Dan Metzger was a star player for the Red Bulls Academy. He partnered with newest Homegrown signing Sean Davis in the center of the midfield and dominated the Academy League. Following a decorated youth career that included multiple youth national team call ups, he matriculated to the University of Maryland and continued his stellar play. Consistently mentioned as a top college player and a potential top 10 pick in the SuperDraft, Metzger was considered a surefire Homegrown signing. A hard-nosed defensive midfielder who almost seems magnetically drawn to the ball much like Dax McCarty, it was assumed that he would sign with the Red Bulls after his senior season.

Except it appears that he isn't.

Interesting note: Dan Metzger invited to MLS Combine, despite NYRB Academy ties.

— Travis Clark (@travismclark) December 11, 2025

If he's entering the Combine, that means he is not signing a Homegrown contract and instead making himself eligible for the SuperDraft. Oh, well. Can’t win them all, I guess. Good thing we have a deep Academy and many future potential Homegrown signings who-

Sources tell me several college players w/ties to RBNY were fighting their Homegrown tags. 1 who didn’t is Duke’s Sean Davis, who has signed

— Ives Galarcep (@SoccerByIves) December 11, 2025

Well, that’s not good.

It appears that this is Metzger’s choice to separate himself from the Academy and attend the combine. Perhaps he didn't like the contract he was offered or didn't see himself having a place on the crowded roster. Realistically, it’s a smart decision for him. As a top 10 pick, he’ll probably be offered a higher salary than the Red Bulls offered him. It provides him with more options and he can always sign with his hometown club in the highly unlikely scenario where he isn't selected in the draft. One highly sought after player doing this isn't dire, but if it signifies the beginning of a trend, then there may be too many loopholes in the Academy system making it less advantageous for teams to invest in it.

TEAM HISTORY

It has to be acknowledged that New York Red Bulls don’t have the greatest reputation with Homegrown signings or young players in general. Their issues aren't unique to the Red Bulls (youth development in MLS has been a box filled with thousands of dead caterpillars and only a few butterflies), but the team arguably has two of the most highly publicized, widely circulated negative stories regarding dealings with young American players.

In case you needed a refresher, enjoy a fun reminder of the Backe years: Agudelo and "traffic cones."

These occurrences tend to lead to a bad reputation. However, said reputation (whether it’s deserved or not, and I’m not saying it’s anything more than an easy narrative for people to repeat) should quickly dissipate if the team is genuine in its desire to build a young core and start a USL Pro team.

HOMEGROWN PLAYER RULES

Each club is allowed "to sign two Homegrown Players to contracts above the minimum salary and similar to Generation Adidas player contract amounts" according to MLS Rules and Regulations. A club is not limited in the amount of Homegrown players it signs in a year. It’s been reported that Sean Davis already was given one of these larger contracts. Perhaps Metzger was offered a smaller deal and was advised that he could earn more money as a top draft pick.

To stay on a club’s Homegrown player list, a player must play in the club’s youth Academy for at least one year immediately before beginning college (although this has been circumvented before) and maintain a relationship with the club through training with the senior team and/or playing with NPSL or PDL affiliates over the summer. If a player were to purposefully avoid training or playing with the club or its affiliates, it would negate any claims the Red Bulls would have on him.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Ideally, a club would hope that if a player were to eschew his former club and sign for another team, the unlucky club would receive some sort of compensation for him. In other countries, clubs are traditionally compensated for youth training. In one instance, the Red Bulls received compensation in the form of Kosuke Kimura and a SuperDraft pick when trading the rights of former Academy player, Bryan Gallego.

FIFA even has a rule regarding Training Compensation. According to Article 20 of the FIFA Regulations on the status and transfer of players:

Training compensation shall be paid to a player’s training club(s): (1) when a player signs his first contract as a professional and (2) each time a professional is transferred until the end of the season of his 23rd birthday.

MLS enacting a mandatory compensation (perhaps in the form of allocation money) for teams that lose Academy players to other teams in the league would be a useful solution to this problem. Teams would get some form of compensation for spending time and resources on developing players, especially if they ultimately end up developing them for the good of the league and not for their own needs. However, I wouldn't bet on MLS doing something like this in the near future unless it became a widespread issue and power clubs like the Sounders and the Galaxy began losing multiple potential Homegrown signings to the draft.

Another possible solution is offering potential Homegrown signings contracts before they reach college. The team has tried this and had recent success, notably with the emergence of Matt Miazga who was poached from both a scholarship to the University of Michigan and rumored offers with Bundesliga teams. It is important to note that signings of younger players tend to be based more on potential. They are less assured of contributing in the future as opposed to older, more complete prospects who have spent time developing in college.

CONCLUSIONS

Currently, if a player is unsure of signing with the team that holds his Homegrown rights, he can easily separate himself from the senior team and make himself available to be drafted. Should a player be forced against his will to sign with a team he doesn't want? No, that would be hypocritical considering how the majority of fans want players to have expanded rights. However, teams should be compensated for the players they trained, especially if they end up signing within the league. In addition, clubs should continue to make an effort to develop young players and create standalone reserve squads which will provide playing time.

ANY QUESTIONS?

"Does this mean Brandon Allen, Adam Najem, Alex Muyl, Arun Basuljevic, Ethan Vanacore-Decker, and Scott Thomsen will also be trying to avoid Homegrown contracts?"

That remains to be seen. All we know is that according to Ives Galarcep, other former Academy players are exploring the possibility. This is a common occurrence in MLS, but potential failures tend to be blown a little more out of proportion when they involve this club.

"But what about current and former Academy players signing for teams in Europe?"

Can’t really do anything about that right now. Players can leave the Academy and trial in Europe whenever they want and those clubs owe the Red Bulls no compensation for it. Recently departed Sporting Director Andy Roxburgh at one time lamented, "There is no protection. How can you invest in an academy or in your fringe young players if they can just walk away?" Increased funding and more advantageous roster rules for Homegrown signings as well as USL Pro Reserve clubs are a good start, but it's still a work in progress.

"So... is there a solution to all of this?"

Maybe. The league is trying. Changes aren't being made as rapidly as some people want, but they're doing a much better job than they have in the past.

"Should I be annoyed that Dan Metzger is not signing with the New York Red Bulls and instead entering the draft?"

Maybe, but we really don't know enough yet for a definitive conclusion on why it happened or what the future holds.

"I want to be angry about it."

Go ahead. I won't stop you.

"Will the sun come out tomorrow?"

Yes.

"Should I go see that new Annie movie?"

No.