Alejandro Bedoya left unprotected for MLS Expansion draft

Philadelphia Union captain Alejandro Bedoya is a surprise addition to the players available to St. Louis City SC for the upcoming MLS Expansion draft.

Bedoya, 35, is one of six players the Union left unprotected for the draft that will take place Friday night.

The veteran is under contract through the 2023 season.

St. Louis will have a chance to select up to five players — no more than one per team — from the draft pool, which includes players left unprotected from the Union and 22 other MLS teams.

Teams that had a player selected in the 2021 draft by Charlotte FC — Austin FC, Atlanta United, DC United, LAFC, NYCFC — are excluded.

Should the Union have a player selected — something that hasn’t happened since 2014 when Pedro Ribeiro was selected by Orlando City — they will receive $50,000 in general allocation money.

The other five players Union players available are Abasa Aremeyaw, Joe Bendik, Jesus Bueno, Chris Donovan and Gino Portella. Portella, a 21-year-old Italian center back, has been on the team payroll and has trained at times with the first team since arriving in January 2021 but hasn’t been rostered and only made a brief cameo for Union II in the playoffs.

The Union protected Andre Blake, Cory Burke, Julian Carranza, Jack Elliott, Leon Flach, Daniel Gazdag, Jakob Glesnes, Jose Martinez, Olivier Mbaizo, Richard Odada, Mikael Uhre and Kai Wagner.

Homegrown players 25 and younger are automatically protected. For the Union that includes: Paxten Aaronson, Brandan Craig, Matt Freese, Nathan Harriel, Jack McGlynn, Jeremy Rafanello, Matt Real, Anton Sorenson, Quinn Sullivan and Cole Turner.

Players who are out of contract at the end of 2022 are still considered part of the roster.