesús has left a similar legacy.”
FC Dallas President Dan Hun
Ferreira signed as a Homegrown player with FC Dallas in 2016. He made his MLS debut in June 2017, scoring his first professional goal in the match. At 16 years and 161 days, he became the youngest player in FC Dallas history to play and score, and the second-youngest player to score in MLS history. In 2022, he became the club’s first-ever Homegrown Designated Player.
In 2022, Ferreira tied the club’s single-season record with 18 goals (Jason Kreis and Kenny Cooper Jr) and was named MLS Young Player of the Year (second at FC Dallas. Ferreira also was named to the MLS Best XI and topped the league’s 22 Under 22 list.
Chú joins Dallas after three seasons with Seattle Sounders FC, where he made 94 appearances across all competitions. Prior to joining Seattle, Chú made 38 professional appearances for Grêmio and was on loan at Série A side Ceará Sporting Club between 2019 and 2021, recording five goals across all competitions.
With this move, FC Dallas moves to the 2 DP, 4 U22 slot roster format. This nets FC Dallas an extra $2 mil in GAM for the 2025 season.
“Léo is a young winger with a lot of speed and he’s had good seasons with Seattle. When we were discussing this deal with Seattle, we felt that Léo is someone who can help us be more vertical and more aggressive since he can really hurt teams with his speed. With his contributions in the final third, I think he will be a great addition for us.”
FC Dallas CSO André Zanotta
3rd Degree’s Take
While I was on board with the idea of selling Jesus Ferreira to clear his DP slot and salary – I wrote about it being important back in October – I am disappointed in the return in the trade. Ferreira is a player who in previous windows had arranged sales, one for as much as $12 million, only to have them deals quashed by MLS or FCD (one of them last year in the misguided “we can make the playoffs” push).
Now due to that poor roster mismanagement, the club only gets $1.5 mil in guaranteed GAM in return – plus an incentive-driven $800k more if the injury-plagued Ferreira ever starts scoring again – and some small pieces are thrown in? This isn’t even the $3 mil in GAM they should have gotten.
So yes, important to be ruthless and move forward but this is a fumble on the assets in return.
I think you are selling the deal short.
1. It’s been a pretty common tactic in the past for teams to use conditional GAM clauses as a way to defer GAM payments to out years. Frequently, the conditions are not very difficult, primarily just making a minimum number of appearances or even game day rosters. So I think it is quite likely that FCD will get the full $2.3M.
2. Chu has value. There were multiple discussions in Sounderland as to his value in selling him back to Brazil and they seemed to range between $500K and $1M. It wouldn’t surprise me if Zanotta already has something in place to loan or sell Chu back to Brazil. Even if that’s not the case, Dallas may feel they can improve him and get his value up or make him a significant contributor to the team. Either way I think he is worth at least $750K as an asset currently.
3. Dallas retains a sell-on percentage, and we know Dallas rates those percentages highly. I expect that the percentage is a minimum of 25%, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it is more. If Ferreira can rebuild his value and get a $10M sale next year or the year after then Dallas stands to reap another $2.5M in future payments.
So if you add up all of the above, I think it is more reasonable to conclude Dallas is receiving ~$3M in present value for the trade with probably an additional ~$2M in future value. Given the poor negotiating position Dallas was in with respect to Ferreira I think this is the best deal they could expect to get.
I don’t buy the salary cap argument. But I also don’t believe there is a salary cap (or player acquisition process for that matter) if the owner is willing to pay the bill. Too many “big” clubs over the years have magically landed players and are able to pay them huge sums with little detriment to their immediate or mid-term roster. Until MLS publishes those numbers, and they never will, I’ll continue to believe it’s really the owners desire to pay for a roster rather than MLS that is the restriction.
Return seems lower than anticipated. Does this put Dallas in a position to go buy a shiny new toy or is this an indication that the upcoming season is 50% rebuild / 50% cutting costs?
I hope it’s the former.
afraid it might be the latter.