MLS To Hold Lottery For Cody Arnoux Today, Two More Coming Next Week

MLSsoccer.com has reported in their daily “Kick-Off” that a series of player lotteries will be held in the next few days. The first will come today at 4:30 PM ET, as former Everton reserve and Vancouver Whitecaps striker Cody Arnoux (seen at right, photo courtesy of WIkipedia user Wilson Wong) will be allocated to an MLS team.

Next week, two further lotteries will be held. The players up for grabs are current US U-20 defender/midfielder Korey Veeder, and 2008 Gatorade High School Player of the Year Chris Agorsor; the latter had reportedly been training with the Philadelphia Union during the first part of their preseason.

Teams in MLS may choose to withdraw from weighted lotteries if they wish. Teams that win lotteries are ineligible to participate in any further ones for the rest of the calendar year. Earlier this year, the San Jose Earthquakes won a the rights to goalkeeper David Bingham; therefore, they are not eligible to take part in any of these lotteries.

The league has not yet released each team's likelihood of winning the Arnoux lottery. More info on each player after the jump.

Arnoux, a striker, played college soccer at Wake Forest University before heading off to Europe in search of a contract. He latched on with the Everton reserve team, but was unable to crack the first team and came back to North America. He signed with the Vancouver Whitecaps, but when the team tried to sign Arnoux to their MLS incarnation, the league felt the signing was an attempt to bypass the draft. Arnoux then signed a deal with MLS.

Veeder is a member of the current U.S. U-20 national team, along with Philadelphia Union members Zac MacMath and Amobi Okugo. He can play either fullback position or out wide in the midfield. He also spent some time in the U-17 Residency program under current Union assistant coach John Hackworth.

Agorsor was a sensation at the high school soccer level, scoring lots of goals as a forward and winning the 2008 Gatorade High School Player of the Year award. He suffered a major injury, however, while playing college soccer at the University of Virginia. He then headed out to Europe but was unable to find any success. He reportedly was in training with the Union during the first leg of their preseason at YSC Sports.

The Union are able to take part in any or all of the lotteries, but if they win one, they cannot compete in any others for the rest of 2011. In recent lotteries, goalkeeper David Bingham of the University of California has been allocated to the San Jose Earthquakes; Luis Gil of the U-17 national team was also placed on the Kansas City Wizards in a 2010 lottery, but was then traded that day to Real Salt Lake.