MLS
Diego Rocio’s homegrown rights traded to Real Salt Lake
Diego Rocio is the latest prospect from the Philadelphia Union Academy to have his homegrown rights swapped to another MLS team in exchange for general allocation money.
In a deal officially announced on Thursday, the Philadelphia Union are receiving $50,000 in 2025 General Allocation Money (GAM) and $50,000 in 2026 GAM, from Real Salt Lake in exchange for the 17-year-old Rocio’s rights.
The Union could receive an additional $250,000 in conditional GAM and retain both a trade percentage (move within MLS) and a sell-on percentage (move out of MLS).
RSL signed Rocio to MLS NEXT Pro affiliate Real Monarchs through the end of 2025. The Mexican youth international from San Diego will join the first team in 2026 as a homegrown player through the 2028 MLS season, with an option for 2029.
Rocio joins former academy and Union II teammate Anisse Saidi as a highly regarded prospect whose rights were swapped to another club within MLS. Saidi’s rights were sent to San Diego FC in a similarly structured deal.
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Maybe someone can enlighten me on why we are trading our academy kids for money that we don’t spend on new players. I’m on board with being a selling team but we still need good players and we still should want to win.