Official: Sporting KC Transfers Alan Pulido to Chivas

The rumors started swirling on Monday. It didn’t take long to become official. After numerous Mexican reporters put out that Alan Pulido and Sporting Kansas City were parting ways, Tom Bogert of GiveMeSport and Daniel Sperry of the KC Star confirmed it this evening.

Bogert is also reporting that the move opens up a Designated Player spot for Sporting KC.

The Mexican international joined Sporting KC back on December 10th of 2019 and has had an up and down journey with the club. That journey came to an end on Tuesday night.

Neither team has publicly confirmed the move yet and this story will be updated when they make it official. As of last night, it was rumored a $1.5 million transfer fee was also involved.

Update 9:46 PM: Sporting KC has made it official. The press release says it’s for an undisclosed fee. 

Pulido’s History before Kansas City

The majority of Alan Pulido’s career has taken place in Mexico, and it looks like it may finish there. Before joining Sporting KC ahead of the 2020 season, Pulido played for four years at Chivas. He did another five at Tigres to start his professional career. Between to two Liga MX giants, he had stops in Greece at Levadiakos and Olympiacos.

Pulido helped lead Chivas to win the CONCACAF Champions League in 2018. In his final season at Chivas, he led the league in scoring with 12 goals in the Apertura season.

In total before coming to the States, Pulido won five domestic championships, the CCL and had 13 caps for the Mexican National Team.

Pulido’s History with Sporting KC

Pulido, who had garnered a record transfer fee at the time to go to Chivas, was then sold for a Sporting KC record (reportedly $6 million) to come to MLS. Alan’s time in Kansas City started fantastically. He made his debut alongside fellow Designated Player Gadi Kinda to start the 2020 season. He scored in back-to-back games against the Vancouver Whitecaps and Houston Dynamo before the world came to a halt due to COVID-19.

When play resumed in July, Pulido added four more goals in 10 games and added five assists that season. But the injuries started to show up. 2021 saw him only play in 21 games of a possible 34 league appearances, still scoring eight times in just 1,449 league minutes.

Then 2022 came and he never played a single minute due to injury.

108 of #SportingKC's 185 games across all competitions during his 5 seasons in KC. Injuries obviously played a BIG role in that, but 58% of games over 5 years for your highest paid player in club history just isn't good.

— Mike (@mikedkuhn.bsky.social) 2025-01-08T03:06:41.473Z

2023 started a little slow as he recovered from his prior year’s surgery, but he’d go on to have his most prolific and healthy season in KC. He scored 14 times in 2,207 league minutes earning a massive contract extension. His 2024 MLSPA salary came up just short of $3.9 million (though this could be front loaded).

Needless to say, his play and the performance of the team didn’t live up to that salary in 2024 with KC finishing one spot below the Wooden Spoon winning San Jose Earthquakes.

Pulido ends his time in Kansas City as the ninth highest scorer in league goals (35), MLS competitions (36) and all competitions (38). He’s tied for fifth in game winners in league play (11) and seventh in game winners in all competitions (12).

What Does this Mean for Sporting KC?

This immediately frees up a Designated Player spot on Sporting KC’s roster. The team still technically has two DPs in Nemanja Radoja and Daniel Salloi based on their 2024 salaries, but they are in the Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) range and can theoretically be bought down. That means SKC can add up to three new DPs.

All indications are they are going to follow the 2/4/2 MLS roster designation; two DPs, four U-22 initiative players and $2 million in extra General Allocation Money (GAM) to be spent anywhere across the roster.

All offseason Mike Burns and Peter Vermes have indicated the team is planning to add a DP #10 (attacking midfielder). Presumably that’s still the plan, but suddenly there is room to make another big signing as well.

It’ll also surely help the team on the field. Pulido was a black hole in 2024. He constantly lost the ball and seemingly lost his scoring touch (or at least his ability to actually get into the box to show that touch).

2024 was his worst season in a Sporting KC uniform if you don’t count missing all of 2022. He scored seven goals in nearly 2,000 minutes. In 2020, a COVID shortened season, he only scored six times, but he played nearly 1,000 less minutes. He did increase his assist output, but not nearly enough for someone who was asked to play as a second striker or attacking midfielder. Plus, his defensive work rate was horrible.

Whether it's as a #10 or #9, Pulido's numbers just didn't stack up for his nearly $3.9 million salary in 2024. Maybe he'll thrive back in Mexico at #Chivas. #SportingKC got out from under a massive weight tonight.

— Chad Smith (@chadcsmith.bsky.social) 2025-01-08T03:04:58.234Z

Unfortunately for Alan Pulido, the lows in KC will probably outweigh the highs. Expectations were through the roof and injuries seemed to derail most of the Mexican striker’s time in Kansas City. The question becomes what is next for Sporting Kansas City on their roster build. Mike Burns has shown a propensity to sell players, now he’ll need to start signing some.