U.S. Men’s National Team and MLS legend Landon Donovan has blasted a mistake by a San Jose Earthquakes front office member as a “fireable offense” after the club seemingly accidentally lost out on extending Cristian Espinoza’s contract
Landon Donovan laid into the San Jose Earthquakes for letting Cristian Espinoza leave in free agency(Image: Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
After six seasons with the San Jose Earthquakes, Argentine winger and two-time MLS All-Star Cristian Espinoza recently made a stunning offseason move to Nashville SC as a free agent, allegedly as a result of a fundamental error by a member of San Jose’s front office.
With the 30-year-old’s contract with San Jose set to expire, the club had the option to trigger an extension for a further year — something the club seemingly had every intention of doing.
However, according to U.S. Men’s National Team legend and six-time MLS Cup winner Landon Donovan, who won two titles with San Jose, the reason Espinoza ultimately became a free agent was down to somebody forgetting to trigger his contract option.
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“Cristian Espinoza, I think he is one of the most underrated in the league. He was with the Earthquakes for a long time, he went to Nashville as a free agent. Very interesting there,” Donovan said on the ‘Unfiltered Soccer’ podcast.
“And by the way, the story with San Jose is wild. I want to stress this: this was not (head coach) Bruce Arena who did this, but someone who was running the technical side before, literally just forgot that they had to trigger his option, or at least trigger the option to trigger the option. And so all of a sudden he became a free agent.
“I mean this, you talk about fireable offenses, like this is unacceptable. And so he became a free agent, and 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,’ and this makes Nashville really good, cause he’s a really good player.”
Espinoza leaves having made 236 appearances for San Jose, scoring 39 goals and providing 70 assists, helping his side reach the Playoffs twice. But despite his contributions, the club captain’s performances weren’t enough to help Arena’s side return to the Playoffs in 2025, finishing 10th in the Western Conference.
Now he heads to a Nashville side that has only been an MLS franchise since 2020, but has reached the Playoffs in all but one season since, including the quarter finals in both 2020 and 2021. What’s more, Nashville is also the reigning U.S. Open Cup champion.
“Cristian has been one of the more creative and dynamic playmakers in Major League Soccer, and we are very excited to be able to add him to our club,” Nashville’s President of Soccer Operations and General Manager, Mike Jacobs, said in a statement. “He makes our attacking corps more versatile and flexible, and we think he’s a tremendous fit and key piece to our group.”
Espinoza joins as a Designated Player on a deal through 2028 with further options to extend his stay through the summer of 2029 as well as the summer of 2030.
He’ll now help bolster an attack that already features Hany Mukhtar, a four-time All-Star, three-time Best XI member, and 2022 Golden Boot winner and MVP, and Sam Surridge, a 2025 All-Star, who finished joint second in the league in goals scored last season behind only Lionel Messi of Inter Miami.