DISCOVERY RIGHTS – what are they and why can only Inter Miami in the MLS buy Kevin De Bruyne?

Kevin De Bruyne will be leaving the Etihad stadium this summer a legend, a hero. The maverick to unlock any defence with one pass. One of the best midfielders of my generation. So where does he go from here? Many have said Saudi Arabia, or what of the MLS?

Well, if he wanted to go America, strangely enough, he would have 1 suitor alone: Inter Miami.

How can this be? Well, they have the discovery rights to his name.

Discovery rights? What are they?

Well, they were put in place to ensure uniformity amongst the teams in the MLS so that every team has a chance to negotiate and sign a big player. The the one team in America that would be able to negotiate with said player, existing nowhere else in the world! It gives the smaller teams the opportunity to sign these players (if they can pay their wages and afford them and to stop bidding wars).

Each team has 5 players to which they can own the rights to. There are guidelines to which players they can choose, they cannot be under contract within the MLS and previous players in the MLS cannot be used. Nor can free agents. The club who filed the claim first has priority in terms of signing a player, but multiple clubs can have the same player.

The issue with the smaller teams having these discovery rights is exactly where the main issue lies, in that they may not actually be able to afford those players, and thus other clubs in America may have to negotiate with them to circumvent their discovery rights and be permitted to approach the player. This could usually be around $50,000 and is defined as ‘allocation money’. MLS will usually do due diligence into whether the club harnesses the fiscal capability to sign the player.

High Profile cases involving discovery rights

• Zlatan Ibrahimovic – his discovery rights were owned by Philadelphia Union, but where did he end up? LA Galaxy. These had to be negotiated, however in a twist, the league decided that Union did not have the resources to meet his market value and thus their rights were circumvented altogether!

• Marco Reus – LA Galaxy paid FC Charlotte $400,000 as an allocation payment.
• Didier Drogba – Drogba wanted to choose French speaking Montreal Impact of Chicago Fire, and thus Montreal sent $100,000 of allocation money for Drogba’s rights.
• Josh Cohen – Atlanta United made Cohen an offer below market value and wanted to put him in a lower squad, because they had the monopoly right over him. Despite his complaints, the league allowed the purchase.

Whether De Bruyne joins Inter Miami remains to be seen, however the rules regarding discovery rights sure are interesting!