San Diego FC coach Mikey Varas spoke for the entire organization in November, when he said the decision to keep defender Luca Bombino rather than return him to LAFC was a \u201cno-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, too, is Thursday\u2019s decision to extend the young defender so he can stay with SDFC for years.<\/p>\n
Bombino and SDFC have agreed to a new contract that will run through the 2028-29 season, with club options for the 2029-30 season.<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old Bombino started 30 matches across all competitions for SDFC in 2025, scoring two goals and logging three assists. He started all five MLS Cup playoff matches at fullback.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the day he arrived, Luca has shown a strong work ethic and a willingness to improve\u201d, said SDFC sporting director Tyler Heaps. \u201cHe has consistently demonstrated quality, professionalism, and an understanding of our identity as a club. We see Luca as an important part of our sporting project, and this extension reflects the trust we have in Luca, both as a player and as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n
SDFC initially acquired Bombino on loan from LAFC last February, surrendering an international roster spot for the right to keep Bombino for just one season.<\/p>\n
The deal included a permanent trade option, which SDFC triggered in November. The price was steep: SDFC gave up $200,000 to keep Bombino\u2019s rights while giving LAFC a future sell-on percentage that could net San Diego\u2019s SoCal rival up to another $900,000 depending on how Bombino fares.<\/p>\n
Bombino is the latest SDFC standout to receive a new contract. In the last two weeks, the club has agreed to multi-year contract extensions for Varas and star winger Anders Dreyer and agreed to a new one-year deal with forward Emanuel Boateng. Though Boateng appeared in just 15 matches in 2025, he is considered a leader in the locker room and one of the team\u2019s most admired players. He won SDFC\u2019s Great Teammate Award following the club inaugural season.<\/p>\n
Said Heaps: \u201cHis commitment to the Club, his teammates, and our values is evident every day, and we are happy to continue this journey with him as we build toward the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
SDFC opens Concacaf Champions Cup play Feb. 3 with the first of two matches against Pumas UNAM of Liga MX. SDFC\u2019s MLS opener against CF Montreal is set for Feb. 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego FC coach Mikey Varas spoke for the entire organization in November, when he said the decision…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,74,1254,76,75,1083,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-145186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-san-diego","10":"tag-san-diego-fc","11":"tag-san-diego-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego-news","13":"tag-soccer","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}