Who is and isn’t safe in expansion MLS draft

Inter Miami CF have 15 protected players heading into the 2020 MLS expansion draft, when new club Austin FC will be able to select up to five players from other teams.

Inter Miami are one of the 16 teams Austin will be able to select players from in the draft, which starts at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and will be streamed on the league’s website or official app. Generation Adidas or homegrown players are automatically protected and don’t count against the 12-player protection limit.

The 10 teams that had players selected in last year’s expansion draft when Inter Miami and Nashville SC were entering the league are exempt from losing players in this year’s draft.

Here the 15 Inter Miami players who are protected from selection:

Goalkeepers: Drake Callender (homegrown player), John McCarthy;

Defenders: Nico Figal, Leandro González Pirez, Dylan Nealis, Andres Reyes;

Midfielders: Blaise Matuidi, Lewis Morgan, David Norman Jr. (homegrown player) Matías Pellegrini, Rodolfo Pizarro, Victor Ulloa;

Forwards: Julián Carranza, Gonzalo Higuaín, Robbie Robinson (Generation Adidas).

Players who had their options declined or are out of contract for 2021 can be protected by the team they finished the 2020 season with.

Here are the 14 players who ended the season with Inter Miami who can be taken in the expansion draft, with George Acosta, Jay Chapman and Christian Makoun being the three players who have contracts with Inter Miami for the 2021 season:

Goalkeeper: Luis Robles; Defenders: Mikey Ambrose, A.J. DeLaGarza, Christian Makoun, Alvas Powell, Jairo Quinteros, Denso Ulysse;

Midfielders: George Acosta, Jay Chapman, Federico Higuaín, Brek Shea, Wil Trapp;

Forwards: Juan Agudelo, Jerome Kieswetter.

Austin already acquired an Inter Miami player this week, trading for defender Ben Sweat in exchange for $100,000 in general allocation money on Sunday during the league’s pre-expansion draft trade window.

Clubs can’t lose more than one player in the expansion draft and are allowed to protect up to 12 players who ended the 2020 season with them.

Any club that has a player selected from their unprotected roster in the expansion draft will receive $50,000 in general allocation money.