From Club release:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (August 2, 2022) – Nashville Soccer Club announced today the signing of homegrown winger Jacob Shaffelburg on loan from Toronto FC through the 2022 MLS season in exchange for $225,000 in 2022 General Allocation Money (GAM). Nashville SC also receives a 2022 international roster spot from Toronto as part of the deal, and the option to exercise a permanent transfer for Shaffelburg in 2023.
Shaffelburg is set to join Nashville SC upon receipt of his P-1 Visa and International Transfer Certificate.
“Jacob is a versatile wide player with rapid pace that makes him a constant threat,” said Nashville SC General Manager Mike Jacobs. “We are excited to add him as he has the potential to provide a different dimension to our group. At a young age, he also has excellent experience in MLS as well as in representing his country.”
Shaffelburg, 22, joins Nashville SC from Toronto FC where he made 47 appearances across all competitions since 2019. During his time there, he helped lead The Reds to a 2020 Voyagers Cup in the Canadian Championship. In 2021, he was awarded the Best Young Canadian Player award by the Canadian Soccer Association, which recognizes each tournament’s best Canadian U-21 player.
Shaffelburg made his first appearance for Toronto FC in the 2019 Concacaf Champions League on February 19, 2019, and then later signed with the club as a Homegrown Player on June 21.
At the international level, Shaffelburg made his Canada Soccer Men’s National Team debut on January 10, 2020, in a friendly against Barbados and has since earned a total of three caps. In his most recent international caps, Shaffelburg appeared in the third round of the 2021-2022 Concacaf World Cup Qualifiers where he helped Canada finish first and qualify for Qatar 2022™, ending a 36-year drought since the first and only time Canada played in a FIFA World Cup™ in 1986.
Be a part of Shaffelburg’s Major League Soccer debut with Nashville SC. Visit www.NashvilleSC.com and follow the club on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Spotify.
Transaction: Nashville Soccer Club signs Jacob Shaffelburg on loan from Toronto FC through the 2022 MLS season in exchange for $225,000 in 2022 General Allocation Money (GAM). Nashville SC also receives a 2022 international roster spot from Toronto as part of the deal, and the option to exercise a permanent transfer for Shaffelburg in 2023
Nashville SC release
Trading $225,000 in GAM for an international roster spot is about the going rate nowadays (though in-season the number has dropped to around $175,000), so to get that plus a player – on loan for the end of the season, with the option for a permanent transfer later – is solid.
Shaffelburg is a lefty winger (something Nashville doesn’t have on this roster) who has played 714 minutes this year. Per ASA‘s Goals Added, he’s approximately average in all breakout stats… except interrupting, where he’s deeply in the negative – and it precisely accounts for the entirety of his negative overall score there. That’s likely more a matter of team style than player ability, and one must expect that a Nashville philosophy can be ingrained in him… and a shift to a full-time back-four with true wingers is in the offing as NSC adds winger balance to the roster.
Shaffelburg has yet to score on 0.55 xG (eight shots), and has one assist on 0.11 xG (one key pass). With TFC loading up on expensive signings in attacking positions, it makes sense to get playing time for a player like Shaffelburg – and from a Nashville perspective, the opportunity to permanently add him at the end of the season is a benefit, even though the terms of the transfer clause are not revealed (if the $225,000 GAM fee includes the transfer, that’d be ideal). A 22-year old, he can fit into the roster budget in slots 25-30 due to his homegrown status (and with Handwalla Bwana aging out of Reserve Minimum slots, NSC needs a Homegrown to fit into that).
He cannot play against Toronto FC this year, which means he cannot be in the lineup Saturday (and is almost certainly out of the lineup for tomorrow evening). A debut the 14th against Minnesota United seems likely.
Club and Country 