Alan Pulido, Sporting KC’s record signing, leaving club for Chivas Guadalajara: Details
It’s been a quiet offseason for Sporting Kansas City so far. But a significant departure will signify the end of that.
Club sources confirmed to The Star that Alan Pulido has been transferred to Chivas of Mexico’s Liga MX, the same club Sporting KC purchased Pulido from for a club-record transfer fee prior to the 2020 season.
The club did not disclose the transfer fee it received for Pulido’s departure.
The news signifies a breakup just one year into a massive, three-year contract extension Sporting KC gave Pulido after his 2023 campaign, when the striker returned from a yearlong injury absence to score 14 goals, leading a dramatic turnaround in the MLS standings. He won MLS Comeback Player of the Year for his 2023 campaign.
Pulido joined Sporting KC ahead of the 2020 season and seemed to be a significant addition until injuries altered his time with the club. He missed the stretch run of the 2020 season and Sporting’s postseason campaign.
In 2021, Pulido started off healthy and in form, still earning call-ups with the Mexico National Team for his play with Sporting. He scored 8 goals in 21 MLS matches, but he missed the final stretch of the season with an injury before returning in the postseason against Real Salt Lake.
Pulido would play 73 minutes, and that was all Sporting fans saw of him until April 2023. He underwent surgery to repair a cartilage defect in his knee, which kept him out of the 2022 MLS campaign.
After his comeback season in 2023, Pulido wasn’t the same player on the field. He scored only 8 goals in a total of 38 appearances in 2024, with his lowest goals per 90 minutes despite his most appearances in a season.
What this means for Sporting KC
With Pulido’s departure, Sporting will completely free the deck in terms of designated players. Thanks to a midseason rule change last year, Sporting KC can choose to operate with two designated players and four U-22 initiative players or a combination of three and three.
At a minimum, Sporting will have two designated player slots open. If the club chooses the “two and four” model, it’ll have two open DP slots and two open U-22 initiative slots.
With the promise of a cash influx that came along with Mike Burns’s hiring, Sporting KC has freed up a significant amount of salary cap space and key roster spots to make several high-impact signings in the coming transfer windows.
Getting a transfer fee for Pulido allows Sporting to convert that fee into allocation money, which then provides even more flexibility on signings. The team can use that money to acquire players in the league via trade or buy down contract hits to the salary cap.
Contractually, Sporting is in prime position to carry out a meaningful rebuild, which members of the club have said they are targeting over the next three windows. On the field, the club is now thin at striker, but William Agada is the obvious name to start at the position unless a signing is made.
Agada bagged 12 goals and notched three assists in just under 2,300 minutes in 2024. His total xG (expected goals) was good for sixth in Major League Soccer in 2024. Pulido’s total ranked 92nd.
Sporting KC has signed only two players this offseason to date, and currently has 11 open roster spots. The transfer windows in Europe and South America opened last week, meaning the likelihood of business being done overseas will increase through the end of the month.
Sporting’s current squad will report for the preseason on Wednesday as it begins preparations for the 2025 campaign, which kicks off against Inter Miami and Lionel Messi in the Concacaf Champions Cup on February 18.
Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.
This story was originally published January 7, 2025 at 9:21 PM.