The Gambians are casualties of being surplus to requirements at their respective clubs as each side is allowed to protect 11 squad players in their ‘Protected Player list’.
Sanna, Mansally and Danso were all released by Chicago Fire, Real Salt Lake and Montreal Impact respectively before Monday’s deadline for teams to send their list to the MLS.
Of all the quartet of Gambians playing in the MLS, only Kekuta Manneh was protected by his club, the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Each club is required to protect 11 players with clubs making available a number of International Players equal to the total number minus three while homegrown players that finished the 2014 season on the club’s roster are automatically protected and players signed since the end of the MLS season are not eligible for the Expansion Draft.
Sanna, Mansally and Danso won’t be short of takers though as Orlando City & New York City FC stock up for inaugural seasons in 2015.
Each team can lose a maximum of two players from its non-protected list. If a team has a player claimed in the Expansion Draft, that team may protect an additional player. MLS also recently announced that teams whose players are selected in the Expansion Draft will be compensated with allocation of money.
Gambia Sports Online
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