Sporting KC Trade Agada to Rival Real Salt Lake

Deals between rivals in sports can be rare. However, it looks like that is what happened on transfer deadline day in Major League Soccer. Tom Bogert is reporting that Sporting Kansas City have traded striker William Agada to Real Salt Lake. Shortly after Tom’s reporting, the team made it official.

Sources: Real Salt Lake have completed a deal to acquire Willy Agada from Sporting KC.Deal around $500k GAM + $350k GAM add-ons. Club confident in his ability to lead the line, a proven MLS goalscorer. RSL have flexibility to add DP in summer if they want.

— Tom Bogert (@tombogert.bsky.social) 2025-04-23T20:52:39.867Z

Obviously, this rivalry isn’t what it once was when Sporting KC hosted and won MLS Cup 2013 against RSL. It’s not SKC versus St. Louis City. But still, it always hurts a little more when a player leaves your team for a rival (much like the Johnny Russell to RSL news that is rumored from Bogert as well).

That movement can go both ways. Former Real Salt Lake fullback, Andrew Brody, was signed by Sporting KC after being released this preseason.

Compensation

Bogert is reporting Agada was traded to Real Salt Lake in exchange for $500,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) with another $350,000 in GAM available based on performance. The team confirmed part of the incentives are based around if Agada re-signs with RSL. Agada is out of contract after 2025.

The KC Star’s Daniel Sperry also is reporting Sporting KC has acquired a sell-on fee, which the team confirmed in part. Sperry says it’s a 50 percent fee if Agada is sold in 2025 and a 20 percent fee if he is sold after an extension is signed. SKC simply confirmed a sell-on is present.

Can confirm: #SportingKC and Real Salt Lake deal that sends William Agada to RSL is complete, per sources. First reported by @tombogert.

$500k in '25 GAM. The $350k is in '26 IF an extension is signed.

One source says sell-on is 50% if sold in '25, 20% if extension is signed.

— Daniel Sperry (@sperrydaniel94) April 23, 2025

Why Make This Trade?

Credit: Thad Bell

The first rumblings of this trade could be heard back in February. Sporting KC had spent $4 million on new Designated Player Dejan Joveljic and Willy Agada suddenly became surplus goods. The striker is on an expiring contract and was unlikely to sign an extension with Joveljic in the fold through 2027 (with an option for 2028).

In fact, with his contract expiring at the end of 2025, Agada could have signed a pre-contract with any team outside of MLS as early as this summer and left when the contract expired after the season.

Instead, Mike Burns continued to work his magic as Sporting Director. He got up to $850k in GAM for a player who was going to walk for free. This does potentially help a rival, but it’s also just good business to sell your backup players, particularly when they aren’t going to see the field and are nearly out of contract.

In addition to the team having Joveljic, and him gobbling up nearly all the minutes at center forward, Sporting KC added 22-year-old striker Santiago Munoz on loan from Santos Laguna yesterday.

With Joveljic, Munoz and the already signed Mason Toye, the striker position was a little crowded. While Agada is more of a proven commodity than Toye or Munoz, he simply wasn’t seeing the field. He has only played 99 minutes in 2025 and has zero goal contributions.

Agada’s SKC Career

William Agada joined Sporting KC in the summer of 2022, alongside Erik Thommy. He immediately lit a fire under the team, nearly clawing back a playoff spot after a horrendous start that season. According to FBref, he scored eight goals and added two assists that year in regular season play.

2023 was a quiet year that was shortened by an injury. He only scored three times.

But 2024 was a breakout year. Agada would often start over or alongside DP striker Alan Pulido and far outperformed him. Willy scored 10 goals and added three assists in a career year (12 goals in all competitions).

Agada will play his now former team, Sporting KC, two times this year. The first meeting is back at Children’s Mercy Park on June 14th and the return match in Sandy, Utah is on September 13th.