Rubio, Sinovic among players not protected by Sporting KC ahead of expansion draft

MLS goalkeeper of the year Tim Melia is among 11 players Sporting Kansas City protected from this week’s expansion draft, the club announced on Sunday.

Defenders Matt Besler, Ike Opara and Graham Zusi; midfielders Roger Espinoza, Ilie, Cristian Lobato, Jimmy Medranda, James Musa and Benny Feilhaber; and forward Gerso were also protected.

Among players eligible for selection by Los Angeles FC on Tuesday are forwards Latif Blessing and Diego Rubio.

Former Rockhurst High School player Seth Sinovic, who in seven years with Sporting started in 196 of 202 appearances, and fellow defender Saad Abdul-Salaam also went unprotected.

In addition, the following players are eligible for selection in the draft:

Goalkeepers Andrew Dykstra, Alexander Tambakis and Adrian Zendejas; defenders Amer Didic and Colton Storm; midfielder Soni Mustivar; and forwards Kharlton Belmar, Cameron Iwasa, Kenwyne Jones, Cameron Porter and Soony Saad.

Homegrown players Gianluca Busio, Kevin Ellis, Erik Palmer-Brown and Daniel Salloi were automatically included in Sporting’s protections.

Iwasa, Jones, Mustivar, Porter and Palmer-Brown are not under contract for 2018.

During the draft, LAFC will select five from the pool of available players. No club can lose more than one player in the process.

This story was originally published December 10, 2017 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Rubio, Sinovic among players not protected by Sporting KC ahead of expansion draft."