When San Jose Earthquakes preseason camp commences, one familiar piece that will be missing is that of longtime midfielder, Cristian Espinoza. The franchise’s all-time leader in assists left as a free agent this offseason for Nashville SC where he’ll link up in attack with 2022 MLS MVP Hany Mukhtar and 2025 MLS Golden Boot runner-up, Sam Surridge.
There was some surprise when San Jose declined to pick up Espinoza’s contract option prior to the deadline expiring, thus allowing him to become a free agent after 7 years with the Earthquakes. On the most recent episode of Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, Donovan revealed that the organization’s decision to decline the option may not have been by design.
“The story with San Jose is wild. I want to stress this: this was not Bruce Arena who did this, but someone who was running the technical side before, literally just forgot that they had to trigger [Espinoza’s] option, or at least trigger the option to trigger the option. And so all of a sudden he became a free agent.”
While it was not made clear who within the organization dropped the ball, Donovan did note that the team attempted to atone for its mistake, but the damage was already done.
“I know they tried hard to keep him and re-sign him, but in the end, he said, ‘all right, well, I guess you didn’t want me, so I’m going to go to Nashville.’”
Espinoza registered double digit goal contributions in all 7 of his seasons with San Jose and will now look to help a Nashville side that lost to eventual champions Inter Miami in the 1st round of the 2025 MLS Cup playoffs.
“It makes Nashville really good because he’s a really good player,” continued Donovan. “I think he is one of the most underrated players in the league.”
In Espinoza’s absence, The Athletic’s Tom Bogert reports that the Earthquakes are nearing a deal for RB Leipzig forward, Timo Werner. The German international has made just 3 Bundesliga appearances so far this season with 0 starts and only 14 minutes played. Should the deal be finalized, he would count as San Jose’s 2nd designated player leaving them with room to sign one more.
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