‘Chucky’ Lozano to San Diego FC: New MLS franchise means business by bringing in Mexico star for first season

After only being announced as an expansion club in May 2023 to become the 30th team in Major League Soccer, San Diego FC has had to quickly ramp up its team building before essentially taking the field a year and a half later in 2025. this means they are on an accelerated timeline to get things done, which isn’t something that is slowing San Diego down as they just announced a major signing of Mexican international and Scudetto winner Hirving “Chucky” Lozano. Lozano becomes the first designated player in club history with a contract until the end of the 2028 MLS season. With the club not joining the MLS until 2025, Lozano will remain with PSV until 2024 before coming to San Diego.

Lozano joins from PSV after winning the Eredivisie with them and scoring six goals in the league. He will move to the United States during a big football period in North America. While Lozano won’t be involved in the Copa America game for Mexico this summer, this is the kind of signing that makes sense with the World Cup coming to the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026, as he may want to return to it. the fold.

San Diego is well poised to benefit from more signings like this, but not just because of the World Cup. With executives like Tom Penn, which has built an expansion team before FC Los Angelesand connections with the academy, San Diego wants to make a name for itself in its first season by using global connections as a basis to get off the ground.

“Signing a player of international stature ‘Chucky’ Lozano is the greatest possible support for our project in San Diego,” said Sir Mohamed Mansour, owner and chairman of San Diego FC.

As San Diego builds their roster, it’s hard not to compare this signing to another involving Penn Carlos Vela joined LAFC. Leaving Real Society Vela conquered the MLS at the time, winning an MVP and breaking the league record for goals in a season with 34, while also winning the MLS Cup with the Black and Gold. If Lozano can get even half influence If Vela did that, they could take the league by storm in their first season.

Now there is a face of the club, but what now?

With multi-club ownership becoming more and more common in football, San Diego FC is already taking advantage by signing Jeppe Tverskov and Marcus Ingvartsen from FC Nordsjaelland. Historically, these are players who would have moved to a top five European league, but instead they will join a new project in the MLS because Right To Dream’s fame matters. Besides FCN, FC Tut is another club in their group Egypt.

Right to Dream is a youth association football academy system based in Ghana, which is also owned by the Mansour Group, which includes FC Nordsjaelland, FC Tut and now San Diego FC. With products like Mohammed Kudus and Simon Adingra, it is becoming one of the top talent producers in the world.

“That’s a trend among MLS clubs, where we are retaining more top talent rather than seeing them flee at a younger age. In general, we are also attracting young talent who see MLS as a springboard to future opportunities. The path is now quite clearly from Central and South America, with several players looking to come to the United States first with ambitions to move to Europe,” Penn said on the state of talent acquisition in the MLS on CBS Sports. “In our case, we would like to contribute to that trend and even more specifically, there is a long-standing trend of San Diego’s best talent leaving San Diego to pursue their professional careers because there has been no alternative in the job market. ” So the signing of Duran Ferree as a 17 year old, really a phenomenon of a goalkeeper, he can now stay with the hometown team and sign with us instead of leaving town, so we’re looking forward to hitting the town to leave. destination of choice for the best talent from San Diego and Mexico.”

The talent destination factor is already in action, as San Diego now has the goalkeeper of the future, a top striker and winger, along with a midfielder who can protect the defense. With Lozano as the face, they can now also look to attract more talent as he is a player recognized worldwide and watched in Mexico due to his success at both the clubs and El Tri. While it’s never as simple as just getting a team together on the field, this is where San Diego’s philosophy is important.

“We create environments where talent can flourish, by equipping them with the skills they need to realize their potential – in football, in education and in life,” is part of Right to Dream’s mission .

To be successful in the MLS, while spending is important, the academy aspect is also important. San Diego is building on that to ensure they have a fully functioning academy from day one that also includes an academic component similar to that of the Philadelphia Union. But to that end, it does mean San Diego needs to gain ground quickly.

“The differentiator is the timeline we are on. This has been accelerated compared to LAFC construction because we are not building the stadium and also the market is different,” Penn said, reflecting on how this compares to LAFC getting off the ground. ground. “There’s only the other professional men’s team here, the Padres, and in LA we’re like the tenth team in the market and the third professional men’s soccer team, so there it was a different kind of challenge. In this case we have the opportunity to be much more macro relevant to be for our entire community and that gives us the responsibility to represent the community well.”

With Manny Machado as part of the ownership group, San Diego already ensures they have partnerships with other teams in the region, but even with San Diego Loyal defunct because they couldn’t find a stadium, the club needs to be aware that when you connect with the community. It may take a long time to win over everyone, but by doing things the right way and representing San Diego’s talent, you can move the needle in the right direction. With Lozano, there is now a star to peg things to, but it’s all about what San Diego does next to keep their chrome ball rolling.