Anthony Markanich, who became an unlikely starter for ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC at left back, was traded Thursday to Minnesota United for $50,000 in general allocation money.
City SC acquired Markanich at the end of the summer transfer window in 2023, getting him from Colorado, where he was seldom playing on one of the league’s worst teams at the time, for allocation money and a draft pick. But at City SC, which has struggled to find a regular at that position in their brief history, he soon became a starter, being the first choice in seven of the team’s final eight regular-season games. Markanich has started more MLS games at left back than anyone else for City SC, getting the nod 21 times. (Kyle Hiebert is next at 15.)
“The fact that I wasn’t playing in a last-place team (chuckle) is a little weird,†he told the Post-Dispatch in May. “It’s crazy to think about sometimes.â€
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City SC acquired Nikolas Dyhr from Denmark in the winter transfer window, with the intention of him becoming the left back, but he didn’t beat out Markanich, who held the job through May. But the rise of Jayden Reid from City2 and the acquisition of Jannes Horn from Germany in the summer transfer window pretty much wiped out the playing opportunities for Markanich. He hasn’t started since the end of June and hasn’t played since the Sporting Kansas City game July 20. (His last appearance with the club actually came in a City2 match on Aug. 2.) He scored one goal for City SC, tying a game last August against Dallas that City SC went on to win 2-1.
Markanich, 24, is in the process of getting a passport from the Philippines, where his mother is from, to be able to play for them internationally. His twin brother, Nick, plays for the Charleston Battery of the USL Championship, where he leads the league with 21 goals, seven more than anyone else.
City SC will retain a sell-on percentage if Markanich is transferred out of MLS, and the team could get up to an additional $100,000 in GAM if certain performance-based initiatives are reached. His MLS contract expires after this season, though Minnesota will have one option year on him. Horn, meanwhile, has joined City SC and was on the roster Tuesday for the Leagues Cup match against Club America. When Horn will be able to start isn’t known.
Roster plan set
Under the midseason MLS roster rule change that allows teams to have either three designated players and three U22 Initiative players or two DPs, four U22s and $2 million allocation money, teams have to announce which model they will use for the remainder of the 2024 season.
As expected, City SC will use the three DP, three U22 model. City SC already has three designated players, though it has the potential to open up a spot by buying down the salary of one of them using allocation money. City SC has two U22 Initiative players, midfielder Chris Durkin and defender Jake Girdwood-Reich. Under the U22 Initiative, players carry a reduced hit against the team’s salary cap. Durkin, for instance, has a salary of $495,000 but counts only $200,000 against the cap.